Become a Member of the Law Review

Grading or Writing on

Students who have completed their first-year course load can obtain membership in the University of Dayton Law Review through grade-on or write-on process.

Grade-On:
Students who finish their first-year course load within the top 15% of their cohort will automatically receive an invitation to join the Law Review as a staff writer.  Additionally, Students who finish their second-year course load within the top 15% of their cohort will also automatically receive an invitation to join the Law Review as a staff writer.

Write-On:
The Law Review annually holds an annual, anonymous Write-On Competition. This competition is open to all students who have completed, at a minimum, their first-year course load and possess a GPA of 2.3 or more. The Write-On Competition consists of writing a Casenote, with a required length of 8-15 pages (double-spaced text, footnotes and proper Bluebook citation required).

The Law Review does not limit the number of members that will be accepted through the Write-On Competition. We encourage all qualified students to participate! New members will be selected solely based on the quality of their writing, the accuracy of their citations, and the capacity of the Law Review to accept new members.

Expectations of Law Review Members

Membership in the Dayton Law Review requires the fulfillment of the following:

Writing Requirement:
Staff writers of the Law Review must complete a Comment that is deemed publishable by the Editorial Board. After the successful submission of a publishable Comment, the staff writer has satisfied the writing requirement. In addition, some of the student Comments will be selected for publication in the Law Review through an annual, anonymous Write-On Competition. A published paper is viewed by the legal community as both a great honor and significant addition to any résumé.

Publication Work:  
Staff writers are also required to assist in the editing of articles that will be published in the Law Review. This is largely accomplished through the cite check process, which entails a comprehensive edit of articles that will be published by the Law Review. Staff writers form the backbone of the editing process, and are directly responsible for ensuring the substantive and technical quality of published articles.