George Mason Law Review is a student-managed academic journal that publishes four issues a year. Members select and edit scholarly articles written by law professors and practitioners that greatly contribute to the field of legal scholarship. Members also have the opportunity to write a casenote or comment, a number of which are published in George Mason Law Review. All first-year students who have a desire to participate in this organization should prepare for both the challenges and the fulfillment of membership. The following list briefly outlines membership requirements and responsibilities:

The Write-On Competition

• Students who wish to become Candidate Members of the Law Review MUST participate in the annual Write-On Competition. The Write-On Competition packet is released shortly after the conclusion of spring finals in mid-May.

• Participants in the Write-On Competition write a short casenote or comment using only the cases and articles in the competitor’s packet. No other research is allowed. Participants also must complete a short editing exercise.

• The same casenote or comment can be used for application to George Mason Law Review, Civil Rights Law Journal, Journal of International Commercial Law, Journal of Law, Economics & Policy, and National Security Law Journal. For examples of previous student casenotes and comments, please see the Issues page of this website (http://www.georgemasonlawreview.org/issues).

• For information on the 2012 Write-on Competition, see the Write-On Info page.

Membership Selection

• The Write-On selection process is conducted anonymously. Law Review will not know the identities of Write-on participants until after they are selected.

• Law Review can only extend offers of membership to students in the top half of the class, based on cumulative GPA for the first year.

• Law Review will select participants for candidate membership from two pools. Law Review reads every submission in both Pools. Participants in the top 15% of the first-year class will comprise Pool 1. Law Review will make offers for Candidate Membership to two-thirds of participants in Pool 1, based on the scores of their Write-on submissions. Those not selected from Pool 1 will have their entries included in Pool 2 for further review. The remaining offers for Candidate Membership will go to the participants who have the best entries in Pool 2. The number of offers made is at the discretion of the Review Committee.

• Law Review extends membership offers to approximately thirty to thirty-five students each year. The Law Review extends offers in mid-July.

Candidate and Full Membership

• Candidate Members must complete a footnote editing assignment in mid-August and attend an orientation before the fall semester starts.

• Candidate Members do not become Full Members until they (1) write a casenote or comment of publishable quality; (2) complete all required spading assignments (footnote editing) and other journal work; and (3) complete a training program on writing a casenote or comment.

• Full Members have an opportunity to apply for positions on the Board of Editors in the spring. The new Board will be responsible for managing Law Review the following year.

Transfer Students

• Law Review holds a separate Write-on in early July for interested transfer applicants. Participants are judged solely on the submission of a short casenote or comment similar to that required for the first-year Write-On Competition.

If you have any questions regarding this process, Law Review, or membership in general, please contact Editor-in-Chief Matthew Bowles at eic@georgemasonlawreview.org .