For students who think theLaw School Admissions Test could have gone better Saturday, a new undergraduate law publication is helping students bone up on legal education and other topics in the field.
The first issue of the Yale Undergraduate Law Review, published Thursday, addresses issues in international and domestic lawand includes a section on legal education for prospective law students at Yale.
David Chan ’12, editor in chief of the publication, said he had the idea of starting an undergraduate legal journal in his freshman year when he realized that other Ivy League schools such as Princeton, Columbia,Dartmouth andHarvard had such publications. Chan said he decided to begin a reviewto raise awareness of legal issues on campus, stimulate discussion and give students advice on law school applications, interviews and possible career options.
“Yale has a great law school and I want to bring the enthusiasm from the law school to campus,” Chan said.
To launch the review, the staff invited Justice Ellen Ash Peters LAW ’54, the first female chief justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court.
“My time spent on legal writing at Yale Law School prepared me well to be a judge, and it is encouraging to know that you are starting off now,” Peters told members of the review. “It will serve as a useful foundation for your career.”
Peters said she was fortunate to have studied law as an academic at YLS before going on to a career in the Supreme Court. Writing about law rather than arguing for one side or the other allows a person to see the implications of a case more clearly, she said.
She also encouraged students to find a role in the legal profession that suits their specific interests.
Peters declined to comment on a feature in the first issue of the Review about the recent raid of Morse-Stiles Screw, which compares the incident to similar cases on other college campuses.
Other articles in the issue range from a study of Sharia Law to an interview with Josh Rubenstein, dean of admissions at Harvard Law School.
The law school already puts out the Yale Law Journal, which publishes articles by legal professionals and law students.
MengJia Yang ’12, one of the review’s managing editors, said the new publication will fill a different niche than YLJ because it is intended for undergraduates who do not necessarily have backgrounds in law. In contrast, the journal uses denser legal language and assumes an in-depth knowledge of law, she said.
Chan, Yang and David Trinh ’12, also a managing editor, sought guidance from YLS professors last spring, Chan said. Clinical Professor of Law James Silk and Senior Research Scholar in Law Linda Greenhouse are both listed as advisors on the masthead of the new publication.
Chan said he and others on the editorial board hope to expand, adding that students have already shown an interest in contributing to the magazine.
The Yale Undergraduate Law Review will publish three times a year and is staffed by approximately 40 undergraduates.