Membership on the University of Memphis Law Review is limited to second- and third-year law students who are selected based on their performance in a competition held during the summer of their 1L year.

After successfully completing the required courses of a full-time first year law student, and achieving a GPA of 2.50 or higher, the law student is eligible to participate in the summer competition.  Part-time law students and transfer students are also eligible to participate once they have completed the required courses of a full-time first year law student and have met the GPA requirements.  Second-year transfers are eligible to compete once they complete the second year coursework and have met the GPA requirements. 

Selection

Up to thirty rising 2Ls will be chosen as staff members of the Law Review.

The three highest-ranked students in each section of the first-year class at the end of the first year will receive automatic invitations to be Law Review staff members pending completion of the summer competition.

Selection of the other staff members is based on the results of the summer competition, which is designed to demonstrate the students’ aptitude for legal scholarly writing, researching, and cite checking.

The competitors are required to write a Case Comment on a recent state or federal case, as well as complete a citation and editing exam for a piece of unpublished work.  The anonymous competition is scored by the Editorial Board and the top scoring 2Ls are then selected as Staff Members.

Membership

If selected for membership on the Law Review, the duties for 2Ls and 3Ls include line editing and cite checking the articles chosen for publication.  Additionally, 2L members must write their own work of legal scholarship, the student Note.  The Note is roughly thirty to fifty pages in length, and explores a specific issue within an area of law.

Rising 3L members may apply for positions on the Law Review Editorial Board.  The Editorial Board is responsible for day-to-day operations of each facet of the journal:  article selection and editing, cite checking supervision and reconciliation, and student Note consultation. 

Student Publications

Each year, the Law Review selects a number of student works to publish.  Selected student Notes and the winning Case Comment from the summer competition are published throughout the year.  In conjunction with the faculty, the Editor-in-Chief and the Senior Notes Editor select the best students Notes of those published.  The top three ranking Notes receive a cash award and plaque for their achievement.  

Credit

Senior Staff members who have received credit approval for a Note and who have satisfactorily completed all editorial assignments receive three credits in their graduation semester, as well as satisfaction of the legal writing requirement.

Editorial Board members who have received credit approval for a Note, and who have satisfactorily completed all editorial assignments and all Editorial Board requirements, receive four credits in their graduation semester.