Notre Dame’s Pre-Law Student Board is launching an undergraduate law review, where students can submit legal articles for peer review by student board members and faculty.
Led by Editor-in-Chief Sawyer Brockstedt, several members of the board noticed that Notre Dame lacked an undergraduate journal specifically dedicated to law.
“I had heard about undergraduate law reviews before at other schools,” Brockstedt said. “And I started asking around and realized there wasn’t one at Notre Dame.”
Managing Editor Tucker Leck wanted to create a place where undergrads interested in law could share legal papers and analysis they were working on.
“Notre Dame students are already writing incredible papers about constitutional law, international law, politics, public policy, philosophy and so many other subjects that intersect with legal questions,” Leck wrote in a statement to the Observer. “We wanted to create a place where that work could go beyond the classroom and become part of a larger intellectual conversation.”
Leck hopes that the project will encourage undergrads to think about complex legal questions before they enter law school
“Exceptional legal thinking should not begin the day someone walks into law school,” he wrote. “Undergraduates can ask difficult questions, construct sophisticated arguments, challenge one another, and contribute something meaningful to legal conversations right now.”
Along with Brockstedt and Leck, juniors Ryan Fitchpatrick and Scarlett Fisher serve as director of peer review and submissions and director of marketing and communications, respectively. Brockstedt described the review as “an initiative under the [pre-law student] board, but it’s a very independent, autonomous organization.”
Because the organization is new this year, the board’s first step has been to establish the process for the law review.
Considering recruitment, standards and rigor, Leck noted the multitude of questions that come with building an undergraduate law review.
“How do we create something academically rigorous while still making it welcoming to students who have never encountered legal scholarship before?” he wrote.
One of the team’s first steps is to recruit students who will serve as peer editors.
Highlighting the opportunity for students to work collaboratively and grow in skill, Leck wrote: “You learn to read critically, evaluate arguments, work through citations, give thoughtful feedback and engage seriously with ideas that may be completely outside your own academic field.”
In addition to the four board members and peer editors, Political Science Professor Susan Rosato is the journal’s faculty advisor.
Like most academic journals, peer review is completely anonymous, and the staff hopes to select articles on a variety of legal topics through student submissions, including “criminal law, constitutional law, anything that kind of falls under the legal umbrella,” Brockstedt said.
“These are often well-developed submissions that meet our criteria,” Fisher wrote in a statement to the Observer. “As long as it is the student’s original work, they can submit pieces originally assigned as class assignments.”
Brockstedt hopes to publish the first edition of the law review in the spring, then move to a bi-annual publishing schedule.
Alongside formal research papers, the law review journal will publish a blog.
“We want people to know that if they don’t have a 10-to-30 page paper ready to get submitted, they can write something quickly for our blog,” Brockstedt said.
Designed to make the journal as accessible as possible, regardless of experience level, Fitchpatrick outlined in a statement to the Observer: “Opportunities range from writing casually for our blog and submitting longer scholarly pieces for our inaugural spring volume to serving as a staff editor.”
Both Leck and Brockstedt expressed their excitement about the project and gratitude for being able to work on it.
“I am incredibly honored to have been named the Managing Editor of the Notre Dame Undergraduate Law Review,” Leck wrote. “Being trusted with that responsibility, especially during our inaugural year, means a tremendous amount to me.”
Fitchpatrick echoed this sentiment, writing: “I couldn’t ask for a better team to work with, and I am thrilled to continue growing our staff.”
https://www.ndsmcobserver.com/article/notre-dame-students-launch-undergraduate-law-review-20260903
