The University of Chicago Business Law Review Welcome Letter

May 1, 2023

Dear Class of 2025 Transfer Candidates,

We are excited to invite you to apply to The University of Chicago Business Law Review. This letter describes UChiBLR, our member selection process, membership responsibilities, and our Editorial Board’s commitment to our future members.
 

Who We Are

UChiBLR was founded with two goals in mind: provide students and academics an opportunity to publish business law scholarship through the Law School and foster dialogue between practitioners, academics, regulators, and students interested in business law both in the United States and around the world. The Journal focuses on business, corporate, securities, tax, and bankruptcy law as well as the interplay between regulators in the public sector and practitioners in the private sector.

Our Journal achieves its goals through various means. We maintain an active online forum for twice-monthly publication in the field (UChiBLR Online Edition), publish a yearly print volume with two issues, and host a Biennial Symposium that is selected and planned by the entire Journal membership over a two-year planning horizon. Our last Symposium, “The Economic Structure of Corporate Law at Thirty: A Retrospective on the Work of Easterbrook & Fischel,” paid tribute to Judge Frank H. Easterbrook and Professor Daniel R. Fischel’s seminal book 30 years after its publication by inviting scholars from around the country to present a range of perspectives on their work. Several leading scholars took part in our previous Symposium, including Nobel laureate Oliver Hart and Leo Strine, former Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court. This upcoming year, we are excited to be hosting our second Biennial Symposium, which will also feature prominent legal scholars. 

We take pride in our commitment to our members and provide valuable training in legal research and writing, professional development engagements with practitioners in business law, and opportunities to forge lifelong friendships with fellow students. The Law School rewards Journal membership with three pass/fail credits. New members will be active in the editing process of pieces from top academics in the field and will produce a Comment in the area of business law that satisfies the Substantial Research Project (SRP) credit for graduation requirements and will be considered for publication in our print volume. Additionally, new members will have the opportunity to be published through our Online Edition.
 

Member Selection

UChiBLR has been the proud beneficiary of transfer students, with multiple members of our current Board having joined the Journal after transferring to the Law School. Transfer students can join UChiBLR via two paths: Writing Competition or Direct Application/“Topic Access” Program.

Writing Competition — The Writing Competition, held in early June, consists of three components: a Topic Analysis, an Editing Exercise, and a Personal Statement detailing the student’s interest in Journal membership generally, or if pertinent, interest in UChiBLR specifically. Applicants are required to complete all three portions before the deadline in order to be eligible for membership on UChiBLR. Transfer students interested in the Writing Competition should sign up for the competition through the webform on the transfer student website before the sign-up deadline. While we excitedly welcome any and all questions as to what life is like at the Law School as a transfer, what membership on UChiBLR is like, or general questions about living in Chicago, we also respect the anonymous process of the Writing Competition. We give you our word that we will not solicit information from you on your application through the Writing Competition, and respectfully ask that in your correspondence with us you do not indicate anything that might compromise anonymous grading and selection.

Direct Application / Topic Access — UChiBLR also accepts members through our Direct Application or “Topic Access” Program. Topic Access is ideal for those applicants with a particular business subject in mind that they would like to develop. Topic Access involves writing a Topic Proposal and Topic Analysis (effectively a thorough preemption and viability check on the Topic Proposal). Our Topic Access program provides prospective members their option of three staggered “Schedules” over the Summer that span about six weeks each. Our first schedule allows prospective members the opportunity to receive offers before OCI. Those interested in Topic Access should reach out directly to Executive Comments Editor, Sarah Roberts, at sarahhroberts@uchicago.edu and Managing Editor, Stone Hart, at stonehart@uchicago.edu. Those interested in Topic Access are not required to partake in the Writing Competition to be considered for membership with UChiBLR. Topic Access Schedules are listed below:

Member Responsibilities

New members are expected to attend UChiBLR summer orientations in late July (prior to OCI) and mid-September (post-OCI callback window). Members will be notified of dates and provided the Journal’s annual calendar upon accepting membership offers. The goal of our first orientation meeting is to provide you with an introduction to the Journal, how the process works over a given year from member offers to Board selection and volume publication, and initial guidance on starting the Comment Process. Our second orientation will provide you an introduction to the editorial process and feature advanced legal research training from D’Angelo Law Library Staff.

Throughout the year, new members will be responsible for the following: two Topic Proposals, two Topic Analyses, one Comment Outline, and two Comment Drafts (a Rough and Final Draft). This process spans from early July through the end of January, and new members will be paired with a Faculty Advisor to oversee the process. New members will also be placed on one of three “Content Teams” overseen by one Comments Editor and one Articles Editor. These Editors will provide mentorship and development as you begin your Journal career. Beginning in the Fall, members will partake in discrete editorial tasks to facilitate publication of our December issue and provide new members a “look behind the curtain” on content solicitation and academic engagement with leading scholars from across the world. Finally, as part of our Biennial Symposium Model, every member of the Journal (Board members and new members) will be afforded an opportunity to submit a Topic Proposal for next year’s Symposium. These proposals will be put to the entire Journal membership for a vote on what the following year’s Symposium topic will be.
 

The Editorial Board’s Commitment to You

Journal membership is a time-honored and rewarding tradition for Law Students, but as the youngest Journal at the Law School, we derive the benefit of not being beholden to “the way we’ve always done it.” We consistently strive to innovate and build efficiencies in our systems, and are not only open to, but strongly ENCOURAGE, the recommendations of our future members as well. Our aim as an Editorial Board is to provide new members with the utmost predictability and ensure that any task or event our members attend provides value for all involved. Business Law is a rich and fascinating area of the law, and we excitedly await the opportunity to bring our next membership class into our community.

We look forward to engaging with your materials, either via Writing Competition or Topic Access. Please feel free to reach out to any member of our Executive Board listed below with questions about UChiBLR, the Law School, or Chicago generally. We have listed our Executive Board members that have been in your shoes as a transfer for those questions you have about life as a transfer Student generally. We look forward to hearing from you in the near future, and best of luck in your transfer admissions application cycle!

Sincerely,

 The University of Chicago Business Law Review Executive Board

Blaise Gargiulo                                                                     
Editor-in-Chief                                                                      
Email: blaisegargiulo@uchicago.edu                                           
Transfer Class of 2021 – University of Georgia School of Law        

Yasmeen Shrestha
Executive Editor
Email: yasmeens@uchicago.edu

Anna Dincher                                                                       
Managing Editor                                                                                                   
Email: annadincher@uchicago.edu                                             

Stone Hart
Managing Editor
Email: stonehart@uchicago.edu

Maddie Fleming                                                                     
Executive Articles Editor                                                         
Email: mcfleming@uchicago.edu                                             

Sarah Roberts
Executive Comments Editor
Email: sarahhroberts@uchicago.edu