Will starting a Journal hurt me vs being on law Review Forum

[Anonymous User]

I realize Law review is a huge strength for the resume when looking at big-law, but i'm more interested in PEG/VC/Entrepreneurship related fields of the law and my school has no journal coming close to this area of the law. We have a clinic but it focuses more on IP than Entrepreneurship related issues.

Assuming i can get support of faculty, would it hurt me during OCI to start this journal rather than join Law Review (assuming I'm offered a spot?.

Then again, i'm considering transferring (currently at strong T25) to a mid T-14 b/c of a strong focus/connections they have to this area of the law. So this all may be moot in due time.

I come from a background in VC/PEG/Startups hence my interest in the area and slight competency in starting one.

[dresden doll]

If you already have the background in the area you want, I don't see that much advantage to being able to say you started a related journal. It's not that it'll hurt you; it's that LR is the better choice.

[A. Nony Mouse]

I would imagine that you are really unlikely to be able to get a journal off the ground in time for it to make the slightest difference for OCI. It would be in such a preliminary stage as to be meaningless.

[ph14]

I would think so. Anyone could start a journal, though it does show interest in the area, dedication, and motivation. But law review is still a useful credential because it requires a competitive application process.

[Pokemon]

Take law review and write on a business/entrepreneurship issue, get published, and you have killed two birds with one stone.

[hous]

Does your school not allow you to join multiple journals?

I would go with law review if you cant do both and you get into law review.

[soj]

even if there were enough scholarship in that area to justify creating this journal, which i doubt, doing so will not appreciably improve job prospects and probably won't even be academically rewarding. it seems to me that those who practice PEG/VC/startup law care little about law review and even less about secondary journals, even those related to the practice area. why not focus on getting into this (kind of) related clinic or maybe an externship?

[Anonymous User]

If you really, really want to start this journal, it's 100% possible to be on law review and also be EIC of a secondary journal. I do both (and I'm on the flagship's board as well as having the leadership position on the secondary). I would assume that the workloads for starting a journal and being EIC are similar.

However, I'd just go with LR only if you're a little conflicted. General member LR at most schools actually isn't a huge time commitment. It'll take up 3, 4 weekends each semester. Not a big thing.

[Anonymous User]

However, I'd just go with LR only if you're a little conflicted. General member LR at most schools actually isn't a huge time commitment. It'll take up 3, 4 weekends each semester. Not a big thing.

What? Not at my school. It's a huge pain in the ass.

OP, even if you could get approval for a journal before OCI and start it, who would want to publish in it? There are too many journals now as is. You won't be able to get the journal's name out there enough to draw in any attention.

Also, think about how those OCI interviews go. You tell them you started a journal, you haven't published anything yet, and they think that you did it because you couldn't get on any of the other journals. It's just not a benefit at OCI.

Do law review if you can get it. If not, just get a secondary journal