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39 Alta. L. Rev. 684 (2001-2002)
The Law Review Mission: A Student Editor's Point of View

handle is hein.journals/alblr39 and id is 694 raw text is: THE LAW REVIEW MISSION: A STUDENT EDITOR'S POINT OF VIEW LARISSA KATZ* This paper focuses on the principles that ought to inform the choice of unsolicited articles for publication in the general issues' of a student-run law review. Student editors are better able to operate the journal independently when they see their journal as an institution with specific commitments and aims. If students do not control the core aspects of a journal, its content, for example, the idea of a student-run law review, which is traditionally attached to the law school, is lost. Student editors find it difficult to choose among articles submitted for publication. There are, I think, three ways such a choice can be made. The first is by resort to external criteria, arguably peripheral to the study of law itself, such as the needs of a defined audience. The Alberta Law Review, for example, receives generous funding2 from the Law Society of Alberta. In return, all members of the Law Society receive a copy of the Review. The editors implicitly assume that these practitioners form a homogeneous readership, with common needs and expectations. A more sophisticated understanding and definition of a review's audience could suffice to shape the content of that review. Another approach is to choose articles that in some way advance the law review's principled understanding of what is worthwhile legal scholarship. This would require a fairly coherent statement of the review's mission, one that is articulated in a way that allows hard choices to be made. The third approach, one which is often the default position for student-run law reviews, is simply the abdication, or more euphemisticallythe delegation, of editorial decision-making. It is immediately apparent that this approach is unsatisfactory, although it is prevalent among student-run reviews, such as the ALR. There is a certain regularity to the work that is carried on at the Honourable W.A. Stevenson Alberta Law Review House, which now serves as much to establish the goals that structure our enterprise as to reflect those we have chosen. The apparent aim of any law review is the publication of meritorious works. The ALR, in adhering to a sustainable routine, efficiently produces a review of acceptable quality. Like most law reviews, it uses a double-blind, peer review system. The students' contribution is limited in this process: articles arrive unsolicited; articles editors cursorily assess the papers as worthy or Former Law Clerk to Justice Gonthier of the Supreme Court of Canada and former Co-Editor-in- Chief of the Alberta Law Review. The author wishes to thank Professor Ziff for his comments on this paper and for our many inspirational discussions on the role of law reviews in legal academia. Throughout this discussion I use the experience of the Alberta Law Review (ALR) to furnish examples. The Review publishes four issues a year. One of these is the Petroleum Issue, in which the papers presented at the annual symposium of the Canadian Petroleum Foundation are collected. There is usually a special issue in each volume, in which solicited articles on a given topic are published. Recent special issues have focused on restitution and judicial appointments. There are then two general issues that include solicited case comments, book reviews and, importantly, unsolicited articles of all kinds. Of course, not all law reviews are as well-funded as the Alberta Law Review. Many rely on subscription fees and modest government subsidies. VOL. 39(3) 2001 ALBERTA LAW REVIEW

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