Prospective Members
The Georgetown Law Journal is one of the oldest and most prestigious law reviews in the country. New Journal members will enter a large, tight-knit community of peers and alumni.
Members work on articles written by some of the most influential scholars in our field. These pieces will shape legal discourse for years to come.
Each second-year member contributes to the Annual Review of Criminal Procedure (ARCP). Judges, academics, practitioners, and pro se litigants all use the ARCP. GLJ also donates a significant number of ARCP copies to indigent prisoners.
Interested in becoming a student member of The Georgetown Law Journal? Each year, a new class of Journal staff is selected by the following three methods:
- Based on the student’s score in the Write On competition
- Based on a combination of Write On score and first-year grades
- Based on a personal statement detailing the contribution the student will make to the Journal’s diversity.
The evaluation of Write On submissions and personal statements is done blindly.
The Journal only accepts students who have preferenced it as their first choice.
Study Abroad Policy
The Georgetown Law Journal, recognizing Georgetown Law’s commitment to expanding study abroad opportunities for its students and recognizing the need to ensure that Journal members are, to the greatest degree possible, given the opportunity to participate in these programs, adopts the following policy:
The Georgetown Law Journal is prepared to work with any 3L member who wishes to participate in the Law Center’s study abroad program, provided the 3L member agrees to and abides by the following restrictions:
The member cannot hold the position of (i) Editor-in-Chief, (ii) ARCP Editor-in-Chief, (iii) Managing Editor, (iv) ARCP Managing Editor, (v) any “Senior Editor” position (defined as an editorial position conferring Senior Board status as understood under Article IV.A. of The Georgetown Law Journal Constitution), or (vi) any “Executive Editor” position, including, but not limited to, Executive Editor, Executive Articles Editor, and Executive Notes Editor; the member must agree in writing, pursuant to language drafted by the Senior Board, to complete all work by all deadlines assigned by her or his committee head; the member must obtain prior approval from the Editor-in-Chief, who will consult with the Senior Board prior to granting such approval; and the Law Center has provided the technology necessary to enable the Journal (and other Law Center journals similarly situated) to communicate with its members participating in the study abroad program.
The Georgetown Law Journal currently does not have the necessary work-delegation structure to permit 2Ls to be Journal members and also to participate in the Law Center’s study abroad program. Thus, as of the 2013-2014 academic year, 2Ls may not participate in the study abroad program and serve on the Journal.
Diversity
The Georgetown Law Journal’s commitment to diversity is firmly rooted in Georgetown University’s mission statement, which begins:
Established in 1789 and in the spirit of the new republic, the university was founded on the principle that serious and sustained discourse among people of different faiths, cultures, and beliefs promotes intellectual, ethical and spiritual understanding. We embody this principle in the diversity of our students, faculty and staff, our commitment to justice and the common good, our intellectual openness, and our international character.
The Georgetown Law Journal recognizes the historical inequalities that pervade the legal profession and the legal academy, and the role that institutions exercising influence over legal discourse have played in propagating and perpetuating those inequalities. In addition to celebrating the importance of diversity to the publication of the nation’s highest caliber of legal scholarship, the Journal also tasks itself with actively seeking ways to use its position of prestige and influence to challenge the unequal status quo in the ultimate interest of justice and equality for all under our laws.
To that end, the Journal’s diversity initiatives revolve around two related elements: diversity of membership and diversity of scholarship. It is theJournal’s belief that by building a membership of students from diverse backgrounds, the Journal will provide a forum for the robust exchange of ideas that will substantially benefit not only the scholarship of the Journal, but also the development of its members. That said, diversity means more than just divergent backgrounds: the Journal’s commitment to diverse membership is a commitment to undermining the hierarchies of power replicated in powerful institutions along racial, socioeconomic, sexual orientation, and gender lines. The Journal has not been immune to the homogenizing forces of inequality that have resulted in the continued domination of the legal profession by White men of privilege. For all these reasons, ensuring diversity in the Journal’s membership is a paramount and urgent goal of the Journal’s outreach and member selection processes.
As Georgetown’s only generalist law journal, the Journal is dedicated to publishing prescient scholarship from across the legal spectrum. This diversity of scholarship provides Journal members the opportunity to delve into new and exciting areas of study that both complement and augment their academic coursework. The resulting publication features articles and notes that span the legal gamut and reflect the diversity of the Journal’s membership and promote diverse perspectives throughout the larger legal community. The Georgetown Law Journal therefore encourages submissions of articles and notes that present diverse perspectives heretofore-underrepresented in legal scholarship.
Prospective members may optionally submit a personal diversity statement during the Write On process.