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Monday, May 08, 2006
Prawfsblawg -- Your Yale Law Journal Debate Trading Post
This from Daniel Solove, passing on the Yale Law Journal's announcement that it is looking for two good men (or women, or etc.), so to speak. The Journal is asking for twinned submissions so it can publish good scholarly debates/dialogues.
An excellent idea. I think many law reviews below the mysterious top 40 or so, who face a difficult competition to retain the best articles, ought to be especially active in experimenting with this idea. For many legal scholars, who desire above all (well, almost above all) to be read, it might well be worthwhile to forego a more prominent placement in favor of a somewhat less prominent journal that guarantees that one's article will be given the serious treatment of a response (and that offers the original author a reply opportunity). This is also an excellent opportunity for those law reviews to promote the professors at their own school, since these professors would be among the natural candidates for the job of writing the response. I've been pushing this idea on my home institution's journal for a while; sorry to see that Yale, which doesn't need the extra lift, is as brilliant and thoughtful about the law review publication process as I am. Get on it, folks at other journals.
Meanwhile, I'm happy to offer Prawfsblawg as your one-stop Internet trading post for those authors who want to pool their efforts and submit twinned articles to the YLJ. Our comments space can be your scholarly Craigslist, people. If you have an article you think is strongly worthwhile and are wondering if anyone might be working on something similar, or if someone out there is willing to catch your draft by working on a response this summer, feel free to let us know via the comments. I'm working on a number of pieces this summer, particularly one on behavioral analysis of law, identity theory, and separation of powers, and would be more than happy to co-submit to Yale with anyone who is willing to spend some time explaining why I am an idiot. (About the article, I mean. If I wanted general comments on that topic, I could just call my mom.)
Posted by Paul Horwitz on May 8, 2006 at 11:50 AM in Life of Law Schools | Permalink
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Via Concurring Opinions, I see that the Yale Law Journal (which already did something surprisingly sharp and cutting edge with its Pocket Part) is putting out a call for debate-style papers. Two professors with opposing views submit somewhat incomple... [Read More]
Tracked on May 8, 2006 5:12:48 PM
Comments
A suggestion for all the twinning-inclined folks out there: why not bust it open beyond the confined of Yale by getting together to debate and then submitting widely as a debate team?
Posted by: Paul Gowder | May 8, 2006 6:22:10 PM
YLJ has also been sending around to faculty a "call for papers" e-mail in conjunction with this proposal. The trouble is, it's almost certainly not a real opportunity. In the end, they'll pick two predictable authors based on name recognition. Still, if this encourages other journals to follow the debate format, that might be a good thing.
Posted by: JD | May 8, 2006 12:44:11 PM
YLJ has also been sending around to faculty a "call for papers" e-mail in conjunction with this proposal. The trouble is, it's almost certainly not a real opportunity. In the end, they'll pick two predictable authors based on name recognition. Still, if this encourages other journals to follow the debate format, that might be a good thing.
Posted by: JD | May 8, 2006 12:43:06 PM
The YLJ really should entitle this feature "Pistols for Two," though The Baffler was there first.
Posted by: Plainsman | May 8, 2006 12:18:40 PM
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