Indiana Law’s highly regarded law journals enable second- and third-year students to conduct and publish original legal research as well as edit work by prominent legal scholars.
The journal write-on competition for the rising second-year class begins at the end of the spring final exam period and typically lasts two weeks. Students must participate in the write-on competition to be considered for membership on a journal. The competition involves a closed universe of materials and an assignment that will allow students to demonstrate their ability to edit and form proper citations. Participation in journal can only be accomplished by participation in the write-on competition immediately after a student’s first year.
Each year, the editorial boards determine the criteria and policies regarding membership. Typically, joint-degree students may defer their start date for one year, or they can begin in the upcoming fall semester. Some journals allow their associates to study abroad.
Founded in 1925, the Indiana Law Journal is a general-interest academic legal journal and the Law School's flagship journal. ILJ publishes original articles by a distinguished and diverse selection of authors, including Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Justice Hugo Black, Former U.S. Solicitor General Seth P. Waxman, and Prof. Cass Sunstein. Students select, edit, and verify the accuracy and form of cited sources in the articles. The Journal also publishes several student-written articles. The opportunity to become a member of ILJ is available to select students at the end of their first year. Invitations are extended based on an editing and proofreading competition that takes place at the end of the first year. For more information, please contact Rita Eads, Journal Coordinator.
The Indiana Journal of Constitutional Design is the first journal devoted specifically to the emerging field of constitutional design. This new field examines the ways in which basic legal ordering (the law that creates the fundamental power structures of a given country) shapes and is shaped by political, economic, and cultural conditions. This online journal publishes a range of different materials, including not only traditional articles and student notes, but also taxonomies of design options on particular subjects, explorations of specific drafting issues in particular countries, and reflections by those with experience in constitutional drafting and design. The goal of the Journal is to help develop this emerging field by providing information and ideas to both scholars and practitioners of constitutional drafting. The Journal is affiliated with the school's Center for Constitutional Democracy.
The Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies publishes articles by distinguished legal scholars focusing on issues of globalization and international law. Each issue generally contains articles by authors from many different countries. Select students are invited to join the staff during the summer following their first year of law school. Invitations are extended based on first-year academic performance and a writing competition that takes place at the end of the first year. Students edit and proofread articles, and verify the accuracy and form of cited sources. The journal also publishes several student-written articles. For more information, please contact Rita Eads, Journal Coordinator.
The purpose of the online Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality is to serve as an interdisciplinary academic forum for scholars, practitioners, policy-makers, and students to contribute to society's understanding of legal and policy issues concerning race, religion, gender, and class.
Membership in the Journal consists of second- and third-year students who have exhibited a demonstrated commitment to social equality through relevant discipline, employment, or volunteer work and who have had exemplary performance in their first-year studies.
The Journal was founded by Jalil Dozier, JD'11, and Alex Simpson, JD'11. Prof. Luis Fuentes-Rohwer is the faculty advisor. Please contact the current Editor-in-Chief at ijlse@indiana.edu.
IP Theory, founded in 2010, is an online, peer-edited, open-access intellectual property law publication, affiliated with the school's Center for Intellectual Property Research (CIPR). In addition to publishing conventional articles, IP Theory serves as a forum for essays, opinion pieces, and literature reviews, of which are more concise than typical law review articles. As such, IP Theory is free from many constraints of traditional law journals and provides authors with a variety of formats to commentate, present research, and inform the IP community about developments in the law and legal practice.
Faculty members and the student board solicit and select content. Student editors further manage logistics and editing, enabling a fast turnover of manuscripts. Articles are published on a rolling basis as soon as the review process is complete. For more information, please contact Prof. Mark Janis, CIPR's director, or Prof. Michael Mattioli, the journal's faculty advisor.