Top Law Schools

Anyone have thoughts (or want to contribute anecdotes) about the professional value of a law review board position (and if so, which positions)?

It depends on what you want to do. If you want to do transactional work, probably very little. If you want to go into litigation, it will help with finding a clerkship. If you want to eventually go into academia, it is even more important.

Regarding the value/prestige of positions: EIC -> Articles/Managing -> Line-editing -> Everything else -> Online/Development.

Useful for clerkship, appellate jobs and to a lesser degree, litigation. If at T2, useful for applying to mid law jobs. Since I am going for none of these (except, I guess litigation maybe, someday), my journal time has been a total waste.

I'm at a T50 school--I have a 2L SA and I'm planning to do litigation. I am interested in appellate work. The main thing I'm trying to figure out is of articles editor, executive editor, or managing editor--if I can get any one of these--will it really be valuable? And if I can't get one of these is another less prestigious board position more valuable than no board position?

How much could it possibly matter for clerking when judges are hiring without even 2L grades, let alone waiting to see what journal position you take during 3L? I think journal board is a scam. (Disclaimer: current 2L)

Hutz_and_Goodman wrote:I'm at a T50 school--I have a 2L SA and I'm planning to do litigation. I am interested in appellate work. The main thing I'm trying to figure out is of articles editor, executive editor, or managing editor--if I can get any one of these--will it really be valuable? And if I can't get one of these is another less prestigious board position more valuable than no board position?

I think the value is that it shows you took on a leadership role and beat out other candidates during elections. What this will actually get you? I'm not really sure. One thing I think is probably true is that the top spots on law review (EIC, top managing editors, and top articles editor(s)) are competitive and are made up mainly of people who are in the top 10%.

ETA: I'm also at a T50 and plan to just go for (junior) articles editor. If you're not sure what to choose between articles editor and managing editor, or whatever your school calls it (editing articles vs. editing cite-checking packets), just make your decision on which one you would like more. I doubt this difference will matter for job prospects.

I'm not convinced it makes a huge difference unless you're EIC. Anecdotally, 8 out of 14 board members my year clerked, while 7 out of 16 non-board members did. Of course, one of the non-board people was #1 in our class; and 2 of the board members clerked for judges they'd interned for during school, and a 3rd board member clerked for someone who'd just recently left the firm where she did her 2L summer (one of the partners at the firm set up the interview). These were all excellent candidates all round, so I think board position/which one/at all was of really marginal importance.

Also anecdotally, friends of mine who were articles editors got asked about it in clerkship interviews, and it seemed to be well received as a sort of pre-clerking thing.

(This was also at a lower T1, so a mix of federal/state clerkships, and may not apply to other kinds of schools.)

Personally I enjoyed being on the board, but I am kind of weird and twisted that way.

9 out of 45 of my schools various journal boards got clerkships. Three of those were also top 10%. It's kind of a requirement to clerk more than a help when applying to clerk. Like in the way a BA is required to get into grad school.

spleenworship wrote:9 out of 45 of my schools various journal boards got clerkships. Three of those were also top 10%. It's kind of a requirement to clerk more than a help when applying to clerk. Like in the way a BA is required to get into grad school.

This is mostly true, but not totally though. I know at least two people at my schools who haven't done any journal whatsoever and will clerk next year. One is in a top 5%, and the other got it through connection. So, journal board or even journal membership is not the be all end all if you have the stellar grades and connections. In other cases, it is just a thing you should have when apply for clerkship because every other applicant has it. Board positions without the grades or the connections would not help you to get a clerkship.

Other than gunning for a clerkship, it is something nice to have on a resume, but I highly doubt it will help to secure a job without grades or connections.

Nelson wrote:How much could it possibly matter for clerking when judges are hiring without even 2L grades, let alone waiting to see what journal position you take during 3L? I think journal board is a scam. (Disclaimer: current 2L)

Let me introduce you to the new normal of hiring alums.

(Well, not the new normal. But there's been a significant shift towards hiring alums.)