A Simple Guide on How to Write a Law Review Article

In legal studies, the law review articles are considered as the secondary sources of research. If you are a law student, then in collaboration with your faculty members, you will have to frequently edit the law review articles. In case, you are unsure how to write a law review article on a specific theme, take a look at this blog post. For your comprehension, here, we have explained in detail what a law review article means and the effective ways to write it in a well-structured manner with proper citations. Continue reading to update your knowledge of law review article writing.

What is a Law Review Article?

Law Review articles are scholarly publications that are used as a source for legal research. It primarily analyzes and critiques the legal topics in-depth. Moreover, the law review includes shorter essays and lengthy articles by lawyers and professors. Also, it contains notes or comments written by law students.

In general, law review articles focus more on new or emerging areas of law and provide more critical comments when compared to a legal encyclopedia or ALR article. Note that, a law review article can be written on any particular theme such as real estate or environmental law. Usually, the contents of a law review article cover the findings of several panels and symposia relevant to the topic. Read on to learn how to prepare a law review article that is worthy of receiving good feedback during peer review.

Understand How to Write a Law Review Article

If you are asked to compose a law review article, then make sure to follow the below-mentioned steps.

Step 1: Choose a relevant research question or topic

To write a law review article, a perfect topic is necessary. So, first, choose a general area from the law fields or the legal area in which you wish to practice. Next, in the chosen area, research and gather various sub-topics.

In order to collect the topic ideas from your field of interest, you can refer to numerous credible sources such as legal newspapers, law-related articles, specialty law publications, and bar association journals.

Finally, out of the gathered sub-topics, brainstorm and choose one ideal research question or topic for discussion. In case, you find it hard to choose a topic, get guidance from your professors.

Also read: Unique Law Research Topics and Ideas

Step 2: Prepare a list of headings and subheadings

Once you have selected the research question, begin writing the unanswered questions that can be addressed in your law review article. First, determine the list of smaller questions to be answered before moving to a larger question.

Say, for instance, if your topic is how to file a consumer lawsuit, then you can choose to answer the following questions.

• Who has the right to file a consumer case and who doesn’t?
• What academic documents are required to file a consumer complaint?
• Why did the court decide not to grant my request?
• How long will it take to get a decision in this case?
• What form of compensation is possible?

Likewise, you can come up with many questions on your own. At the end, in your review article, these questions will form the headings and sub-headings.

Step 3: Build a basic framework

List all the headers and subheadings and develop a skeleton framework. Note that, creating a framework or planning the outline in prior will help to cover all the important information without omitting any. Moreover, it also helps to organize the ideas coherently and save time. So, don’t skip this step, and also avoid changing the plan once it is fixed.

For example, the law review article outline or framework can be built like this

1. As a consumer, what kinds of complaints can I make?

• Is it feasible for me to register a consumer complaint on a company’s behalf?
• If I want to register a complaint, where should I go?

2. Which consumer court will have territorial jurisdiction?

• Which court has authority over consumers’ finances?
• What information do I need to register a consumer complaint?

Step 4: Complete the Outline

After developing a framework, start filling in the blanks with answers to all the questions you have listed. Keep in mind that there are countless ways to add extra questions to any outline. Use a new review if you wish to add and respond to a few more relevant questions because it may lead to confusion while organizing the ideas.

Step 5: Review and Edit

Finally, after you have completed your law review article, use spell-checker and grammar-checker tools to improve the quality of your content. In case, you can’t afford one, get help from your friend or a mentor to make your review article appear error-free. Never submit the document without proofreading.

Also read: Top Business Law Paper Topics For Students To Consider

Law Review Article Formatting Guidelines

Basically, it is necessary to format a law review article to make it easy for the readers to gain a better comprehension. So, when composing your law review article, be certain to format it as per the guidelines shared below.

Standard Formatting Rules

• Include a title page or abstract at the beginning of the law review article. The title should be attractive to the target audience and should not contain law jargon.
• Compose the article in English (Unless the publication clearly states that non-English contributions are permitted).
• Send your work as a single file by including tables, figures, and appendices (Word, RTF, or PDF files are acceptable).
• The size of the pages should be 8.5 x 11 inches.
• Use justified margins in a single column.
• Use Times New Roman font of size 12 point or any other similar font
• For footnotes, use a 10 pt. Times font or an equivalent.
• If figures are given, use high-resolution pictures encoded as PostScript (eps).
• There should be copyediting.
• No page should be more than 25% empty, if at all feasible.

Indenting and Line Spacing

• Indent all paragraphs and also indent at least two em-spaces (Unless otherwise specified).
• Add a single space to your text.
• Do not add extra space between paragraphs, except for lengthy quotations, theorems, assertions, and special remarks. For other text, give extra space above and below.
• Left-justify every line of the text. Whenever possible, it is good to justify the text on the right. Jagged right margins are preferable to flush intra- and inter-word spacing. Therefore, choose the one that best appeals to you.

Footnotes

• Insert at the bottom of the page and not at the end of the paper.
• Use Times New Roman Font of size 10 point.
• Use single spacing and separate the footnote by adding a separator line.
• Mention the footnote numbers and symbols after the punctuation in the text.
• Include the long footnotes in an appendix.
• Left and right justify all footnotes unless otherwise specified.

Tables and Graphs

• In the document, place tables and figures close to text references.
• Never use small types in tables.
• The left, right, top, and bottom margins of tables and figures should be 1.5 inches.

Mathematics

• Italicize any Roman characters that are used as variables.
• It is optional to italicize Roman letters in multi-letter function names.
• Subscripts and superscripts should be as small as feasible in comparison to the main content.

Also read: Top Criminology Dissertation Ideas To Consider

Composing the Law Review Roadmap for Introduction

In your law review article, the first paragraph or introduction will act as a ‘roadmap’ or ‘umbrella’ paragraph. So, when writing a law review intro, summarize the relevant field of law and inform your readers what your memo will focus on.

• Begin with a broad overview of the law and narrow it down by dividing it into discrete factors or sub-issues or components that lead to the formation of law when combined. This will help your readers get a better understanding of the workings of the law.
• In your umbrella, list the discrete components of the law by using numbers so that your readers can easily recognize the sub-issues. Most importantly, organizing the ideas and clearly defining the constituents in the umbrella will make it easy for your readers to follow the analysis.
• The introduction is the best place to inform the readers about how a court will do legislation evaluation. In this regard, critically explain what is necessary to succeed. Specifically, you will have to respond to various queries related to the topic in your umbrella paragraph.
• Besides the description of the law and the standard of review, add more information without being too specific because each sub-issue needs to be discussed in-depth later. Even though it is not necessary, you can include a table of contents.

Learn How to Prepare a Reference List for a Law Review Article

In your law review article, create a separate reference page and cite all the sources used in your research work to avoid plagiarism. The following are the significant things you need to consider while preparing your reference page.

• Write every reference according to the current style manual (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.). But, never mix the features of the various styles.
• On the reference page, list the last names of the writers alphabetically.
• Include all the sources used in the work on the reference page. The paper will be regarded as plagiarized if one of the things on the list is absent.
• It’s important to pay attention to formatting details like space and indentation.

Other Essential Components of a Law Review Article

Listed below are a few other essential parts that you need to include in your law review article.

Scope

In this section, specify a statement related to the aim or scope of the chosen research problem. This might include providing the outline of your topic. In a nutshell, define your “research problem” under this category.

Limitations

This section is intended to restrict the extent of your research subject – the points you don’t want to include in your paper, such as any other related issue or areas that may widen the scope of your research. So, as a researcher, you should limit the scope of your topic to what you want.

Research Question or Hypothesis

There is a considerable difference between formulating “research questions” and creating a “hypothesis” for a research work. You would ask research questions as a researcher to learn more about your subject. A hypothesis, on the other hand, is a supposition or assumption that is employed to enhance one’s study.

Chapters

Your study should be organized logically into chapters that correspond to the research topics. The number of chapters should not be less than three, and they should be organized logically. Your first chapter may be an introduction to your subject, followed by a second chapter that addresses your worries about the subject, and a third chapter that compares and contrasts your subject.

Conclusion

Hopefully, by now, you will have learned how to write a review article. In case, you want to come up with a well-organized law review, make sure to follow the steps and tips discussed above. However, if you have queries regarding it or need an expert you with writing a law review article, approach us immediately.