Beyond Bluebooking

This August, staff members of The Georgetown Law Journal spent hours commenting on essays—pouring over sentences, revising paragraphs, and questioning the cogency of particular arguments. Surprisingly, these essays were written not by venerable legal scholars, but by fifth graders at KIPP DC: AIM Academy, a high-achieving public charter school that serves an under-resourced population of students.

34 staff members graded over 60 assessments and prepared posters, visual aids, and other materials for classrooms and teachers at the school. Abigail Fee, a Special Projects Editor, organized the event.

"We had talked about doing community service last year,” said Fee, “There was a desire to do more than cite check.”

Currently, two law journals—The Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy and The Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics—have community service requirements. The Georgetown Law Journal does not require its members to complete community service (hence, the grading and poster-making were voluntary); however, the organization wants to expand its community service efforts. Editorial and staff members hope to hold two community service projects each school year—one in the fall and one in the spring. They hope to continue their relationship with AIM Academy and tailor their community service events to the needs of the school.

Teachers at AIM Academy appreciated the law students’ help and the students themselves were motivated by the prospect of their papers being graded by law students. The students and teachers sent the Journal members a card thanking them for their help. The law students also appreciated the opportunity to help out the community. Members are already looking forward to the next event and possible tutoring opportunities.

“This was a good chance to do some service and bond with one another,” said Fee, “It was too good to pass up—grading fifth graders when we edit law professors each day.”