About the Minnesota Law Review

In January 1917, Professor Henry J. Fletcher launched the Minnesota Law Review with lofty aspirations: “A well-conducted law review . . . ought to do something to develop the spirit of statesmanship as distinguished from a dry professionalism. It ought at the same time contribute a little something to the systematic growth of the whole law.” For the next forty years, in conjunction with the Minnesota State Bar Association, the faculty of the University of Minnesota Law School directed the work of student editors of the Law Review. Despite their initial oversight and vision, however, the faculty gradually handed the editorial mantle over to law students.

During the years 1954 and 1955, the “Faculty” editors left the masthead of the journal, the affiliation with the State Bar was severed, and the faculty Editor-in-Chief quietly assumed the role of “advisor.” From April 1955 through June 1989, a student President oversaw the publication. Then, in October of 1989, the student staff revived the role of Editor-in-Chief, a title now worn by a student. Today, the Board of Editors, consisting of up to thirty-nine editors, governs the Law Review and determines its policies and procedures. Along with thirty-eight student staff members, each Board of Editors strives to rise to the challenge of Professor Fletcher to “contribute a little something to the systematic growth of the whole law.”

About This Site

Law Review

The Law Review tab contains abstracts and full PDF versions of the Articles and Notes appearing in our current print edition. Each volume of the Law Review is published in six issues, with cover dates of November, December, February, April, May, and June. The average issue is 300 pages long and includes professional and student pieces.

Professional authors are primarily law school professors and practitioners with an expertise in a particular area of law, who submit articles for evaluation and possible publication. The Law Review receives approximately 2500 such submissions each year.

The Law Review also publishes student notes and case comments. A student note is a comprehensive analysis of an important and timely area of law. A case comment focuses on a specific case and analyzes how that case changes or develops the law.

Headnotes

The Headnotes tab contains full content from the current issue of Headnotes, the Minnesota Law Review's online companion. Currently this content is published twice a year (Fall and Spring), and consists of short Response pieces which respond to recent articles from our print edition. If you are interested in submitting a Response piece, please visit our Headnotes Submissions page.

Submissions

The Submissions tab contains guidelines for submitting content to the Minnesota Law Review and Headnotes, along with an online submission form for Headnotes.

The Minnesota Law Review is published six times a year in November, December, February, April, May, and June by the Minnesota Law Review Foundation. Submissions for Volume 94 of the Minnesota Law Review are currently open. Please see the Law Review Submissions page for more information.

Headnotes is the Minnesota Law Review's online companion, and currently publishes Response pieces twice a year (Fall and Spring). The Minnesota Law Review will consider for publication any piece responding to any recent Article, Essay, or Note appearing in our print volume. There is no specific submissions window for Headnotes Response pieces. Please see the Headnotes Submissions page for more information.

Symposium

The Symposium tab contains information on the Law Review's upcoming and previous symposia, including event agendas, ticket information, panelist lists, and videos.

The Minnesota Law Review hosts its annual symposium at the University of Minnesota Law School every fall. The symposium features a day of panel discussions on a given legal topic, with invited panelists that often include professors, judges, and practitioners. Each year's topic is chosen by the incoming board of student editors, and the event itself is coordinated by our Symposium Editor. The Symposium Editor also serves as the acting Editor-in-Chief for the "Symposium Issue" (Issue 5) of the Law Review, released every May, which is devoted to the short pieces prepared by the symposium panelists.

Membership

The Membership tab includes the current and past Mastheads, which list the staff and board members for each volume, as well as information about petitioning to join the Law Review. The Law Review is authorized to have 78 members, of whom no more than thirty-nine may be board members. No more than two staff members may be students in their final year of legal studies.

Each board includes two Managing and Research Editors who fulfill half their Law Review duties by organizing the petition process to select new staff members. The Research Editors organize a Petition Committee composed of themselves and members of other University of Minnesota law journals; the Research Editors report to the Editor-in-Chief.

After petitions are completed, each board member, except the EIC, Research Editors, and the Lead Managing Editor, must read and score petitions. The EIC and Research Editors read and score petitioners’ Personal Statements. The Lead Managing Editor scores the Bluebook Exercises. After scoring is complete, the Research Editors report to the EIC which petitioners should be made offers of staff positions, based on these criteria:

21 positions chosen by petition score only;
9 positions chosen by (1) fifty-percent grades and (2) fifty-percent petition score;
9 positions chosen by (1) seventy-five percent petition score and (2) twenty-five percent personal statement.

In all cases, the Bluebook Exercise is worth 20% of the petition score.

Every year the staff elects its Editor-in-Chief for the next year's volume, and the remainder of the staff is impaneled into editorial board positions by the outgoing board members.

Alumni

The Alumni tab includes the Law Review alumni directory, the Fletcher Files alumni newsletter, and information about the distinguished alumni awards and the annual Law Review Banquet.