Student-run Law Journal launched at Western
April 14, 2011
(l-r) Suzie Chiodo, Eugene Polevoy, Elba Bendo, Rajeeve Thakur, Lisa Di Valentino,
and Justin Anisman from the Western Journal of Legal Studies
Student-run Law Journal launched at Western
Western Law is proud to announce the launch of The University of Western Ontario Journal of Legal Studies, a law review that will be entirely student-run.
Known as the Western Journal of Legal Studies for short, the law review was approved in February after students spent more than a year campaigning, submitting proposals and making presentations at faculty meetings.
The students at the forefront of the campaign include Lisa Di Valentino, Justin Anisman, Suzie Chiodo, Rajeeve Thakur, John Mather, Eugene Polevoy, Ben Tinholt and Elba Bendo.
“We are very proud to be reviving the tradition of a student-run law review at Western,” said Lisa Di Valentino, president of the Western Law Review Association (WLRA). “We couldn’t have done it without the help of Dean Holloway, Associate Dean Lynk, and our faculty advisors, Professors Erika Chamberlain, Valerie Oosterveld, Sam Trosow, and Margaret-Ann Wilkinson.”
Associate Dean Lynk, who worked closely with the students throughout the process, said the faculty had approved the law review because the most recent application was “very comprehensive and well thought-out.”
“The idea was good and it was clear that there were only a few secondary issues to resolve,” he said. “The faculty also had confidence in the student leadership, that there was a range of skills that would make for a good student publication. Although it required some back and forth between students and faculty, the quality of the application made it easy to get on board.”
Western was previously one of the few law schools in Canada without its own student-run law review. In an attempt to change that, former UWO Law students Omar Ha-Redeye, Joel Welch, Kamila Pizon, and Leo Law founded the WLRA in December 2009. The association now has around 40 members, many of them 1Ls who have signed the proposal to show their support.
The Western Journal of Legal Studies will be a general-focus publication featuring student work. The team has put out a call for submissions, and hopes to hire students for editorial positions before the end of term. The first edition should be ready by December of this year.
The journal will be published entirely online, following the example of publications such as The Harvard International Law Journal and The Harvard Law Review Project. It will operate on a hybrid model of peer review. Student editors will select papers for possible publication, then forward them to professors in the relevant fields who will give a brief general assessment, indicating whether articles are publishable, in need of work or unsalvageable.
Each edition of the journal, which will initially be published annually, will probably contain around 5-10 articles. However, because of its online format, there is no maximum limit. Submissions are welcome from students at Western Law, across Canada and internationally, and papers that have won writing prizes or other awards are especially desirable. The deadline for the December edition is May 31, 2011.
The law review will be an excellent opportunity for Western students to develop their academic talents, and hopes are high amongst students and faculty. Associate Dean Lynk says that optimism is well-founded:
“I think the fact that we will now have a second journal at the law school, one with the Western name in the title, will go a long way to continue to enhance the reputation of the school as a place for serious legal research and writing.”
For more information please visit the journal's website http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/uwojls/
