Thank you for your interest in becoming a member of the California Law Review. Students may seek membership after completion of their first year of study at Berkeley Law. If you have any questions about becoming a member after reviewing the information below, please contact Senior Development Editor Jessica Spierer at jspierer@berkeley.edu.

General Requirements

To become a member of the California Law Review, students must satisfy the following preliminary requirements:

1. Applicant must be a student registered at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law in one of the following programs:

  • JD
  • Concurrent Degree Programs
    • JD/ JSP
    • JD/ MA (four years)
    • JD/ MA/PhD (Economics Department, JSP)
    • JD/ MBA (Haas)
    • JD/ MCP (Department of City and Regional Planning)
    • JD/ MJ (Graduate School of Journalism)
    • JD/ MPP (Goldman School of Public Policy)
    • JD/ MSW (Graduate School of Social Welfare)

2. Applicant must have completed one year of study at Berkeley Law.

3. Applicant must not have already received a JD at Berkeley Law or any other law school.

Ways to Become a Member

There are two ways to become a member of the California Law Review, either by successfully participating in the Write-On Competition or by publishing a piece on the California Law Review.

WRITE-ON COMPETITION
This competition is held annually after the completion of the spring semester for rising second-year students and in the beginning of the fall semester for transfer students. During the 10-day competition, applicants complete a casenote, editing packet, and a personal statement. Membership decisions are made solely on these components. Grades are not considered. Both successful continuing student applicants and transfer students will be notified over the summer, prior to On-Campus Interview Week, and start membership duties in the fall semester. Please see the Write-On Competition page for more information.

PUBLISHING A PIECE ON CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW
The California Law Review welcomes submission of student pieces from Berkeley Law students pursuing JD and concurrent degree programs.  If a submission is accepted for publication before March 1 of the student’s 3L year, an offer of membership may accompany the publication offer. Please see the Notes page for more information.

Frequently Asked Questions

Although Berkeley Law has thirteen student-run law reviews and journals, only one of them, the California Law Review, runs a write-on competition for transfer students in July (you may join the other twelve simply by volunteering). This year, the competition will begin on Monday, July 5 at 5:00 pm PT/8:00 pm ET and end on Thursday, July 15 5:00 pm PT/8:00 pm ET. Successful applicants will be expected to attend a CLR orientation. The date for orientation is still being determined but we are asking all applicants to reserve the weekend before school starts, August 14 and 15. Any potential transfer student may take part in the write-on regardless of whether he or she has yet been accepted or committed to Berkeley Law.

Those who wish to participate should email Senior Development Editor Jessica Spierer at jspierer@berkeley.edu by July 1, 2021. In the body of the email, please provide the following information:

  • Your first, middle, and last name;
  • Preferred email address;
  • phone number; and
  • birth date

The California Law Review does not consider membership on another law review to select our membership and does not transfer membership from another law review to the California Law Review. Each transfer must participate in the Write-On competition and membership decisions will be made based on the competition materials only.

At this time, LLM, JSP, and JSD students may not become members of the California Law Review. If you are also completing another degree listed under the General Requirements (above), you may participate.