The American Bar Association has weighed in on behalf of students who want either academic credit or money for working on law review.
The ABA’s House of Delegates passed a resolution in August that urges law schools to give either academic credit or remuneration to students who serve as editors of law reviews or other academic journals, which are student-run scholarly publications.
“These editor roles are time-consuming and valuable credentials that could boost a law student’s employment opportunities,” the report said.
The issue came to the forefront in the spring when the executive boards of seven legal journals at New York University School of Law asked the school to allow students to either be paid for their law review work or be given the maximum number of academic credits. NYU only awards editors one or two academic credits, depending on the number of hours worked, and does not permit second-year students to obtain any credit.
ABA regulations allow students to receive one academic credit for every 42.5 hours of work. The ABA resolution, which was sponsored by the Virgin Islands Bar Association, acknowledged that the majority of law schools already give academic credit or modest compensation, but some do not.
“If implemented [the resolution] will allow a greater number of law students from lower-income or diverse backgrounds to serve as law journal editors and reap the benefits thereof,” and that students who have to work to support themselves are often turned down for law review positions because they don’t have enough time to do both.
According to the resolution, “the law schools that offer either credit or compensation — or even both simultaneously — did so because the high level of work involved in participating in law journals precluded students from obtaining outside employment, not only during the school year but frequently for part of the summer as well.”
