Eligibility for Membership

In order to become a KJEANRL staff member, a person must:

  1. Be a full time student at the University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law;

  2. successfully complete the first year of law courses, including the Legal Research and Writing requirement; and,

  3. successfully compete the write-on candidacy program conducted during the summer following the first year of law school.

Duties of Membership

All Journal members are responsible for completing work in three areas: writing, editing, and administration. In order to publish a Journal of the highest quality in a timely fashion, all staff members must complete their assignments to the best of their abilities and on time. The Journal awards credit hours on a Pass/Fail basis in consideration of the following:

  1. Writing: Space in each issue of the Journal is reserved for student writings. Student writings take two forms: Notes and blogs. A Note, although it is often based upon recent cases, is a discussion and critique of a narrow yet significant area of law. A blog is a piece based upon recent legal issues in an evolving area of law. A blog may not exceed 1,000 words, in contrast to 20-25 pages for a Note. Journal members must complete one Blog and, if not selected for the Editorial Board, one Note that are "ready for publication" in order to fulfill the writing requirement of staff membership. The "ready for publication" standard is more stringent than the "publishable" standard for the write-on program. The former standard entails thorough editing and revision completed by the author.

  2. Editing: Editing of Articles, Comments, and Notes which have been selected for publication is an extremely important responsibility of all Journal staff members. All staff members are expected to do a Source & Cite edit on a minimum of two written works during each school year of membership.

  3. Administrative Work: Staff members must devote two hours per week for administrative work such as preparation of manuscripts for the printing process and operation of the blog. 

Transfer Students

Transfer students may become eligible for Journal membership through participation in either the summer or the fall write-on programs, or both. 

Write-On Program Selection Criteria

The initial write-on program is conducted in the early summer jointly with the Kentucky Law Journal. The deadlines for each program are to be strictly enforced. Students wishing to write on must pay a non-refundable fee to each journal. The fee is not credited towards future dues if the candidate is invited to the Journal. Students who accept the invitation for membership may begin their participation in KJEANRL writing, editing, and administrative duties at the start of the following fall semester.

Selection of Editorial Board

The Editorial Board is comprised of the following positions:

  • Editor-in-Chief

  • Executive Editor

  • Production Editors

  • Notes Editors

  • Articles Editors

  • Online Editors

  • Faculty Advisor

  • Staff Assistant 

The Editorial Board is responsible for planning and directing all Journal operations for one year, the most important of which is actually publishing the Journal.

The responsibilities of having a position on the Editorial Board require each Editor to be available for substantial Journal work during the summer before their third year. All Editors are expected to work full-time for at least one week at the beginning of the summer and to give substantial amounts of time to Journal work throughout the summer. By agreement between them, one must be available at all times and be responsible for the day-to-day Journal operation. Outside employment during the summer should not interfere with Journal duties.

Selection of Editors

After reviewing the applications submitted by interested Journal members, the outgoing Editorial Board shall select the new Editorial Board based on the members following qualifications:

  1. Total Journal performance;

  2. Demonstrated interest in the Journal and willingness to make sacrifices in time and effort during tenure;

  3. Editing ability (as determined from Source & Cite Edits, writing assignments, and administrative work);

  4. Leadership and achievement while in law school; and

  5. Suitability for particular Editorial Board position responsibilities.

  6. Assumption of Duties

The new Editorial Board will be selected prior to the Ides of March. The new Board will began receiving editorial assignments as soon as they are selected and should begin to plan schedules, authors, topics, and policies for their volume.