Law Schools

Law Review Editors Should Get Paid By Their Law Schools, Says The ABA

Or give them maximum academic credit -- but students want cash.

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money bookThe summer of 2023 will forever be known as the summer of strikes, with workers’ rights and fair compensation making headlines across the country. And now, thanks to the American Bar Association, law students may be able to reap some of the benefits that other employees have been fighting for and finally receive pay for their hard work on law reviews and journals.

Students at NYU Law first stepped foot into these uncharted waters back in March, demanding that they be paid in cash, or receive the maximum school credit allowed for their tireless journal work. Now those students — and students at all law schools — have the backing of the ABA’s House of Delegates, which recently agreed that law schools should be paying law review editors, either in cash or school credit. Reuters has the scoop:

“If implemented [the resolution] will allow a greater number of law students from lower-income or diverse backgrounds to serve as law journal editors and reap the benefits thereof,” says the report, which adds that students who need to work to earn money are often shut out of law review positions because they don’t have enough time to do both. …

“The law schools that offer either credit or compensation — or even both simultaneously — did so because the high amount of work involved in law journal participation precluded students from obtaining outside employment, not just during the school year but often for part of the summer as well,” the resolution report says.

While the majority of law schools offer academic credit for participation on law review or journals, a minority offer stipends. Because offering hourly wages for law review or journal editors is virtually unheard of, we have a feeling that if this resolution is approved, law schools may lean heavily on providing more academic credit to their editors. But because prestige alone doesn’t pay the bills, let’s hold out hope that some law schools will compensate their student editors with cold, hard cash.

Law review student editors should get academic credit or pay, ABA says [Reuters]

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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