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39 Alta. L. Rev. 611 (2001-2002)
The Canadian Law Review Experience: Introduction to the Symposium

handle is hein.journals/alblr39 and id is 621 raw text is: INTRODUCTION THE CANADIAN LAW REVIEW EXPERIENCE: INTRODUCTION TO THE SYMPOSIUM BRUCE ZIFF* Over the years there have been a number of retrospectives on the American law review.' Legal academics in the United States seem endlessly intrigued by the subject. Articles appear on the history of law reviews, their many failings, or their precarious future. Tabs are kept on the most-cited review articles.2 In contrast, although law journals have been a fixture on the Canadian scene for about 150 years,3 [tihere is almost a complete absence of published scholarship about scholarly legal periodicals in Canada.4 Those involved in Canadian law reviews have gone about their business in a largely unselfconscious fashion. It cannot be that the Canadian law review is an unworthy object of inquiry. At bottom, law journals provide an effective vehicle for commentators to reach audiences both within Canada and abroad. They are useful soap boxes; yet they are more than that. In Canada journals have served as a training ground for law students and a proving ground for academics. In the eyes of some, the law review acts as a self-appointed final court of appeal; the unofficial Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. In addition, law reviews are deeply implicated in the quest for academic cachet. Law schools boast of the journals they produce. Publications in law reviews count in hiring, tenure, and promotion decisions. Moreover, within the Canadian law review experience is an embedded history. The nature of law journals, their avowed missions, their contents, and so forth have altered over time. These developments are, in part, manifestations of the state of legal scholarship at any given time. Law reviews can thus be studied to learn something about developments in both Canadian law and scholarship. Given the significance of legal journals in Canada, and the paucity of writing on the subject, it may be an appropriate time to take stock. With this in mind, a panel was organized for the May 2000 meetings of the Canadian Association of Law Teachers (CALT) at the University of Alberta. Five papers were presented at the session.' The present collection - the contents of which are outlined below - developed out of those presentations. Donna Greschner's lead article, Law Reviews as Cultural Narrative, outlines the historical development of law reviews in Canada. She argues that the Canadian perspective Professor of Law, Chair of the Alberta Law Review Faculty Advisory Committee and Consulting Editor for the Symposium. See the Select Bibliography, infra at 690. See, e.g., F.R. Shapiro, The Most-Cited Law Review Articles Revisited (1996) 71 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. 751. B. Ryder, The Past and Future of the Canadian Generalist Law Journal (2001) 39 Alta. L. Rev. 625 at 627, where it is noted that the Canada Law Journal first appeared in 1855. Ibid. at 625. The five papers presented at the session were those by Professors Greschner, Hutchinson, Macdonald, Olsen, and Ryder.

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