The
call
for
law
schools
to
pay
students
who
staff
prestigious
law
reviews
and
journals
is
growing.
Those
familiar
with
the
law
school
game
know
law
students
compete
with
one
another
for
the
“right”
to
do
a
lot
of
grunt
work
for
journals.
In
return,
they’re
given
zero
dollars
but
a
CV
entry.
At
a
handful
of
law
schools
(such
as
University
of
Pennsylvania
and
Vanderbilt
University),
you
might
earn
credit
hours
for
the
work,
but
that’s
about
it.
The
movement
to
change
all
that
began
at
NYU
Law,
where
law
students
who
cannot
dine
out
on
prestige
alone
signed
a
petition
asking
for
more
from
the
university.
The
American
Bar
Association’s
House
of
Delegates
agrees
—
confirming
that
that
law
schools
should
be
paying
law
review
editors,
either
in
cash
or
school
credit.
Now
journal
editors
across
the
country
are
coming
together
to
demand
compensation
and
call
for
solidarity
with
other
journals.
Thus
far,
the
following
journals
have
signed
onto
the
demand:
-
CUNY
Law
Review -
Georgetown
Environmental
Law
Review -
Georgetown
Immigration
Law
Journal -
Georgetown
Journal
of
Gender
and
the
Law -
Georgetown
Journal
of
Law
&
Modern
Critical
Race
Perspectives -
Georgetown
Journal
on
Poverty
Law
&
Policy -
Georgetown
Law
Technology
Review -
Journal
of
National
Security
Law
&
Policy -
NYU
Environmental
Law
Journal -
NYU
Review
of
Law
and
Social
Change -
Stanford
Environmental
Law
Journal -
Stanford
Law
&
Policy
Review -
Stanford
Law
Review -
UCLA
Law
Chicanx-Latinx
Law
Review -
UCLA
Law
Disability
Law
Journal -
UCLA
Law
Review -
Yale
Law
&
Policy
Review
A
compelling
part
of
the
argument
for
compensation
is
that
as
a
time-consuming
volunteer
position,
the
prestigious
position
is
effectively
being
gatekept
from
those
who
need
to
earn
money
to
support
themselves
while
in
law
school:
Working
as
a
journal
editor
prevents
students
from
working
to
support
themselves
while
in
school,
and
this
in
turn
serves
a
powerful
gatekeeping
function
in
legal
academia.
Students
face
a
debt
crisis,
and,
in
a
country
that
has
built
its
educational
system
on
the
profit
interests
of
corporate
loan
providers
and
servicers,
this
reality
pushes
financially
precarious
students
away
from
journal
work.
This
leads
to
less
diverse
journals
turning
out
blinkered
legal
scholarship.
For
students,
this
means
only
those
who
can
afford
to
work
on
journals
are
granted
the
reputational
prestige
it
confers
for
clerkships,
firm
associateships,
and
other
competitive
legal
positions.
The
students
who
do
join
journals
face
greater
financial
burdens,
which
disincentivizes
them
from
future
public
interest
work.
The
commitments
our
universities
have
made
to
diversity
and
inclusion
and
the
public
interest
are
simply
irreconcilable
with
uncompensated
labor.
Which
seems
like
a
great
reason
to
change
how
law
journals
have
historically
been
handled.
Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of
The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
email
her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
follow
her
on
Twitter
@Kathryn1 or
Mastodon
@Kathryn1@mastodon.social.