Duties and Responsibilities

A. General Responsibilities & Requirements

• All editors must comply with the requirements of his/her position on the journal, from Editor-in-Chief to Summer Staff members.

• All assignments should be completed in a conscientious, efficient, and thorough manner. Each issue published by TILJ reflects the ability and skills of individual members on the journal. The quality of the journal will affect the reputation of TILJ and its current and past members.

• All editors must comply with the writing requirement during their membership. To be considered for publication, a staff editor must complete their piece before the end of their first-year of membership, usually by a deadline in mid-summer. See Section VIII for more information.

• All editors who are given an assignment (i.e. source pulls, Bluebook citation checks, substance checks, and ANE work) are required to respond to the assigning editor within 24 hours of receiving the assignment to confirm they received it and can complete it.

• All staff editors are required to attend one Final Read Weekend per semester. Final Read Weekends take place several times throughout the semester and are typically three (4) hours long. See Section VI for more information on Final Reads.

• All staff editors are required to report their weekly Final Read hours on the clipboard in the TILJ office; failure to complete weekly Final Read Hours without prior approval will result in an automatic strike.

B. Summer Staff Editors

General Description of Duties: Summer Staff editors are selected through an application process that takes place in the spring semester before their first-year of membership on TILJ. Each Summer Staff editor will be interviewed as part of the application process. Summer Staff editors work during the summer semester following their selection and perform many of the same tasks as Staff Editors. Summer Staff editors may also perform additional managerial and organizational tasks to prepare the journal office for the upcoming Volume. Summer Staff editors who satisfactorily complete 30 hours and fulfill the other requirements for membership set out in the Summer Staff membership contract will be offered full membership on TILJ.

Requirements: Summer Staff editors are required to complete three source sheets and any other assignment. Summer Staff editors must complete the assignments in order to become a Staff member.

Skills Required: This job is ideal for students who have, or would like to develop, strong writing and editing skills, attention to detail, and an interest in international law.

Note: Summer Staff editors are considered provisional members of TILJ and must represent themselves as such on résumés or similar documents. A Summer Staff editor who misrepresents his/her position on TILJ violates the Honor Code and may be dismissed from the journal. See section III regarding disciplinary matters.

C. First-Year Staff Editors

General Description of Duties: Staff Editors are students in their first-year of membership on TILJ. Staff Editors perform tasks necessary to publish the journal, including, but not limited to: locating and retrieving sources, Bluebook citation checks, “substance checks” (comparison of content of articles with the sources cited by authors), “final reads” (double checking articles for errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, accuracy, and citation prior to further editing by the Editorial Board), and other necessary duties.

Hours Requirement: First-Year Staff Editors are required to complete one final read hour per week, and three source sheets. Alternative assignments may be given in place of source sheets. See Section VI for more information on Final Reads. Additionally, Staff Editors are required to attend the TILJ Symposium.

Skills Required: This position is ideal for students who have strong writing and editing skills, attention to detail, and an interest in international law.

D. Senior Staff Editors

General Description of Duties: Senior Staff Editors are students in their second or higher year of membership on TILJ. As experienced TILJ members, Senior Staff Editors perform duties necessary to meet TILJ’s annual goals and play a vital role on the journal in terms of leadership and experience.

Hours Requirement: Senior Staff Editors are required to complete two hours of final read per month, and two source sheets. Alternative assignments may be given in place of source sheets. See Section VI for more information on Final Reads. Additionally, Senior Staff Editors are required to attend the TILJ Symposium. Time spent revising one’s own Student Notes or Comments in preparation for publication does not count towards the hours requirement.

Skills Required: This position is ideal for students who have strong writing and editing skills, attention to detail, general knowledge of some substantive areas of international law, experience in conducting research in international law, and leadership skills.

Study Abroad: Senior Staff Editors who will be studying abroad for a semester are required to complete at least one source sheet, panel attendance at the TILJ Symposium in the spring semester, and additional assignments. Senior Staff Editors have the option to complete their fall semester hours requirement in the summer before they leave for study abroad. Senior Staff Editors who happen to study abroad in the same institution are encouraged, but not required, to do Final Reads together. Senior Staff Editors are encouraged to discuss ways to meet requirements with the Editor-in-Chief the semester prior to their departure.

E. Editorial Board

General Description of Duties: The Editorial Board is made up of various positions, each encompassing a set of responsibilities. Generally, members of the Editorial Board will be assigning and delegating tasks to the Staff Editors. The assigning editors shall email the entire staff with a description of the task and its deadline, and instruct Staff Editors to respond within 24 hours (including in their response how many hours they have completed and whether they are a first-year or a senior Staff Editor). Staff Editors will then have 24 hours in which to respond to the assigning editor. The editor determines which Staff Editor will be selected based on their status (first-year or senior) and number of hours completed. Based on the needs of the journal, Staff Editors with fewer hours should be privileged. Once all positions have been filled, the assigning editor must send another email to the entire staff alerting them that the positions have been filled.

Hours Requirement: Members of the Editorial Board are required to complete two hours of table read each week. Due to the significant time commitment required for members of the Editorial Board based on their responsibilities, members of the Editorial Board are not required to log hours formally; however, noticeable deficiencies in workload or work quality may subject Editorial Board members to disciplinary proceedings. Additionally, members of the Editorial board are required to attend the TILJ Symposium.

Table Read: Each member of the Editorial Board is required to participate in Table Read, which occurs after Final Reads are completed on an article. Editorial Board members are expected to sign up for as many hours as possible, and Articles & Notes editors are expected to sign up for at least two (2) hours per week, barring special circumstances. See Section VII for more information on Table Reads.

Editor-in-Chief

General Description of Duties: The Editor-in-Chief (EIC) is in charge of the publication process, overall planning, and organization of TILJ. The EIC supervises the coordination of TILJ departments and works closely with other officers, such as the Submissions Editor, the Symposium Coordinator, and the Director of Development. The EIC gives final approval to every article before it is published. In addition, the EIC acts as TILJ’s liaison to the faculty and administration of the law school. The EIC is responsible for overseeing the entire TILJ staff. Since the EIC bears the ultimate responsibility for all TILJ activities, the EIC frequently has other duties.

Skills Required: The EIC performs the final edit on the articles and must be intimately familiar with the Bluebook and the Chicago Manual of Style. The EIC must have excellent writing, editing, leadership, management, and people skills.

Managing Editor - Business

General Description of Duties: The Managing Editor – Business (ME-B) controls the daily operations of TILJ and is responsible for handling all business issues. He/she works closely with the EIC to set the overall tone and pace of TILJ by recommending policy and maintaining direct responsibility for all business aspects of the journal, including finances and office supplies. The ME-B also works closely with the Director of Development and the Symposium Editor. The ME-B’s key responsibility is to handle all administrative staffing issues. The ME-B ensures that Staff Editors make satisfactory progress toward meeting their membership requirements. The ME-B also assists the EIC and Executive Editors (EEs) with the publication process by participating in Table Reads.

Skills Required: The ME-B must be comfortable with the management and instruction of his/her peers. The ME-B must know how to delegate and multitask. Because of the ME-B’s editorial duties, he/she should also be knowledgeable about the Bluebook and the Chicago Manual of Style.

Managing Editor - Publication

General Description of Duties: The Managing Editor – Publication (ME-P) is responsible for monitoring the publication process, formatting articles for publication, and overseeing the website and SharePoint. Monitoring the publication process includes signing up Staff Editors for Final Read, signing up the Editorial Board for Table Read, monitoring the progress of articles on SharePoint, and receiving regular updates from the RE, EEs, and ANEs to ensure that the process is flowing smoothly. The ME-P works with the Director of Media to keep the website and SharePoint up-to-date. He/she also formats articles for print and communicates with the publisher to get the articles published.

Skills Required: The ME-P must be comfortable with the management and instruction of his or her peers. The ME-P must know how to delegate and multitask. The ME-P must be familiar with Microsoft Office programs to prepare articles for publication according to TILJ conventions. Because of the ME-P’s editorial duties, he/she should also have strong Bluebook and Chicago Manual of Style skills.

Executive Editors

General Description of Duties: The Executive Editors (EEs) perform multiple edits of the article: they do the first read, during which they perform a general style edit and insert Find Authority footnotes (FAs); they perform an edit after the Articles and Notes Editor (ANE) completes the edit from source sheets; they review it with the ANE before it goes into Table Read (TR), and they actively participate in TR. Finally, the EEs work with the EIC on the implementation of all the author changes during the final stage of the editorial process. They serve as the EIC’s right hand and resident Bluebook and Chicago Manual of Style experts. As such, the EEs must ensure the overall clarity and stylistic consistency of every article. The EEs also provide training and oversight to ANEs. The EEs oversee the entire editing process and cleanups for each article. The EEs work with the EIC and the MEs to set and enforce deadlines in the publication schedule. Pending journal needs, the EEs may be asked to help participate with non-editing commitments as well, such as recruitment of new members.

Skills Required: The EEs must have excellent writing skills and the ability to apply Bluebook and Chicago Manual of Style rules with precision. The EEs must possess management skills enabling them to work with the EIC, MEs, the ANEs, and Staff Editors to conceptualize and coordinate the editing process.

Submissions and Student Notes Editors

General Description of Duties: The Submissions Editors head the Submissions Review Board (SRB), which reads and discusses the several hundred articles that legal scholars submit to TILJ each year. Together, the Submissions Editors, the SRB, and the EIC take part in the final decisions concerning publication. The Submissions Editors also maintain contact with authors regarding the submissions review process and work with UT professors to review articles. They are also responsible for organizing and steering the year-long student note competition for publication by TILJ as well as setting and enforcing deadlines for the various stages of the note-writing process. The Submissions Editors should play an active role in training Staff Editors to properly research and write a student note, and should address questions and problems regarding research, writing, and the note selection process of TILJ. In addition, the Submissions Editors may be asked to serve as the ANE for one or more student works that are selected for publication.

Skills Required: The Submissions Editors should have up-to-date knowledge of international legal affairs, should be avid readers, and should be able to comprehend a substantial amount of material in a short period of time. As the liaison with our authors and professors, the Submissions Editors should also have excellent communication skills.

Research Editor

General Description of Duties: The Research Editor (RE) coordinates the gathering of all the sources that TILJ encounters in the editing process, with the aim of having each source readily available when Staff Editors first begin their substance checks. This includes making Inter-Library Loans and communicating with the UT Library system and staff.

Skills Required: The RE should possess strong research skills and knowledge of library procedures.

Symposium Editor

General Description of Duties: The Symposium Editor’s primary responsibility is the planning of the annual symposium. The Symposium Editor must research the speaker panels and associated topics in order to intelligently present offers to speakers and to organize the symposium according to a high academic standard. The Symposium Editor must also be able to plan and coordinate transportation and lodging for dozens of symposium participants from around the world, dinners and lunches for sponsors and speakers. In addition, the Symposium Editor will coordinate and work closely with the Director of Development to ensure the promotion and marketing of the symposium to all relevant audiences (i.e., practicing attorneys, academics, local media, etc.), as well as providing budget information to both to ensure that adequate funding is obtained. The position also requires some fundraising and negotiation skills.

Skills Required: The job requires the ability to shape a novel and relevant topic, and to plan complex matters within a limited timeframe and budget. Editing and visual skills are needed to ensure that all communications and marketing are up to TILJ’s high standards. The Symposium Editor must properly delegate duties to TILJ Staff members and manage the conflicting politics between administration, sponsors, speakers, and students.

Articles & Notes Editors

General Description of Duties: The chief duty of Articles and Notes Editors (ANE) is to perform the primary textual and footnote edit on an article as well as organize and oversee the BBCC. ANEs must give special attention to substance. ANEs spend more time than other editors on each individual piece and therefore will only be responsible for one major piece during the year. ANEs may also be responsible for editing a shorter response to the article, to be published in the Forum, TILJ’s online publication. The ANEs must provide Staff Editors with feedback on their work along with any additional training they may need. Source sheet feedback must be given to Staff Editors within one month of the ANE’s receiving that source sheet. If a Staff Editor performs poorly on an assignment, ANEs are responsible for determining and correcting the problem. The ANEs should work closely with the MEs and EEs to rectify persistent problems with Staff Editors, although they do not have any individual disciplinary decision-making authority. Additional duties may include: finding translators for sources in foreign languages; coordinating with the RE to locate sources; and performing independent research to check the substance of the article.

Skills Required: Because the ANEs perform the primary edit, they should have strong Bluebook and writing skills. ANEs should be detail-oriented and able to organize assignments and delegate tasks. Most importantly, ANEs must give incredible attention to substance.

Director of Development

General Description of Duties: The Director of Development (DD) raises money by garnering financial support for TILJ through fundraising activities and alumni relations. One of the most important duties is updating the alumni database and soliciting alumni, firms, and other relevant parties for donations. The DD will create a finance plan for the TILJ fiscal year, and will aggressively raise funds throughout the year. The DD also leads the TILJ 1L Associate Program.

Skills Required: The DD must have excellent interpersonal skills to effectively raise funds, the ability to work closely with the Development Team, and strong writing skills for alumni updates and mailings.

Director of Communications

General Description of Duties: The Director of Communications (DC) is responsible for updating and maintaining TILJ’s electronic outlets, with a particular focus on the web site: www.TILJ.org. The DC works with the Editorial Board to develop and implement ways to use the web to publicize and advance the journal’s missions.

Skills Required: The DC must possess strong computer and Internet publishing skills. A general understanding of HTML and web publication is preferred. The DC must be able to quickly learn Adobe Dreamweaver as well as the specifics of TILJ’s web publication process. The DC must have strong interpersonal skills to facilitate cooperation with the rest of the Board, as well as the leadership skills to oversee assignments delegated to others.

TILJ Source Sheet/Citation Check Guidelines

A. Generally

• Source Sheet/Bluebook Cite Check is a three-step assignment involving (a) source pull, (b) substance check, and (c) Bluebook cite check.

1. Source pull requires you to locate the referenced source and to upload an electronic version of the source onto SharePoint.

2. Substance check requires you to read the referenced text and confirm that the author has accurately and correctly cited the source.

3. Bluebook Cite Check requires you to ensure that the source is cited according to the Bluebook rules.

• It is recommended that you complete the three steps consecutively for each footnote; if you have exhausted all attempts and cannot locate the source as required by step 1, you may indicate this in the Source Sheet by highlighting the footnote in red and describing where you have searched.

• It is more important to be accurate than to finish quickly; please notify your ANE if additional time or help is needed.

B. Source Pull Procedures

You are required to make a good faith effort to find the document in PDF format in order to see original pagination of the document; PDF format means a scan of the original source, and not a Word document converted into PDF.

Please notify the Research Editor (RE) if you cannot locate a source.

i. General Guidelines

• Search for the source on TILJ SharePoint; The assigned footnote may be a duplicated source that has already been found and uploaded to SharePoint. If the source is not available on SharePoint, proceed to the following steps.

• Search for the source in the UT Library System in the following order:

(1) Tallons, the Tarlton Library Catalog: https://tallons.law.utexas.edu/.

(2) The UT Library Catalog: http://catalog.lib.utexas.edu/.

• Search for the source generally online if it cannot be found in the UT Library System:

(1) Check search engines under the “Research Tools” tab on the UT Library System: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/.

(2) Search sources on the referenced websites in this Section.

(3) Search Google, GoogleScholar, Westlaw, and Lexis.

• Search for the source in WorldCat: http://uttarlton.worldcat.org/ if the source cannot be located using the above methods. WorldCat will indicate whether the source is available in a library outside the UT system.

• Submit an Inter-Library Loan (ILL) request if the source is found on WorldCat by emailing the Research Editor: research@tilj.org with the following information:

o Book/Journal Title

o Author

o Article Title

o Article Author (if applicable)

o Publication Year

o Edition

o ISSN/ISBN Number

o Author of the TILJ article citing the source

• If the source is listed in the UT catalog but is not on the shelf, mention this in the ILL Request, along with the source’s UT system call number.

• If you submit an ILL to the Research Editor, indicate this on the Source Sheet by highlighting the footnote in yellow.

• If the source is not found on WorldCat, email the TILJ Research Editor at research@tilj.org with the following information:

o TILJ article author

o Footnote number

o Steps you have already taken to find the source

o And as much information as possible about the source

• Once the source is found, it should be filed electronically on SharePoint according to authors.

You can access SharePoint at http://share.law.utexas.edu/journals/tilj.

Login using your UT EID as your username and your EID password.

If you are working remotely, you may need to use “austin\[your UT EID]” or austin/[your UT EID]”

Locating sources: SharePoint  TILJ Shared Documents  “XX-X Sources” folder

• When naming the document, use the author’s full name when it is available, and then enter at least the first six (6) words of a document title; see below for SharePoint document naming conventions:

U.S. Cases & Orders Ex. Meritor Savings Bank v Vinson

Name of Case/Order

U.S. Code & Regulations Ex. 42 USCA 300a – 7

Cite the Code Section

Foreign Cases & Orders Ex. Military and Paramilitary Activities

Name of Case/Order

Foreign Legislation Ex. Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1990, Cap 19, s17 (orig FNXX)

Name of Act and Year of Legislation

U.N. Documents Ex. World Conference on Human Rights

Name of Documents

Journal Articles Ex. Thomas R. McCoy and Barry Friedman, Conditional Spending

Full Name of Author and Title

Non-Legal Articles Ex. O’Connor Warns Politicians Risk Excommunications over Abortion

Full Name of Author (if available) and Title

Books Excerpts Ex. Philip Bobbitt, Terror & Consent, 40-78

Full Name of Author, Title of Book, page range scanned

• If you are unable to find a source, highlight the row in red on your assigned Source Sheet, describe where you have looked in the substance column, and notify the Research Editor.

ii. Guidelines for Case Law Sources

Save the PDF version of the reporter from Westlaw if available. Westlaw is preferred over Lexis for cases because Westlaw provides PDF documents of the hard copy reporter. Below is a picture of a typical Westlaw reporter image. Click on the icon in the circle, scroll down to “Download” and upload the downloaded PDF to SharePoint name the file in a clear and straightforward way.

iii. Guidelines for Book Sources

• Start by searching the UT Libraries Catalog.

(1) Search for the book at Tarlton. Pay attention to the edition, volume numbers, and year of publication. We want the exact book cited by the author.

(2) If the book is not in Tarlton, but is either listed in Tarlton’s catalog or other on-campus libraries, provide the following information in your Source Sheet and notify the Research Editor: library, call number, stack, edition, volume, and year of publication. Do not check out the book on your own.

(3) If the book is listed as ‘library use only’: indicate which library and the page numbers that will need to be photocopied (if there are a lot of cites to a wide range of pages or if the cite is to the whole book, indicate that as well).

(4) If the book is listed as ‘missing’: make a note of it and let the RE know as soon as possible.

• When you find the book, scan the relevant book pages.

(1) Scan the cover, spine, copyright page, and five (5) pages before and after the pincite. If there is no pincite, scan the cover, spine, and copyright page. If there are multiple pincites, scan the complete span of pages.

a. You may scan book pages using the “Genius Scan” app (Free); or

b. You may scan book pages using the KIC scanner located on the first floor of Tarlton:

i. Follow the instructions on the scanner to scan the book. Remember to scan all the required parts as listed above.

ii. When you are done scanning all the required parts, click on the “More Output Options” box in the top-right hand corner of the big blue “Save PDF files via E-mail or Insert USB Drive” button.

iii. Change the output to “Searchable PDF.”

iv. Follow the remaining prompts to save or email the scan.

(2) Send the scans to email or use an USB Drive.

(3) Use a TILJ library card (found in the TILJ office) to check out the book after scanning the appropriate pages. Store the source in the TILJ office on the shelf designated for the specific article.

(4) Upload the PDF onto SharePoint and name the file following our file naming convention (see supra IV(B)(i)).

• If the book is not available at a UT Library (including books listed as missing), search for the book on WorldCat: http://uttarlton.wordcat.org/.

(1) Find the exact edition needed, enter the information (including the ISBN number) into the spreadsheet, and notify the RE to make an Inter-Library Loan (ILL).

(2) Do not order the book yourself on ILL. TILJ has a separate institutional ILL account for this purpose. Indicate on your Source Sheet that the book needs to be checked out through ILL by highlighting the footnote in yellow.

iv. Guidelines for Legal Periodicals

(1) Start with HeinOnline: http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/vlibrary/online/dbases.html (you will need your UT EID and PIN number – note that the Tarlton law library has updated its server as of Fall 2016, if you have not set up a PIN number, your default PIN number should be 1234). If you find the article, upload a PDF of the source onto SharePoint.

(2) Use Find A Journal (on the UT Library website) for journals that do not have their most recent volume available on HeinOnline. Copy the URL into the Source Sheet and upload the PDF onto SharePoint.

(3) If you cannot find the article on Hein or the UT Library page, try Westlaw or Lexis.

(4) If you cannot find the article on Westlaw or Lexis, search Tallons, the Tarlton catalog.

v. Guidelines for non-Legal Periodicals and Newspapers

(1) Use the Find A Journal function at the UT Libraries page.

(2) Input the URL on your spreadsheet.

(3) Upload a copy onto SharePoint.

(4) Refer to the following websites in your search:

o LOS ANGELES TIMES: articles from 1986 to the present are available from ProQuest: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/indexes/titles.html?id=459 (requires UT EID).

o LA TIMES: articles from 1881–1985 are available from ProQuest: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/indexes/titles.html?id=459 (requires UT EID).

o NEW YORK TIMES: articles from 1851–2004 are available from the New York Times archive database. http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/vlibrary/online/dbases.html (requires UT EID).

o WASHINGTON POST: articles from 1877-1990 are available from ProQuest: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/indexes/titles.html?id=518 (requires UT EID).

vi. Guidelines for U.N. Documents

(1) Start at http://documents.un.org/welcome.asp?language=E.

(2) If you cannot find the document on the official UN website: try other sources like HeinOnline or Westlaw.

(3) Provide a link to the PDF of the located source on your Source Sheet, save an electronic copy and upload to SharePoint.

(4) Refer to the following websites in your search:

o UN Treaties: http://treaties.un.org/Pages/Home.aspx?lang=en (disable your popup blocker first)

o Official Documents of the UN (ODS) http://documents.un.org/(Best site for UN documents)

o UN Symbols http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/symbol.htm

o UN Documentation Centre http://www.un.org/documents/

o UN Documentation Research Guide http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/

o UNCITRAL http://www.uncitral.org/

o Human Rights Bodies http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRbodies/Pages/HumanRightsBodies.aspx

vii. Guidelines for Websites

A. Print the source to PDF and then upload to SharePoint.

B. Refer to the following websites in your search:

o GLIN Guide to Law Online http://www.loc.gov/law/guide/index.html

o World Legal Information Institute http://www.worldlii.org/

o EUR-Lex http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/index.htm

o UK Office of Public Sectore Information http://www.opsi.gov.uk

o UK Statutes http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/

o House of Lords Judgments http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld/ldjudgmt.htm

o British and Irish Legal Institute http://www.bailii.org/

o Journals Officiels (France) http://www.journal-officiel.gouv.fr/jahia/Jahia/pid/1

o Legifrance http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/html/codes_traduits/liste.htm

o Bundesgesetzblatt (Germany) http://www.bundesgesetzblatt.de/

o Australasian Legal Information Institute http://www.austlii.edu.au/

o Canadian Legal Information Institute http://www.canlii.org/

o Camara de Diputados (Mexico) http://www.camaradediputados.gob.mx/

o The WTO have a document search function; it may be useful to use a document number or document identification (use Save to PDF function in Google Chrome): http://docsonline.wto.org

o Other WTO/General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade Docs: http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/intl/guides/FromtheGATTtotheWTO.cfm

C. Substance Check

(1) Read the referenced text

o Read the above-the-line text corresponding to the sources you have been assigned, including texts in the footnotes.

(2) Supporting authority

o Ensure all sources cited by the author are cited in context.

o Ensure all sources support the author’s propositions.

o Note in the “Substance” column any concerns, issues, and questions regarding sources not supporting the author’s position.

(3) Quotations

o All quotes used by the author must be verbatim from the original source.

o Omitted material must be indicated by ellipses (see Bluebook rule 5.3).

o Check all quotations in all materials for exact working, including, but not limited to:

 Typographical or grammatical errors for which we may use “[sic]”

 Italics, for which all citations should specify if emphasis is added (“emphasis added”), but not if present in the original (we do not use “emphasis in original” see Bluebook rule 5.2); indicate that the italics are in the original source in the Substance column of the source sheet

 Capitalization

 Punctuation

o Ensure that paraphrases are actually the author’s own words instead of verbatim quotations with quotation marks omitted; add quotation marks if necessary and flag this issue for your ANE by making a note in the Substance column of the Source Sheet.

(4) Signals

o Consult Bluebook 1.2 and 1.3 to ensure that the author is using the right signal (i.e., “see generally,” “see also,” “but see,” etc.)

o Add signals as necessary

o Direct quotes never require signals

o Use parentheticals with signals except for see generally

o Signals in footnote text (used as verbs) are not italicized (see Bluebook 1.2(e))

o Check all omission and alterations carefully to verify the proper use of brackets and ellipses (see Bluebook Rule 5)

(5) Find Authority (FA)

o Mark an unsupported statement in the text with “FA” (a statement that does not have a citation to an authoritative source, or a conclusion that the author has failed to support adequately with previous statement)

o Most FAs are found in the same sources the author has already cited; read the text and footnotes surrounding the text requiring an FA for support

o Look for cited sources that seem to be on similar topics and read those sources to find authority for the unsupported proposition

o Conduct a Westlaw or Lexis search in the relevant database to find useful authorities; do not cite to electronic sources directly, instead, locate the printed source and verify that it supports the proposition

o Do not cite an unsupported proposition to a random website, it must be a reliable source

o Upload the located source onto SharePoint

o Contact the EE or ANE for suggestions on where to look for authority

o Refrain from leaving an FA for someone else to complete, especially if you created the FA; you may end your search if you have exhausted all your research abilities and can provide your research attempts to the ANE

(6) Modifying footnote text

o Change fragments into complete sentences, or write a parenthetical using your own words to explain the relevance of a source

D. Citation Form Review

• Consult the Bluebook rules and the Bluebook index to find the source type

o It is better to err on the side of having too much information about the source

• You may be creative with the Bluebook rules but you must be consistent

o If you cannot find a Bluebook rule for the source, see if the source has been previously cited by TILJ, if not, refer to other journals for citing this source (i.e. TLR, Harvard Law Review, Yale International Law Journal etc.)

• Explain your citation form in your source sheet; your creation for a particular type of source will be sent to the EEs for compiling a document of TILJ Conventions

• Feel free to consult your ANE or any other TILJ Editorial Board member for assistance

E. TILJ Conventions & Common Errors

• TILJ conventions, where applicable, are the final authority on citation and writing style; where no TILJ convention is on point, refer to the most recent edition of the Bluebook for citation issues and the most recent edition of the Chicago Manual of Style for writing style issues

• Refer to NYU Guide to Foreign and International Legal Citations for international sources not represented in Bluebook

• Staff Editors are not responsible for entering textual changes onto the master copy of an article, the Articles & Notes Editor and the Executive Editor are the only ones authorized to make changes to the master article; ANY changes to be made to the text of the article should be given to the ANE through the form of source sheets or in the Final Read printed draft, who will then track the changes as he/she enters them

• General Conventions

o Double-space after periods and after colons (including between citation sentences)

o Capitalize the first letter after a colon if, and only if, it begins a complete sentence; for colons that are part of a title and other irregularly capitalized title, follow Bluebook 8(a)

o Outside of quotations and titles, include a comma following the penultimate item in a series (i.e. “X, Y, and Z” instead of “X, Y and Z”)

o Translations: the first time a foreign word or short phrase appears in the text, italicize it and provide the English translation in parentheses immediately following the word; when quoting a long foreign phrase, enclose it in quotation marks and provide the English translation in a footnote; if both the foreign quotation and English translation appear in a parenthetical, the translation should follow the original and should be enclosed in square brackets instead of parenthesis

o 5 Id. Rule: after five (5) consecutive footnotes consisting solely of id. short forms, reiterate a more informative form (such as a case’s short form or a supra form)

o When the author italicizes a phrase in a quotation for emphasis, place the explanatory parenthetical “(emphasis added)” in the body of the text, following the quotation; do not place it in the footnote, unless the quotation is in the footnote itself

o When citing more than one work by the same author, distinguish short form citations using the “hereinafter” form; follow Bluebook 4.2(b), treat the works as though they appear in the same footnote

o When citing to a paragraph use para. or paras. Rather than the paragraph symbol (¶); note: we still use § and §§ when citing to sections

o When a citation employs a see signal, other than see generally, always incorporate an explanatory parenthetical that either begins with a quote or a gerund; refer to Bluebook 1.5

o For long lists of previously cited statutes, treaties, or other items that appear in the text, employ the following footnote at the end of the list rather than individual citations: “For citations to the treaties, see note z supra (or “notes z & y” as needed).”

o For unreported cases, cite to WESTLAW instead of LEXIS

o For statutes, prefer U.S.C. to U.S.C.A.

o For Supreme Court cases, prefer U.S. to S.Ct or L.Ed

• International Treaties

o See Bluebook T.4 for a list of international treaty sources

o See Bluebook Rule 21.4.5(a) for agreements between the United States and one other party; cite to only one of the following sources, listed in the order of preference: U.S.T. or Stat.; T.I.A.S., T.S., or E.A.S.; Senate Treaty Documents or Senate Executive Documents; the Department of State Bulletin; or Department of State Press Releases

o If the treaty is not available in any of these sources, cite to an unofficial source

o Do not give pinpoints to the page number of the section or article, simply cite to the section or article

o For agreements among three or more parties, cite to one of the sources listed above (if therein) and cite to one source published by an intergovernmental organization (i.e. U.N.T.S., L.N.T.S., Pan-Am. T.S., or Europ. T.S.).

o For agreements where the United States is not a party, cite to only one source published by an intergovernmental organization

o Cite to an I.L.M. as “reprinted in.” if available, although this is not mandated by The Bluebook, many authors prefer it

• United Nations Materials

o See Bluebook Rule 21.7

o Official Records

 Cite the title in italics, if there is one

 Cite the author of the source (usually an organ of the United Nations), abbreviated according to Bluebook T.3 (i.e. General Assembly is GAOR, Security Council is SCOR); abbreviations are to be preceded by “U.N.”

 If citing to official records published by the United Nations General Assembly, citation should be “U.N. GAOR.”

 Note that The Bluebook provides specific examples of citation forms for official records, see Bluebook Rule 21.7.1

o U.N. Resolutions

 Provide as much information as can be found, see Bluebook 21.7.2

 Note that pdf files from the U.N. website do not provide all the relevant citation information (i.e. meeting number, session number, etc.), you may need to find a hard copy of the U.N. records to complete the citation

• Common Errors

o Signals: see Bluebook Rules 1.2, 1.3, 1.4

 Make sure the appropriate signal is used

 Make sure signals (and authorities within each signal) are in the correct order and are separated

 Signals of the same type should appear in the same citation sentence separated by semicolons

 Signals of a different type should begin a new citation sentence

o Italicization of case names: see Bluebook Rules 2.1(a) and 10

 Case names are NOT italicized in a full citation

 Case names are italicized in short forms and in textual sentences

o Italicization of punctuation: see Bluebook Rules 2.1(f) 2.2(c), and 4.1

 Punctuation should only be italicized when it is part of the italicized material

 Punctuations that is an element of the sentence or citation, but not part of the italicized material, should NOT be italicized even if it connects italicized elements

 Always italicize the period following id.

 Commas after italicized titles are NOT italicized

 See, e.g., – signal is italicized, e.g. is preceded by italicized comma and followed by a non-italicized comma

o Italicization of texts: see Bluebook Rule 2

 Italicize words in italicized sentences and titles

 If a word that is normally italicized is placed in a sentence that is entirely italicized, de-italicize that word

 Procedural phrases are italicized (i.e. res judicata)

 Italicize Latin words and phrases that are not commonly known

o Pincites: see Bluebook Rules 3.2(a), and 3.3

 Use pincites for every cite, unless the citation is a see generally citation

 Use “at” for pages, but not for sections or paragraphs of pincites

o “Supra” and “hereinafter”: see Bluebook Rule 4.2

 Do not use these short forms for cases, statutes, constitutions, legislative materials (except hearings), restatements, model codes, or regulations, except in extraordinary circumstances

 In general, these materials employ their own short forms

o Dates from direct internet citation: see Bluebook Rule 18.2.2(c)

 Where possible, provide the date of the material cited as it appears on the website

 If the date is unavailable, provide the date the website was last updated

 Only if both of these are unavailable should you provide a “last visited” date

o Hyphens and Dashes: see Chicago Manual of Style 2.16 and 6.80

 Generally, use hyphens within words and hyphenated compounds (i.e. after-acquired), en-dashes (–) between numbers (i.e. dates and page ranges), and em-dashes (—) to set off phrases (i.e. parenthetical thoughts or separate clauses)

o SMALL CAPS are not the same as ALL CAPS, do not do small caps manually with font sizes

 Shortcut on Macs: command + shift + k

 Shortcut on PC: control + shift + k

F. Clean-Ups

Staff Editors should expect to perform follow-up work on the article after the ANE has completed his/her edit. By the time the article reaches the EE, the ANE has generated a list of questions concerning, among other things, citation form, substance support, and accuracy. These cleanups will be assigned among the Staff Editors who did the source sheets.

• Common Cleanup Requests:

o Rare Cite Form: As an international law journal, we often face sources and cases from unfamiliar venues. As such, the proper forms and rules may not be found in The Bluebook. Staff Editors may have to consult past issues of TILJ, other sources from peculiar venues, or other journals in order to provide the correct form. However, do not simply rely on a previous issue of TILJ as the undisputed correct cite form. While deference is given to past editorial decisions, citation formats are still a matter of discretion for the Executive Board

o Incorrect Source/Page Numbers: When a substance check reveals that the source and/or page numbers cited do not accurately support the position taken by the author in the text, Staff Editors should first fully exhaust the cited source to find another page number or quotation that asserts the same position. This may involve reading the entire text of the cited source or finding authority in another source

o Translation: As an international law journal, editors may be called on to translate cited text, verify the author’s translation of cited text, or read text in a foreign language and compose parenthetical summaries of that text. These assignments will be tailored to the Staff Editor’s own language expertise

o Find Authority: see Section V.B.5

TILJ Final Read Guidelines

Each week, Staff Editors will sign up for weekly Final Read hours on the document distributed by the Managing Editor of Publication. All Final Read hours must be done with a partner for a minimum of one (1) hour at a time. Once the Final Read schedule is finalized, Staff Editors may only change their schedule upon finding another Staff Editor to trade time slots or to fill in the time slot at issue. Staff Editors who fail to attend a Final Read hour that they have signed up for will be given a disciplinary strike, as this constitutes a violation warranting disciplinary action

Final Read Partners: Staff Editors should coordinate with their Final Read partner to ensure that at least one person brings a computer in order to enter changes. Partners must work together to complete the assignment and may not divide the work into sections. The benefits of Final Read come largely from the combined skills of the editors.

All first-year Staff Editors are required to attend one mandatory “Final Read Training Session” in their first-year, offered in the Fall Semester. The mandatory training will take place in the first two (2) weeks of the semester. During these training sessions, first-year staff editors will learn about Final Read and complete some of their Final Read hours. Additionally, the session will be a unique opportunity for Staff Editors to interact with the Editorial Board and ask questions about the article they are editing. Senior Staff Editors are not required to attend, but are encouraged to do so.

Two Phases of Final Read: Substance and Style/BBCC

Substance Read: Staff Editors will read the article and check each of the author’s assertions against the cited sources. Staff Editors must ensure that the author’s assertions are supported by the referenced sources. Any problems with pincites should be addressed at this time, including adding pincites where necessary and fixing existing ones that are incorrect. The substance of each citation should be verified using hard copies of the sources available in the office, electronic copies on SharePoint, or internet addresses provided in the citation. At this stage in the editing process, all sources should be on SharePoint and/or on the bookshelf in the TILJ office. Notify the Research Editor, the ANE and the EE for the article if the source is not on file. Staff Editors will insert any explanatory parentheticals that are needed for see signals (as per TILJ and Bluebook conventions); and ensure that all quoted material is 100% accurate. Staff Editors are responsible for completing any remaining FAs to the best of their ability.

Substance Read Instructions:

1. Familiarize yourself with the article before your Final Read hours in order to make educated judgments about the content of the article and the sources. You may log up to 1.5 hours for reading and familiarizing the articles as regular semester hours requirements, nor FR hours.

2. Log on to SharePoint. Open the “Final Read” folder. Open the Volume 52 folder and article folder organized according to the author’s last name.

3. Open and check out the part of the article that has the footnotes you will work on.

4. Download a copy of the FR instructions for that article. These will contain article-specific instructions, including special conventions that will be used and footnotes that require foreign language competency.

5. The “Check In Comment” column will tell you what footnote the last group started and finished. Start on the footnote the last group finished and begin to work through the FR checklist on each footnote.

6. If there is a substance problem:

a. Look for the correct source for at least 20 minutes. This includes looking at articles in nearby footnotes, searching the internet, WESTLAW, etc.

b. Regardless of whether you find a correct source, insert a Comment in the Word Document next to the footnote in the above-the-line text of the document explaining the following:

i. The issue with the substance of the footnote.

ii. A full citation in the Comment if you found the correct source, and upload the correct source onto SharePoint.

iii. If you do not find the correct source, please indicate where you searched for the source.

c. If a pincite is incorrect or missing, correct or add one.

d. If a source requires foreign language competency, you may skip that footnote if you do not know the language.

Style/BBCC Read: Staff Editors will ensure that all text comports to The Chicago Manual of Style standards in terms of readability, mistakes in grammar, punctuation, word usage, spelling, etc. Staff Editors must check that the footnote citations are in correct Bluebook format and comply with TILJ conventions. Refer to the TILJ manual, The Bluebook, The Chicago Manual of Style, or Merriam-Webster Dictionary for awkward sentences and other stylistic issues before contacting the Editorial Board.

Staff editors cannot rewrite text simply because they do not like the way it sounds. Staff editors may only rewrite text if a grammatical mistake is made. Be wary of substantive changes to the author’s piece. You should only make corrections for grammatical errors and problematic sentence structures, not the author’s argument and/or style

Examples of Style Issues include, but are not limited to the following:

• Spelling errors

• Improper word choice (may/might, between/among, etc.)

• Punctuation errors

• Subject-verb disagreement

• Indentation: Check all indentations to make sure they are aligned properly.

• Spacing: Make sure that there are two spaces after periods and two after colons. Compare spacing problems in relation to other words on the same line.

• Accent Marks: Make sure all accent marks are present and pointed in the correct direction.

• Cross-Reference: Double check that all supra and infra notes are cross-referenced to the correct note in which the source is first cited.

The Editorial Board is not required to participate in Final Read. However, exigent publishing circumstances may require their participation.

Entering Changes

Notify an EE or ANE if you cannot find a copy of the article in the Final Read folder, or if the copy in the Final Read folder still has tracked changes that have not been accepted.

You should leave comments in the article indicating problems uncovered in substance checks for the assigned EE and ANE to review. ANEs and EEs will fix any problems in the substance of the article in the EE or final version of the file, not the Final Read version.

When completing style/BBCC Final Read, enter all of your changes with track changes on. ANEs or EEs will then review the changes that were made and input correct changes into a post-Final Read version of the article.

When you are finished:

1. Upload a copy of the article back onto SharePoint and Check It In.

2. In the comments section on SharePoint indicate on which footnote you ended. Note if you could not complete a FN due to foreign language issues or inability to find an authority.

TILJ Staff Submissions

TILJ is committed to publishing more Student Notes and Comments submitted by Staff Editors than students outside of TILJ. Each piece is evaluated on its own merits, and we will accept as many submissions as we feel meet our standards within the limits of our publishing capacity.

A. What Is a Note?

A Note is a student-authored piece of academic writing that discusses and analyzes an original legal issue or problem in some depth. Beyond this very general description, Notes are quite diverse, both in terms of topic and style. However, all Notes must involve an international law topic. Notes can be doctrinally focused analyses of particular legal questions or can present normative arguments on how courts or legislatures should analyze a particular problem that they have not yet addressed adequately. Good Notes are generally well-written, interesting, and provides original treatments of legal issues. Generally, Notes are 30-40 pages in length and are longer than Comments.

G. What Is a Comment?

A Comment is a student-authored piece of academic writing that focuses on the analysis of a recent case, piece of legislation, law journal article, or law-related book. TILJ strongly encourages any students whose main subject is a critique/analysis of a case, a piece of legislation, a law journal article, or a law-related book to submit their work as a Comment rather than a Note. Comments must be current and usually discuss something incredibly new or novel at the time that it is published. In addition, many students are able to write excellent Notes as continuations of Comments. Students should think about writing a Comment in the fall semester and then developing the Comment into a Note for the spring semester of their 2L year.

H. What Are the Guidelines for Submitting a Note/Comment?

Deadlines: The Submissions Editor will determine a deadline for submitting Notes at the beginning of the year. The deadline generally falls between June and July so students have the opportunity to revise seminar papers for publication. Student Notes or Comments submitted after the deadline will not be considered for publication. Students who completely fail to turn in a Note or a Comment by start of second semester 3L year in satisfaction of the writing requirement will be dismissed from the Journal. Notes or Comments may not be submitted prior to completion of first semester 2L year.

Selection for Publication: Decisions regarding publication will be announced by the date set in the submissions call email.

Preemption Form: All student work must contain a Preemption Form detailing how the argument being advanced is original and is not preempted. In addition, it should explain how the Note or Comment involves international law. It should be clear from this Form how your argument differs from those of other authors. For Comments, please include a list of other reviews of the case, legislation, article, or book and address how yours adds to them.

Statement of Resubmission: TILJ editors may resubmit each Note or Comment one time, in accordance with deadlines for original Notes or Comments. All resubmitted work must contain a Statement of Resubmission detailing how the paper has been improved since the prior submission.

Word Limits: The maximum limit for Notes is 15,000 words, including footnotes. The maximum limit for Comments is 6,000 words. The word maximums do not include the Table of Contents, the Statement of Originality, or the Statement of Resubmission. Shorter Notes and Comments within these limits are more likely to be published because they require fewer resources and allow more room for other works. Notes or Comments that are within the word limits, but which contain excessive material (such as background explanation), may be sent back to the author for word reduction as a prerequisite for publication.

Footnote Requirements: Each Note should contain at least 80 footnotes in proper Bluebook formatting. Each Comment should contain at least 35 footnotes. As detailed below, the author of a Note or Comment selected for publication is expected to provide TILJ with all of the sources used.

I. How Does the Note/Comment Selection Process Work?

The Student Notes Editor oversees the Student Notes and Comments submission process together with the Editor-in-Chief. The process is detailed in the bylaws.

J. What Does TILJ Look for in a Note or Comment?

The best way to get an idea of what constitutes a good submission is to look through past issues of TILJ at tilj.org. Previously published student work shows the depth of analysis and level of originality for which we are looking. Furthermore, they demonstrate the diversity of topics that authors tackle as well as the variety of analytical approaches they take.

Good outside sources include guides published by Eugene Volokh, a UCLA law professor. See Eugene Volokh, Writing a Student Article, 48 J. LEGAL EDUC. 247 (1998) (available through WESTLAW). For a more in-depth treatment, see EUGENE VOLOKH, ACADEMIC LEGAL WRITING: LAW REVIEW ARTICLES, STUDENT NOTES, AND SEMINAR PAPERS (2003).

In general, Notes that have been accepted for publication:

• Are creative or original. The author must approach his or her topic in a way that is new or different from others writing on the same subject. Mere summaries of the literature are typically not sufficient, unless the literature on a subject is particularly unclear. The original approach should be emphasized over a long doctrinal summary. Especially in the case of Comments, the author should not rely exclusively on what was written and researched in the case, legislation, article, or book. Some outside research and original analysis is essential to a good critique of the case, legislation, article, or book and ultimately will help the author fashion a much more useful and engaging discussion. Above all we want to see how you are advancing the subject matter on which you are writing.

• Tackle narrow, more modest topics rather than issues that are excessively broad. As a general matter, students have less experience with legal scholarship than professors do and should thus choose topics that are manageable and well-defined. The focus should be on one central idea or concept.

• Have a focused, clearly discernible thesis. The best submissions establish early on what they are going to address and carry that throughout the entire paper.

• Clearly and logically organized and well written. Superior submissions flow logically from one section to the next, and it is always clear to the reader how each paragraph is advancing the author’s argument. Argue incrementally. If you want to show that the U.S. Constitution allows torture and suspension of all civil rights for hazardous waste exporters, start from some known and accepted point of law and work gradually to your conclusion. Don’t try to prove the entire argument in the opening paragraph.

• Don’t devote excessive space to background issues, to summarizing the history of the topic or the scholarship of others, to tracing the development of doctrine, or to quoting from cases. While some background is always necessary in a Note, we find that students are prone to long summaries of existing case law or scholarship that do not add significantly to their submissions. We want to read your ideas, not those of others. Even in a Comment, where the principal focus is a critique or analysis of another work, authors should be careful not to quote or summarize heavily from the work.

• Are persuasive. Good student work puts forward an argument that is innovative and persuasive. It is important to keep in mind that your audience contains academics, judges, and practitioners, so it is critical that your argument not be far-fetched or obvious. Furthermore, if the paper identifies a problem, it is important that the author give a concrete and workable solution that is plausible to the reader. Suggesting a solution that is not likely to ever occur, or merely indicating in a conclusive manner that courts should strike down some cases or that Congress should pass a law, is generally unsatisfying.

• Address all the issues the author promises to address. Authors should take care to follow through with what is set out in the introduction to the paper.

• Are completely and accurately cited. While we don’t want long string cites just so that we can see that you have done some research, we do want footnotes and reasonable explanations for every statement that is not your own work. All citations must be in proper Bluebook format.

• Are concise. Persuasiveness, clarity, and originality are all more important than length. Conciseness is an important skill in legal writing and is difficult to master. Make your thesis drive all of the facts, cases, claims, and counterarguments in your Note or Comment. You should subject each sentence in the Note or Comment to the test, “How does this support or detract from my thesis?” If an obvious and immediate answer doesn’t pop into your head, rest assured that it won’t pop into anyone else’s head.

• Are readable (and not cluttered with jargon and legalese). A reasonably educated layperson should be able to understand what you are writing, even if the topic is complex or highly technical. Avoid convoluted sentences, run-ons, and confusing or specialized terminology that is not explained. Specialized acronyms or acronyms invented just for the paper are highly discouraged.

K. Suggestions for Writing a Good Note

1. Don’t hesitate to ask people what they think about your Note. Editors and other members have an interest in international law. Getting input from the people who will decide whether to publish your Note will only help you refine and rethink your topic.

2. Use active voice! In other words, forget the verb “to be” and all of its permutations (e.g., has been, was, is ____ed). The verb “to be” makes conclusions. You want the reader to do that. Rather than laying out all the conclusions in one endless, mind-numbing string, make statements that force the reader to agree with your thesis.

3. Use primary sources. Please. When a law review article cites Pooky v. Festersore as evidence for a given point, go look up the case before you cite it. No matter how famous the journal, no matter how well known the author, people still misquote, mis-cite, plagiarize, and falsify. If you cite their mistakes it could torpedo your entire thesis. If your Note is selected for publication, during the Bluebook Cite Check (BBCC) process, the ANE on your Note will find the mistake, and you’ll have to go back and correct it.

4. When ALR or Harvard Law Review gives you a fifty-case string cite, don’t just copy it down. If you haven’t looked up the cases, don’t cite them.

5. Always verify the currency and up-to-date nature of your authority. Shepardize! When the BBCC process finds out your linchpin case just got overruled, it can wreck the entire Note. When you use quotation marks, use exact wording, otherwise you are misattributing the authority (i.e., falsifying).

6. Give pinpoint cites. When you state a proposition and attribute it to Oregon v. Mitchell, someone has to check the entire 150-page opinion to find out where you saw it. Tell us the page number.

7. If you are not sure about the citation form, give as much information as possible.

8. Use other authority liberally, but don’t turn the Note into a cut and paste job from other law review articles, cases, and treaties. Professor Doorknob in freshman English may have liked the concept of repeating someone else’s ideas in your own words, but a good Note requires synthesis. Say something new. Draw new conclusions from existing law.

9. Don’t shy away from humor, interesting examples, or lively writing. Just because other people write more dryly than dust doesn’t mean that you have to.

10. Use writing aids liberally. Use your dictionary and thesaurus. Style manuals, such as John Trimble’s invaluable paperback Writing With Style, can help tighten up your Note. Be sure that you are not subjecting the reader to a bland repetition of flavorless verbs, monotonous nouns, and minimally descriptive adjectives.

11. Do your Note in conjunction with a seminar, and select a professor known for having an open door. The professor can help turn your Note into great research. Also consider doing directed research for a professor well-versed in international law.

L. The Note-Writing Process

i. Selecting a Note Topic

The first step in writing your Note or Comment is to select your topic. You must choose an original subject. The following are some possible methods for selecting a topic:

a. Take a fall or spring writing seminar. Talk to the professor you will be taking THIS semester before selecting a topic — professors often have both restrictions and suggestions.

b. Ask a professor if he/she knows of recent developments or problems within his/her area of expertise that have not been heavily debated in legal periodicals. Think about Directed Research: similar to taking a seminar, this is a good opportunity to get to know a professor.

c. Ask TILJ Editorial Board members or 3L members for suggestions.

d. List all the areas of law that you find interesting and would like to explore. Then combine those areas for a new topic. Work with WESTLAW and LEXIS to determine these possibilities. Examples:

socialist law & China & environment & economic growth;

antitrust & EEC 1992 & litigation; or

taxation & exports-imports & Japan

This process does not necessarily get you an original topic but it does give you the essential first step in this difficult process. Remember, every area of U.S. law has extraterritorial applications and every other country faces many of the same legal problems that the United States faces. Sometimes the issue has been raised to the level of a treaty or convention. In short, you may take a domestic topic and make it international.

e. If you are having trouble choosing a topic or area of interest, use WESTLAW or LEXIS to research recent developments in international law. In WESTLAW, check the Highlights or International Databases. In LEXIS, search Hottopics, News, or International Law libraries.

f. Scan popular periodicals, such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, or The Economist for stories with international implications

g. Helpful resources on choosing a topic and writing a note:

• ELIZABETH FAJANS & MARY R. FALK, SCHOLARLY WRITING FOR LAW STUDNETS: SEMINAR PAPERS, LAW REVIEW NOTES, AND LAW REVIEW COMPETITION PAPERS (2d ed. 2000).

• EUGENE VOLOKH, ACADEMIC LEGAL WRITING: LAW REVIEW ARTICLES, STUDENT NOTES AND SEMINAR PAPERS (2003).

o This book evolved from the author’s article: Eugene Volokh, Writing a Student Article, 48 J. LEGAL ED. 246 (1998).

o Prof. Volokh also has a website: http://volokh.com/writing

• Heather Meeker, Stalking the Golden Topic: A Guide to Locating and Selecting Topics for Legal Research Papers, 1996 UTAH L. REV. 917 (1996).

• Richard Delgado, How to Write a Law Review Article, 20 U.S.F.L. REV. 445 (1986).

• University of Washington School of Law, Writing for and Publishing in Law Reviews: What techniques are useful for finding interesting topics? http://lib.law.washington.edu/ref/lawrev.html#topics (last updated August 1, 2008).

• Jonathan Pratter (international law librarian)

• Internet: Google, Answers.com, Shepardizing.

ii. Preemption Check (Preemption Form)

a. You must run a preemption check for your topic. Your Note topic may be preempted in one of two common ways. First, a court decision, often by the U.S. Supreme Court, or a piece of legislation may render your proposal moot or obsolete. Second, another journal may have already published an article or Note that advances the same argument you plan to make or explores substantially the same topic you want to research.

b. The primary purpose of the preemption check is to ensure your topic has not been thoroughly treated elsewhere. Preemption checks are also valuable because they enhance your understanding of the area of law you are researching, provide useful footnote material, and reveal how other authors have approached the subject matter. When you turn in your preemption check, you are representing that you have carefully surveyed the literature of your field of law and have not found any articles or cases that preempt the topic.

c. Preemption checks should take at most four (4) hours. This is not time wasted, rather it serves as a solid foundation to your research. If the preemption check is incomplete, time spent researching and writing about a preempted topic is wasted as you must write an original piece of scholarship.

d. Exhaust one source before proceeding to the next. If you find any titles that appear to cover the same topic (especially in the more widely circulated law reviews), read them to decide if your Note would make a substantial contribution to the current literature. Carefully read materials that appear squarely on point. The more writing on point, however, the more important your topic must be to merit further treatment. Your Note topic may be important enough to publish despite some previous treatment.

e. Begin your preemption check by consulting the following sources for the last six months:

i. WESTLAW: Go into “TP-ALL” and check for your topic. Remember, a WESTLAW search alone is not sufficient because WESTLAW does not carry all periodicals. Also, go into LRAC database to ensure that a professor is not currently writing an article on the same or similar subject.

ii. If you are doing a Note on a federal or state case, check InstaCite to determine if your case is still good law, and Shepard’s, Shepard’s preview, and QuickCite to determine what cases have cited your case.

iii. LEXIS: In the same vein, search the LEXIS database under All Legal Periodicals to make sure your topic is unique.

iv. UTCAT LEGAL RESOURCE INDEX (Legaltrac): The Legal Resource Index lists articles published, beginning in 1980, plus selected law-related items in other periodicals. Some full displays give abstracts of the article. The Legal Resource Index is updated monthly. You should use the subject/key word option in your search.

v. CURRENT LAW INDEX (CLI): The CLI indexes over 700 legal periodicals. Material is indexed by subject, author/title, cases, and statutes. It is published in eight monthly issues, three quarterly cumulative issues, and one annual cumulative issue. You should check CLI prior to going to the Index of Legal Periodicals.

vi. Content Pages of Legal Periodicals: Photocopies of the content pages of selected journals are compiled by library staff on a weekly basis. These are located on the Center Index Table on the second floor of Tarlton.

iii. First Draft

While there will be further research to be done at the completion of your first draft, your manuscript should be substantially complete at this stage, meaning that it should have a coherent thesis, be sufficiently researched, and have an ascertainable argument and conclusion. It should be typed, double-spaced, and in proper Bluebook form.

When drafting, you should follow the suggestions set out in “Structure of A Note” discussed below.

iv. Final Draft

The standard is “publishable quality.” This is known in other journals as “substantial completion.” This means it is timely, readable, well-structured, adequately supported, and makes a novel and meaningful contribution to international legal jurisprudence.

Note: While “Selecting a Note Topic” and “Preemption Check” are treated as two different steps, they are really two essential parts of the same step in the Note-writing process. That is, you cannot choose a topic that has been done already. Therefore, before choosing a topic, you need to read/skim the articles/books that have addressed your topic in detail to ensure that your project has not been preempted. If your topic has already been done, you must find another topic, or another aspect of that topic that has not been done. TILJ will not accept topics that have been preempted.

M. Structure of a Note

Notes and Comments generally follow a particular format. Obviously, in some circumstances the nature of the topic will require a different organization. The primary goal is to work out a format that will allow a sensible, organized presentation of the case or topic

1. Introduction

a. Hook: interesting statement that gets reader’s attention

b. State problem

c. Suggest solution

d. Provide a road map for the discussion

2. Facts of Case, Treaty, or Issue

3. Historical Background of Case, Treaty, or Issue

4. Disposition of Fact, Case, Treaty, or Issue, and why it is not satisfactory

5. Critical analysis of the rationale underlying the problem

6. Proposal or solution, and critical analysis of its rationale, ramifications, and likelihood of success.

Not all Notes have to follow this form, but it is one suggested, successful format. Some very good Notes have different formats, e.g., pointing out a problem and showing different ways that courts, litigators, or others have dealt with it, or discussing a recent change in the law and its importance or ramifications.

N. Additional Advice

• Create a research journal. Because this research lasts over the course of at least six months (and if you’re published, it’s at least twelve months), you want a reference to list research completed, questions to resolve, new ideas, and sources to find. The first step is to write down the research objectives and, as you proceed, continually ask how relevant the material you are reading is to your Note’s purpose. By keeping the purpose and relevance in mind, you can better organize the research and proceed logically.

• Get credit early. Figure out what seminars are being offered next spring semester by checking the sheets available next to the main office. If nothing coincides, get independent research credit. A professor who specializes in a certain kind of domestic law may be willing to take on a foreign aspect of the law. International issues are hot topics. Use that to your advantage.

• When in doubt, or when supremely confident, ask. TILJ is a collaborative effort, and your editors are here to help with the educational process.