Value of being on a Law Journal Forum

[thisislife49]

The write-on competition for our school's law journals are right around the corner. I was wondering what you all thought of the importance of having a law journal on your resume? Does it help gain employment in the future or is it simply just a resume builder? The "hype" around campus is that you must be on a law journal, but it doesn't appeal much to me.

[ymmv]

The write-on competition for our school's law journals are right around the corner. I was wondering what you all thought of the importance of having a law journal on your resume? Does it help gain employment in the future or is it simply just a resume builder? The "hype" around campus is that you must be on a law journal, but it doesn't appeal much to me.

No one knows for sure. But I regret doing it. I don't think it helped me in job applications -employers can already see your grades - and journal itself was the most inane waste of time of anything I've done in law school.

[xael]

don't do it

[goden]

don't do it

[nonprofit-prophet]

Law review matters for some firms and clerkships. Everything else, not so much.

[bearsfan23]

The write-on competition for our school's law journals are right around the corner. I was wondering what you all thought of the importance of having a law journal on your resume? Does it help gain employment in the future or is it simply just a resume builder? The "hype" around campus is that you must be on a law journal, but it doesn't appeal much to me.

1. These are the same things

2. Then don't do it

In terms of actual advice, it depends on what else you're doing during you 2L and what your career goals are. And you haven't said either of those

[mvp99]

Don't do it.

I did it because of TLS pressure. I don't think it helped at all. You might see what I suspect are a bunch of editors-in-chiefs flooding tls the next couple of months to tell you that's worth it.

[ymmv]

Don't do it.

I did it because of TLS pressure. I don't think it helped at all. You might see what I suspect are a bunch of editors-in-chiefs flooding tls the next couple of months to tell you that's worth it.

God what possesses a person to willingly put themselves through another of year of MORE of that.

[Other25BeforeYou]

I didn't do the writing competition. Am three years into my career and have not regretted that decision in the slightest.

[TLSModBot]

There are a few - extremely few - firms that legitimately care about this, and even then it depends on the school. At mine, for instance, only main journal students got in to Williams & Connolly. That is the only firm I can think of at OCI where journal mattered.

To summarize then: Top journal/law review *may* net you bonus points for a small number of firms that already require school prestige and good grades. Secondary journals net you absolutely nothing.

The one reason I did a secondary journal was that it guaranteed I got at least one publication out. I'm starting my third this coming Fall. But I cannot give you a good reason that I am publishing, so don't take that as some kind of encouraging example.

[bearsfan23]

Don't do it.

I did it because of TLS pressure. I don't think it helped at all. You might see what I suspect are a bunch of editors-in-chiefs flooding tls the next couple of months to tell you that's worth it.

Meh, I did it and it directly led to my SA and COA clerkship I have lined up. The few hours a week I have to spend on journal stuff isn't really a big deal to me.

I definitely wouldn't recommend it to everyone though, as I said earlier it depends what your goals are.

I also wouldn't make any decision based on TLS. This place is like .01% of all law students/attorneys, and almost all them hate everything about law school/actually being a lawyer, so your going to get some pretty skewed responses here.

[ymmv]

Don't do it.

I did it because of TLS pressure. I don't think it helped at all. You might see what I suspect are a bunch of editors-in-chiefs flooding tls the next couple of months to tell you that's worth it.

Meh, I did it and it directly led to my SA and COA clerkship I have lined up

How do you know this?

[bearsfan23]

Don't do it.

I did it because of TLS pressure. I don't think it helped at all. You might see what I suspect are a bunch of editors-in-chiefs flooding tls the next couple of months to tell you that's worth it.

Meh, I did it and it directly led to my SA and COA clerkship I have lined up

How do you know this?

I can't answer this without completely outing myself, OP should feel free to PM me though

[xael]

I mean, I'm still going to do the main LR write on. I wish I hadn't done a secondary journal, though.

[arklaw13]

I don't really think I gained much from it. If you want to clerk straight out of law school a journal is probably necessary, but if you can get an SA without a journal, by god do it.

[toothbrush]

IMO journal only matters if 1) you want unicorn lit/clerkships; 2) have really bad grades (you shouldn't pass up resume boosters in these circumstances; or 3) you go to a bad school (again, any little boost for job-potential is probably worth doing).

if none of the above apply to you, i don't see a real reason to fall into the hype. everyone who I talked to that was on the fence about journals that did them bc everyone else said to ended up hating it. ymmv.

eta: out of 50+ people who I spoke to during interviews for NYC SA's (screeners + CBs), no one asked about not being on a journal or anything related to it; but this wasn't for competitive boutiquey places (W&C, QE, IM, etc)

[Br3v]

Are you talking about LR or other journals? If your just talking about secondary journals I think you can get away not doing one (but why put any stumbling blocks in the way of a potential callback/offer?). If your talking about your school's flagship law review, it's something that can help you your entire career given that law is for better or worse driven a lot by prestige. It's worth putting in the effort for a shot in my opinion.

[toothbrush]

Are you talking about LR or other journals? If your just talking about secondary journals I think you can get away not doing one (but why put any stumbling blocks in the way of a potential callback/offer?). If your talking about your school's flagship law review, it's something that can help you your entire career given that law is for better or worse driven a lot by prestige. It's worth putting in the effort for a shot in my opinion.

it's worth noting that on attorney profiles that are years out, it generally says (if applicable) 1) school; 2) honors; and 3) Law Review. So apparently people still *care* years out. Does it matter? Who knows.

[Br3v]

Are you talking about LR or other journals? If your just talking about secondary journals I think you can get away not doing one (but why put any stumbling blocks in the way of a potential callback/offer?). If your talking about your school's flagship law review, it's something that can help you your entire career given that law is for better or worse driven a lot by prestige. It's worth putting in the effort for a shot in my opinion.

it's worth noting that on attorney profiles that are years out, it generally says (if applicable) 1) school; 2) honors; and 3) Law Review. So apparently people still *care* years out. Does it matter? Who knows.

Yeah. One of those things that might help and sure isn't going to hurt.

[kray]

What about for PI? More/less helpful/necessary?

[chuckbass]

Yea I'm planning on doing write on, but not accepting the offer if I don't get LR.

[Yukos]

Secondary journals are useless and I would avoid.

Flagship is really helpful for clerkships and probably helps with firms (if you're doing lit). It goes on your firm bio forever, for what it's worth, and people generally take it to mean you did well or are a good writer*. I'm very glad I did it but I'm a weirdo who kinda likes the work.

*Whether note writing ability has any correlation to legal writing ability is up for debate, doe.

[abl]

It definitely matters for some jobs and some clerkships. It is not crucial for all jobs, or for most--although my bet is that it's nearly universally helpful to some degree.

I personally found the experience incredibly rewarding--one of the best of my three years of law school. But I suspect, based on your reluctance to do journal, that you will not. Certainly, most people don't seem to love journal.

I think this question can be better answered by understanding where you're going to school, what your grades are, and what your goals are. If you're at Hastings and want biglaw, you can use all of the help you can get. But if you're at Stanford and want biglaw, you're going to be fine regardless.

[A. Nony Mouse]

What about for PI? More/less helpful/necessary?

I think for most public interest, actual relevant pertinent experience is much more valuable. Of course, it depends what you mean by PI - if you mean civil rights at the DOJ, it might be one of the boxes they expect you to check (not sure, but they do seem to like high-level clerkships, which often want LR). If you mean being a PD/DA, LR is basically irrelevant. If you mean something like the ACLU, I don't really know.

[skers]

A lot of people will tell you it's not worth it. Those people are so fucking right.