2.13 Credit for Participation on a Journal

Students writing comments for any of the four student-edited journals are eligible to earn up to three credits. Students who join a journal are paired with faculty members who supervise the writing of the journal comments. The pairing process is supervised by the Deputy Dean, working with the journals’ executive editors. 

In order to receive academic credit for journal comments, students automatically are registered for a three-credit, year-long, Pass/Fail course. Students who do not wish to receive academic credit may drop the course at their discretion but must do so by the autumn quarter add/drop deadline. One credit is allocated to each quarter; no partial credit is given in case of withdrawal.  Students wishing to reallocate credits based on actual workload must petition the Law School Office of the Registrar no later than the published deadline to adjust credits for the spring quarter. Second year staff members will only receive academic credit during their first year on the journal. Credits may not be reallocated to their second year on the journal. The credit placement for students who gain access to a Journal via the Topic Access process may vary depending on the quarter in which they gain access to the journal. For example, if a student is added to a journal after the autumn add/drop period has ended, the 3 credits would be allocated between the winter and spring quarters only. Additionally, credits will be allocated based on the student’s workload each quarter and will only be allocated during the academic year in which the student gained access to the Journal. No partial credit is given in case of withdrawal. Students must receive a grade of Pass in order to receive credit. The Comment may satisfy the SRP graduation requirement. Final authority for the grade, SRP, and the credits (including credit allocation) rests with the supervising faculty. Students may earn credit but not meet the SRP, but may not meet the SRP and not earn credit. Faculty submit the grade and may certify satisfaction of the SRP to the Deputy Dean, who is the instructor of record; the deadline for grades submission and SRP certification is the second year spring quarter grades deadline.  

Satisfaction of the SRP requirement is an assessment made by faculty separate and apart from each journal’s substantiality assessment to determine whether that requirement of membership has been satisfied. The substantiality assessment is solely within the discretion and authority of the journal itself.  The journal must certify substantiality to the faculty by the journal’s internal deadline or the first Monday in May of the year in which the comment was first undertaken, whichever comes first.  Students who fail to meet substantiality but make a good faith effort to do so are reported to the supervising faculty, who then asks the Office of the Registrar that they be withdrawn from the accompanying course with a mark of W (the W appears in all three quarters). Students who fail to make a good faith effort receive a failing grade.

Please note that each student may derive a combined maximum of three credits from all Journal, and/or Hinton Moot Court and/or Jessup International Moot Court work throughout their entire Law School career. Students who gain access to a journal via the Topics Access process and who have received credit for the underlying independent research are not eligible for an additional three credits for their participation in the journal. Credits earned for journal participation count towards the Law School’s 40 core credit requirement. 

Please also note that students who gain access to a journal via the Topics Access process and who have received credit for an underlying independent research are not eligible for an additional three credits for their participation in the journal. Similarly, students may not use a paper written for a credit bearing course to earn credit or SRP credit for their journal comment.