Membership on the Law Review

Students who have completed their first-year course load can obtain membership on the Dayton Law Review by grading on or writing on, as described below:  

Grade-On: One way to obtain membership is by grading on.  Students who successfully grade on will receive an invitation after first year grades have been submitted and approved by the administration.  To grade on the Dayton Law Review, students must be ranked in at least the top 12 percent of their class. Students who move up into the top 12 percent of their class after their second year will also be invited to join the Dayton Law Review as a staff writer.

Write-On: Another way to become a member of the Dayton Law Review is to write on during the annual Write-On Competition. This competition is open to all students who have completed their program’s first year requirements and have a GPA of at least 2.3. The competition consists of writing a Casenote, with a required length of 8-15 pages (double-spaced text, footnotes & proper ALWD citation required).

The Law Review does not limit the number of members that will be accepted through the write-on process. We encourage all qualified students to participate in the competition. New members will be selected through the write on competition solely based on the quality of their writing, the accuracy of their citation, and the capacity of the Dayton Law Review to accept new members.

What is expected of members of the Dayton Law Review  

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

Writing Requirement: Staff writers of the Dayton Law Review must complete a Comment that is deemed publishable by the Editorial Board of the Dayton Law Review. 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 Dayton Law Review. 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 Dayton Law Review.  This is largely accomplished through the cite check process, which entails a comprehensive edit of articles that will be published by the Dayton 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.