Note Topics Forum

[dbt]

Could 2L/3Ls give an idea of how they came to pick a note topic? I understand that it's good to just start reading articles (one professor said 3/wk for the summer and you'll have something good by the end), but I don't even know where to begin as far as articles. Can you recommend sites/etc. which focus on law-related material and which might help rising 2Ls to sift through the seemingly myriad issues that are out there.

[dbt]

bump

[Paichka]

I'm a rising 2L myself, and one of the ways I'm researching topics is to read the law professors' blogs like the Volokh Conspiracy and Concurring Opinions. Read some newspaper articles on legal topics -- a paper I'm working on this summer rose out of an article a couple of months back in the Army Times.

Step 1 -- what areas of law are you interested in?
Step 2 -- read some blogs about issues in that/those areas of law
Step 3 -- Do a lexis search on the topic to see law review articles on those topics
Step 4 -- repeat as necessary

Then, this fall, you can talk to one or more of your professors who are smarty-pantses in that area of law or on that topic, and run your brainstorms by them. They may have some ideas for you, or can point you in the right direction.

[steve_nash]

Ah yes, the search for a good topic. I don't miss that process at all.

At the start, I had a vague idea of what area of law I wanted to write on. However, my initial ideas proved unworkable. I got my eventual topic from a Volokh blog post on the area of law I was interested in. If you're looking for some recent articles to read, check out Legal Theory blog. I also like Dorf on Law.

Talk to 3Ls on your journal and see if they have any ideas. I came across several issues during my 2L classes that I thought would have made good comment topics. Professors, of course, can be invaluable sources of information.