2021 Writing Competition More information about the 2021 Writing Competition will be available in March, 2021.

Covid-19 Related Updates: We hope that everyone and their loved ones are keeping well. Given the evolving COVID-19 situation, this year’s competition will be digital and thus available to everyone remotely. We have also altered our competition accommodations policies in light of COVID-19. Please see “Competition changes in light of COVID-19” for more details.

This year, as part of our holistic consideration process, we are also providing a space for students to upload a statement of no more than 150 words that identifies and describes any challenges you may have faced during the competition as a result of COVID-19.

Deferral Policy Update: Harvard Law Review will invite students to join Vol. 135 in mid-July. Students invited to join Vol. 135 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. 136 in fall 2021 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. 135 who are taking a fall-semester leave of absence from HLS are encouraged to still join as editors with Vol. 135. If joining with Vol. 135, 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 2021); in that case, they will have no Law Review obligations during the 2020-2021 academic year and will participate as Law Review editors for a single year.

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The 2020 writing competition will begin on Saturday, May 16, after the completion of 1L final exams, and end on Saturday, May 23.

We will replace our usual in-person pickup with online registration in advance of the competition. We will post a registration form link here and email it to HLS students on April 23. Registration will ensure that you receive the competition but does not bind you to completing the competition. The competition registration form for HLS 1Ls is now open and will close on May 12 at 11:59 p.m. Prospective transfer students who would like to receive information about registering for the competition should email [email protected]

The competition consists of two parts. The subcite portion of the competition, worth 40% of the competition score, requires students to perform a technical and substantive edit of an excerpt from an unpublished article. The case comment portion of the competition, worth 60% of the competition score, requires students to describe and analyze a recent case. The entire competition consists of a closed universe of materials provided to all competition-takers; no outside research of any kind is allowed, and no use of any reference materials is permitted.

In the interest of clearing up confusion about the Harvard Law Review and our writing competition, this HLR factsheet notes a couple of the concerns we have heard, along with our responses.

In planning for the Competition, we encourage you to review this small sampling of different Writing Competition schedules used by current HLR editors.

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Competition Tips Session and Subcite Training Session 2020

You may download the competition tips packet here. The attached tips packet is designed to provide some specific guidance about approaching the case comment and subcite portions of the competition. Together with the two tips presentations, these materials should give you a complete picture of the writing competition. Please note that the sample competition submissions included in this packet are merely representative and are by no means definitive examples.

The April 14 tips session videos: subcite training session part 1, subcite training session part 2, and the general tips session video, are now available. We've additionally compiled in-depth subcite instructions on how to download and make subcite comments in Adobe. For a step-by-step tutorial, please see the videos posted on our YouTube channel.

A video of our April 16 writing competition Q&A session is also available on our YouTube channel.

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Housing Extension Request

The HLS Housing form is now available for students who will be participating in the Harvard Law Review Writing Competition and may need a housing extension. (Please note that participation will be confirmed and verified.) The deadline to submit is Friday, May 8. If you have questions about the housing extension please contact the HLS Housing Office. If you are still living in campus housing during the COVID-19 disruptions, it is possible to remain during the competition dates.

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Information for Transfer Students

Students should refer to the above "Covid-19 Related Updates" section for any new details on the competition process for the 2020 year.

Prospective transfer students may take the competition at the same time as Harvard Law School 1Ls. Prospective transfer students are selected on the same anonymous grading basis as Harvard 1Ls and are eligible for 38 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 Law Review’s holistic review process. While being selected to join the Review in no way guarantees a transfer applicant admission to Harvard Law School, it is the policy of the Review to inform the admissions office whenever a transfer student successfully gains membership on the Review. Prospective 1L transfer students should email [email protected] if they’d like to receive emails related to the Law Review's competition.

Recognizing that the competition schedule poses unique challenges to prospective transfer applicants, the Review also allows transfer students to take the competition at the end of their 2L year. However, no student may attempt the competition more than once, and this option is only available to transfer students who did not previously take the competition. Like prospective transfer students, rising third-year students may submit their grades, but they will not be eligible for the 10 slots that incorporate first-year grades.

Information for 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 38 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.

Information for Students with Disabilities

The Harvard Law Review provides accommodations on the writing competition to students with documented disabilities on an individual, case-by-case basis. To request an accommodation, please complete the accommodation registration form. You may return your materials in person or by email to Lakshmi Clark-McClendon, Senior Director of Student Affairs in the Dean of Student Office or to Jennifer Heath, Program Administrator at the Law Review. If you are submitting your request via email, we suggest secure file transfer for all confidential materials.

Accommodations requests should be submitted between March 1 until April 17 and will be processed on a rolling basis. 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.

Decisions to grant reasonable accommodations are made by the Review. DOS and the Review ensure that anonymity of all entrants is preserved; no student on the Review will receive personal identifying information about any student requesting accommodation, and the competition grading process itself is fully anonymous.

The Review strongly encourages all students who need accommodations to participate in the writing competition. For more information about life on the Review, students are encouraged to attend one of our information sessions or reach out to Shaiba Rather, our Vice President/Coordination and Outreach, at [email protected].

Religious Accommodations

Students with unavoidable religious conflicts during the competition, including those fasting for Ramadan and/or observing the Sabbath, should email [email protected] to request an accommodation.