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Brooklyn Law Review   |    Brooklyn Journal of International Law   |   Journal of Law & Policy
Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial and Commercial Law   |   Students Home

General Information   |    Subscriptions   |    Submission Policy   |    Member Information
Open Note Process   |    Vance Competition   |    Current Issue   |    Past Issues

The Open Note Competition is an alternative way to become a member of the Brooklyn Journal of International Law. Notes may be submitted at any time during a student’s second, third, or fourth year. The Competition’s procedures are described below and must be followed precisely. Students with questions or concerns about the Open Note Competition may contact the Managing Editor at intl-ljme@brooklaw.edu.

Contents of a Student Note
To participate in the Competition, students must write a Note on an international law topic. A Note is a scholarly article that thoroughly analyzes and evaluates a legal issue and has the following qualities:

  • The Note should be written in a clear and concise manner.
  • The Note’s introduction should have a clear statement of its thesis.
  • The Note should describe the relevant law (e.g., cases or treaties) in relation to the thesis.
  • The body of the Note should progress logically to its conclusion, and use appropriate headings and subheadings to guide the reader.
  • The Note must not be preempted. Students are responsible for conducting a preemption check of all other publications prior to writing and submitting their Note.
All Notes must be formatted as follows:
  • Notes must be double-spaced and in 12 point, Times New Roman font.
  • Footnotes, rather than endnotes, must be used. Footnotes must be single-spaced and in 10 point font.
  • Notes should be between 25 and 35 pages in length and drafted using Microsoft Word, although papers longer than 35 pages will be accepted.
  • Any assertion that does not represent the student’s own idea or expression requires a footnote that refers to an authoritative source. Accordingly, a completed paper may have anywhere between 175 and 250 footnotes.
  • All footnotes must be in proper Bluebook (18th ed. 2005) form.
We strongly suggest that students submitting to the Open Note Competition peruse for guidance the student Note sections in journals and law reviews, especially those in the Brooklyn Journal of International Law. Also, students who have gained Journal membership through the Competition have found the assistance of professors and librarians invaluable to the writing process.

Students submitting to the Competition should retain a copy of each source to which they cite. If the Journal accepts a student and gives the option to publish, the student will have to produce all such sources cited.

Levels of Membership
Participants in the Open Note Competition have the possibility of attaining two levels of membership:
  1. Membership only: The Journal offers the participant membership, but not the option to publish.
  2. Membership with publication: The Journal offers the participant membership and the option to publish in the Journal.

Duties and Responsibilities Accompanying Membership
Students receiving membership will have full staff responsibilities immediately upon their acceptance of membership. These responsibilities include weekly assignments from the Journal’s Managing Editor. Students will receive one credit upon successful completion of their journal responsibilities. Students will also receive one credit for their Note, regardless of whether it is published, provided they have not already received credit for the Note.

Form of Submission
Students must leave two copies of their Notes in the Editor-in-Chief’s mailbox.

Important:: Students must not write their name or contact information anywhere on their Note. Instead, students should include the last four digits of their Social Security number in a header on their Note, place their name and contact information in a sealed envelope with this number written on it, and submit the envelope with their Note. This will ensure confidentiality in the reviewing process.

Deadline for Submission
The 2008-2009 Open Note Competition Deadline is 5:00 p.m. on Friday, January 16.

Review of Notes
The Editor-in-Chief of the Journal reviews submitted Notes and makes membership/publication decisions. As the volume of submissions varies from year to year, there is not a set date upon which students will be contacted.


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This page last modified on: January 22, 2009.