Founded in 1912, CLR was the first law review in the Western United States and the ninth legal publication in the country. Its creators saw the journal as a vehicle for reform. Today, as Berkeley Law’s primary publication, CLR is completely student-run and posts cutting-edge legal scholarship from a variety of topics and viewpoints. The journal’s print and web editions collectively publish over 100 pieces each year, including articles, essays, student notes, blogs, and podcast episodes. Our past work includes:
- The Equal Protection of the Laws by Joseph Tussman and Jacobus tenBroek
- Privacy by William Prosser
- Legal Implications of Network Economic Effects by Mark A. Lemley and David McGowan
- Law and Behavioral Science: Removing the Rationality Assumption from Law and Economics by Russell B. Korobkin and Thomas S. Ulen
- Silence at the California Law Review by Amy DeVaudreuil, which exposed institutional racism within the journal
- The Dual Lives of Rights: The Rhetoric and Practice of Rights in America by Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III
- Masculinity as Prison: Sexual Identity, Race, and Incarceration by Russell K. Robinson.
Alumni include Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Marsha Berzon, California Supreme Court Justices Rose Bird, Roger J. Traynor, Allen Broussard, and Kathryn Werdegar, U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson, Professor Barbara Armstrong (the first woman law professor in the United States), and Professor Michael Tigar.
Submission Requirements:
- Articles should be less than 35,000 words (including footnotes).
- CLR considers pieces that are substantially legal in nature and will accept pieces that would traditionally be considered articles, essays, or book reviews.
- Citations should conform to the 21st edition of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation.
- Please include with your submission the following information for each author:
- Name
- Mailing Address
- Email Address
- Phone Number
- Author’s CV
We give offers of publications on the phone. Our policy is to give authors 24 hours to decide whether or not to accept an offer of publication. If an author has requested an expedited review, our policy is to give an offer of publication that must be accepted on the phone.
Expedite Requests
Regrettably, California Law Review is not able to confirm receipt of an expedite request, but an editor will be in contact if there is interest in the piece.
Articles
Articles attempt to situate novel ideas within existing legal conversations. Articles generally provide a comprehensive treatment of a particular area of law and follow a traditional roadmap of an introduction, background information, arguments, and conclusion.
Essays
Essays typically start new conversations, rather than entering existing ones by employing methodologies atypical for law review article. When evaluating pieces for publication, the Articles & Essays Department will look for work that methodologically, stylistically, or topically diverges from more familiar modes of legal scholarship. We are especially interested in pieces that make us think about the law in new and different ways.
Book Reviews
Book reviews provide scholars with an opportunity to advance the conversation in their discipline by anchoring their commentary in a substantial work by a different author. The California Law Review looks for book reviews that place an author’s original research in conversation with existing works.
