May 27, 2025
Dear All,
When I became president of the Harvard Law Review a few months ago, I began regularly sharing a ‘State of the Review,’ which was essentially pertinent information and key updates to keep our editors apprised of important initiatives, accomplishments, and developments. These have been sent exclusively to our editorial board, the group of committed and dedicated students that work tirelessly to carry out our mission of ensuring the publication of a journal of legal scholarship that serves lawyers, academia, and members of the broader public. Given recent developments, including news articles and reports that have mischaracterized the Review’s policies, I thought it was important to release this ‘State of the Review’ publicly.
During the past four months, the Review has accomplished a great deal, including these highlights:
- We published content from more than 30 outside authors, including seven articles, two Book Reviews, three Forum submissions, and several blogs.
- Our Articles and Online teams reviewed over 1,500 submissions for next year, Volume 139. By April, we had:
- Accepted six articles and two Forum submissions
- Decided on one symposium
- Solicited one book review
- Chosen four authors, in addition to our Foreword author selected last winter, to contribute pieces to our flagship SCOTUS issue
I am also excited to announce that just this week, 1L students completed the writing competition, which means that we will soon have the pleasure of welcoming Volume 140!
All of this work has been done against the backdrop of increased media attention and even scrutiny of Law Review operations. Several news reports have mischaracterized the Review’s internal operations, by selectively drawing on excerpts of confidential Review materials to reach inaccurate conclusions.
Based on these reports, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced investigations into alleged race-based discrimination at the Review — allegations that we categorically deny. It is important to mention that the Review has not yet been contacted directly by any government agency. The Review takes all allegations and investigations seriously and is, of course, committed to complying with all applicable laws.
The Harvard Law Review has been legally and organizationally independent from Harvard Law School and Harvard University for over a century. The Review operates as an independent nonprofit entity and does not receive any federal funding.
As newly elected Review leaders do each year, we have been reviewing the Review’s policies and procedures. This year, the Review created new written guidelines regarding the holistic review portion of our editor selection process. The Review also is working with Munger, Tolles & Olson — a leading national law firm — to conduct a comprehensive review of its operations.
In the spirit of openness and transparency, we are publishing this factsheet to facilitate an accurate understanding of our policies and practices.
All the best,
G. Terrell Seabrooks
President, Volume 139
Harvard Law Review