The Harvard Law Review is composed of second- and third-year law students who are selected via a six-day writing competition at the end of each academic year. The Review strongly encourages all students to participate in the writing competition, which consists of two parts:
- Subcite: This portion, worth 50% of the competition score, requires students to perform a technical and substantive edit of an excerpt from an unpublished article
- Case Comment: This portion, also worth 50%, requires students to describe and analyze a recent case
The competition uses a closed universe of materials provided to all competition-takers; no additional outside research of any kind is allowed or required. The use of any form of Artificial Intelligence during the competition is also strictly prohibited.
Based on the competition, fifty-four students are invited to join the Review each year, including:
- Twenty selected based solely on competition scores
- Seven (one from each 1L section) selected based on an equally weighted combination of competition scores and first-year grades
- Three (from any section) selected based on an equally weighted combination of competition scores and first-year grades
- Twenty-four selected through an anonymous holistic review (see below for details)
The Review is committed to a diverse and inclusive membership and encourages all students to participate in the writing competition. Harvard Law School students who are interested in joining the Review must write the competition at the end of their first year, even if they plan to take time off during law school or are pursuing a joint degree and plan to spend time at another graduate school.
Timeline & Resources
Registration will open on April 22, 2026. We expect to invite editors to join Volume 141 over the course of an offer weekend in mid-July. New editors will be required to participate in a virtual Orientation in late July. Immediately following this virtual Orientation, all new editors will begin work on Law Review assignments, which will also be completed virtually and can be completed simultaneously with other commitments (e,g, internships, events, travel, etc.). Finally, new editors will also be required to attend an in-person Orientation at the beginning of the Fall 2026 semester in September. This in-person Orientation will take place on Saturday, September 5 and Sunday, September 6. All editors are required to be present for this in-person Orientation.
For more information, the following resources are available:
- Tips Session Presentation and Recording: Provides an introduction to the structure of the Competition and general tips for each of its sections. In the provided recording, the presentation begins at the 17:28 mark and lasts approximately 45-minutes.
- Additional Tips Packet: Provides additional guidance about approaching the Case Comment and Subcite portions of the Competition.
- Examples of How Actual HLR Editors Budgeted Time During the Competition: Provides examples of how actual HLR editors budgeted their time during the week of the Competition.
- Competition Policy on AI Use: Provides the Competition’s policies with respect to AI use for the 2026 Competition.
- Competition Policy on AI Use FAQs: Provides answers to frequently asked questions about the Competition Policy on AI Use.
Competition & Membership Policies
Holistic Review
Applicants will have the opportunity to convey how they could contribute to the Law Review, through the Law Review’s holistic review process. Applicants can do so by submitting an additional expository statement. Statements will be considered by the Selection Committee only after grading of the competition has been completed. Statements will remain anonymous and will not be evaluated for quality of writing or editing, nor will they be assigned a numerical score.
Applicants are welcome to draft their expository statements before the competition week begins, and the prompt for the 200-word statement is as follows:
“You are strongly encouraged to use the space below to submit a typed expository statement of no more than 200 words. This statement may identify and describe aspects of your perspectives, experiences, and viewpoints, and the ways in which those attributes or experiences will enhance your contributions to the Law Review. You also may use this statement to identify and describe areas of academic or scholarly interest, career goals, or anything that you would bring to your work on the Law Review.
Statements will be considered only after grading of the subcite and case comment sections of the competition has been completed. Statements will not be evaluated for quality of writing or editing, nor will they be assigned a numerical score. No applicant will be penalized in any way for not submitting an optional statement, and all optional statements are completely confidential.”
Deferral & Leave
Harvard Law Review will invite students to join Vol. 141 in mid-July. Students invited to join Vol. 141 who are taking a full-year leave of absence from HLS will be allowed to defer their membership in Law Review for the year. They may then join the Law Review as members of Vol. 142 in fall 2027 and serve as editors for two years. Editors typically serve for two full academic years to ensure ample time for training, acclimation to their roles on the Review, and opportunities to make collective decisions about our work.
Students invited to join Vol. 141 who are taking a fall-semester leave of absence from HLS are encouraged to still join as editors with Vol. 141. If joining with Vol. 141, editors will be expected to complete Law Review work during the fall, even though they are on leave from HLS. They will then serve as editors for two years. Alternatively, students taking a one-semester leave may wait to join until fall of the following year (fall 2027); in that case, they will have no Law Review obligations during the 2026-2027 academic year and will participate as Law Review editors for a single year.
Transfer Students
The Review encourages transfer students to take the Competition at the end of their 2L year at Harvard. Up to three spots are available for transfer students. Rising 3L transfer students may submit their grades for consideration under the holistic review process, but they will not be eligible for the 10 slots that incorporate first-year grades. Rising 3L transfer students join the Review for one year.
Prospective transfer students may also choose to take the Competition at the same time as Harvard 1Ls. Please note the Competition takes place in May, before the Law School makes its transfer admissions decisions. The Review’s membership decisions do not affect the admissions decisions of the Law School. No student may attempt the Competition more than once — transfer students who are admitted to Harvard Law School but declined from the Review cannot take the Competition again at the end of their 2L year. Therefore, the Review encourages prospective transfer students to wait until the end of their 2L year at Harvard to take the Competition. Most successful transfer applicants to the Review in recent years chose to take the Competition as rising 3Ls.
Prospective transfer students are selected on the same anonymous grading basis as Harvard 1Ls and are eligible for 44 of the spots on the Review (in other words, all spots besides the 10 allotted to Harvard 1Ls for whom first-year grades play a role). Prospective transfer students may submit an anonymized, unofficial transcript when their 1L grades are released if they would like their grades to be considered in the holistic review process.
SJD Students
SJD students at Harvard Law School may serve as editors of the Law Review. To join, SJDs take the same writing competition as JD students and are eligible for 44 of the editorial positions (all spots besides those allotted to JD 1Ls for whom first-year grades play a role). SJDs should take the competition only if they are certain they have at least two years remaining in their program of study. Additionally, as with all candidates, SJDs are permitted to participate in the writing competition only once.
Disabilities & Accommodations
The Harvard Law Review is firmly committed to providing accommodations for students with disabilities and handles requests on a case-by-case basis. The Law Review is an independent entity and thus has its own accommodations system separate from Harvard Law School’s Dean of Students Office and will thus require independent documentation.
Accommodations requests can be submitted between Monday, March 23rd and Friday, April 24th. Students are strongly encouraged to submit their accommodation requests as soon as possible, even if they are not yet certain they will take the competition. Please see our answers to FAQ on accommodations to learn more about what documentation is needed.
The Law Review strives to keep information regarding disabilities and accommodations as confidential as possible. Nothing about your accommodations application or your receipt of accommodations will be part of the Competition entry that is considered in the selection process. All Competition grading is doubly anonymized. Jennifer Heath, a non-student HLR staff member manages the logistics related to our accommodations process, and accommodations recommendations to the Law Review are made by our testing consultant, Dr. Loring Brinckerhoff.
Additionally, students may request accommodations for religious observances. Students with religious conflicts during the Competition, including the Sabbath or other observances, should email [email protected] to discuss accommodations as soon as possible beginning March 23rd.
Writing Competition Policy on AI Use
Restrictions on AI Use
Any and all use of generative AI tools to prepare your submission is strictly prohibited. This prohibition includes, but is not limited to, the use of ChatGPT, Claude, and other LLM-based tools to generate, edit, revise, summarize, or otherwise assist in preparing your submission.
All work submitted for the Case Comment and Subcite portions of the Writing Competition must be your own work, drafted for the first time during the Competition. You may not rely on any external assistance or materials beyond the instructions and materials provided to you by HLR. Copying and pasting any content directly from any external source is strictly prohibited.
HLR employs various tools to review competitors’ materials and assess compliance with this policy. To prevent AI use, Competitors will be prohibited from printing Competition materials absent an approved Disability Accommodations Request. Additionally, Competitors will need to be connected to the internet to open sources, draft their Case Comment, and add comments to the Subcite portion. Thus, Competitors should plan to work somewhere they will have Wi-Fi access.
Attestation of Compliance with the Competition’s Policy on AI Use
Each Competitor must include at the top of their Case Comment document an attestation, in their own words, that: (1) they read the Competition’s Policy on AI Use, (2) they did not use generative AI tools in any prohibited manner, and (3) that all submitted work is entirely their own.
For illustrative purposes, an attestation might read: “I affirm that I read the Competition’s Policy on AI Use, that I did not use any generative AI during the Competition, and that all work is entirely my own.” Competitors should use their own language for their attestation.
Consequences for Violations of the Competition’s Policy on AI Use
The consequence for violation of the Competition’s Policy on AI Use is disqualification.
In the event of suspected AI use in violation of this policy, a Competitor will be referred to HLR’s Competition Disciplinary Committee, which is composed of recently graduated HLR Editors. The committee will review relevant evidence to assess whether a violation occurred. If the Committee finds it more likely than not a Competitor used AI, the Competitor will be invited to: (1) resign from the Competition without consequence or (2) explain the discrepancies in their materials.
If such Competitor chooses to explain the discrepancies, they may submit a written statement or provide an explanation to the Committee via Zoom, and a decision as to their continued eligibility will be rendered. The decision, once communicated to the Competitor, is final and unappealable.