As you probably know, there are four legal journals on campus: Connecticut Law Review, Connecticut Insurance Law Journal, Connecticut International Law Journal, and the Connecticut Public Interest Law Journal. Many students, and more importantly employers, see journal membership as an asset to resumes and a great experience that shapes you into an excellent writer. To snag these sharp legal writing skills you need to opt into competing in the Journal Write On Competition during the summer. Unless you grade-on onto a journal (meaning you are ranked high enough in your class that you are offered a spot), then you have to compete for a spot. It’s a closed material, two part competition, where you have to write essentially a short journal note on a predetermined topic, and complete a Blue Booking exercise where you flex your footnote formatting muscles. There is also an "Alternate Write On" that the Public Interest Journal holds for those who are only interest in a seat on its journal. The competition unfortunately takes places right around the end of June. The experience is just about as fun as you think it will be, but thankfully taking the time out of your summer to compete is well worth it. Being a member of any of the Journals on campus will definitely enhance your law school experience.
With your submission, you rank in order
of your preference as to which journal you would like to join. The process works kind of like sorority/fraternity bidding. The summer that I received my Journal Write On competition materials I rushed to print out the whole packet (a totally unnecessary move) and then I put it on my desk and didn't pick it up again for a few days. This was a bad move as I should've started reading on the first day. Over 400 pages of reading material and learning the Blue Book takes more than just a few afternoons (good thing I had my kitten to help me). Many people told me to take time off work which I luckily did. Those few days I took off work ended up being a life saver. After going through the process, I thankfully got everything done in time, and a
week or two later, I accepted a position on the Connecticut Law Review, my top pick.
Before the semester ends, all of the
journals hold an information session to more clearly outline exactly how the
competition works and what it entails (a lot better than I have). If this hasn’t scared you away from
competing (which it shouldn't), your time competing will be more than worth it. With some hard
work and time management, Write On won’t be a daunting task at all and you’ll be sure
to land the journal you wanted.
