2 News & Features VIRGINIA LAW WEEKLY Friday, 9 February 2007 fr SYMPOSIUM continued from page 1 Legal Scholarship Goes Online Tim McCarten '07 ture of legal scholarship is online. can disseminate information and Lawyers, Scholars Debate Pro Sports Features Editor Among other advantages, these the academic weight that a tradi- arrest propensity and time spent than for guys in the NBA. And it boards recognized that online tional article carries, Yeung says in college. Those who didn't go has been a tremendous success in When Virginia Law Review re- companions can truncate the pub- that In Brief is designed to publish to college were arrested less than that regard. cently revealed In Brief, its on- lication process, which may take as "more polished ideas at a quicker those that did." "Why 20? Why have an age limit line companion, it joined the law much as a year from the point of an speed." Moreover, Zucker admits McCann noted that only the at all? We thought that players journals at Yale, Harvard, Penn, article's submission to its publica- that publications like Virginia Law NBA and NFL impose age restric- who were 20 years of age-and I and Michigan in a growing trend tion. Review "can't compete with blogs" tions, unlike NASCAR, Major know it's somewhat an arbitrary among the country's leading law However, even once the board while also maintaining the degree League Baseball, and the National number-would be more physi- reviews to publish original scholar- decided to construct an online of quality for which the legal com- Hockey League. Marquette Uni- cally developed and mature than ship on the Internet. companion, it took over a year munity values them. Rather, he versity professor J. Gordon Hylton players who were 18 and 19. And But since the Internet age of planning and development to contends that a more balanced ap- then explained his theory for this we were giving a nod to college. dawned more than a decade ago, publish In Brief. Publishing online, proach is the wiser course. phenomenon. We didn't want to have players why did it take so long for the as the Virginia Law Review found, This intermediate approach also "These restrictions are not really skipping college and going straight nation's law journals to make this involves settling difficult ques- allows journals to be flexible about about protecting athletes," Hilton to the league." move? tions as to the manner in which the type of content they publish on- said. "The only reasons they're on Forbes said that the high level of Among the primary causes is legal scholarship should proceed line. For example, while the content the books is that the NBA and NFL interest and participation will in- that legal academic literature is on the Internet. Indeed, other law of Harvard's Forum remains closely came into being [in the middle of crease VaSEs presence in the legal most often controlled by law stu- journals that hope to establish an tied to its printed journal (the for- the 20th century] as competitors community. dents. Although there are argu- online companion are facing the mat of which appears largely the with already well-established col- "I view the continuing success ments as to the merits of whether very same questions. On this issue, same), In Briefs first issue features lege sports. The age restrictions of this symposium as a means of this should be the case, it is be- however, there seems to be con- an essay by Professor Chris Sprig- came in as a way of telling the becoming the top sports and en- yond dispute that it has practical sensus among those involved with man with images, multimedia, and world, 'We're not interfering with tertainment law journal in the implications for the ability of law such publications that the Internet links to external sources. In this college sports.' These rules were country," Forbes said. "For next journals to adapt to changes in the provides three basic routes for pre- respect, Yeung believes that such all about dividing the market." year, we hope to expand the event marketplace. senting scholarly content. These additional creative opportunities Philip Evans, president of the to multiple days, and to market it Primary among these implica- students simply differ on which is will provide scholars with another NBA-owned National Basketball to a national audience. The sym- tions is the fact that law reviews' the proper approach. incentive to publish their work in Development League, gave an op- posium thus serves our interests editorial boards must deal with First, online publications such an online companion. posing view, discussing why the in two ways. First, we increase the problems inherent in annual as the Harvard Law Review Forum In the near term, Yeung says that NBDL decided to impose an age the discourse among students turnover and short periods of ten- limit their web content to a simple In Brief will publish online once a restriction of 20 years old upon its and practitioners in this field and ure. As a consequence, when the extension of their printed pages. month during the academic year founding. provide a valuable educational publishing industry changed-as Material published in the Forum and that it has already selected "We created the league where, if tool. Second, we have a market- it did upon the advent of online discusses articles that appeared in essays for the next few issues. For you were a player 20 years old or ing vehicle to increase our name publication-student-led journals the current print issue of Harvard those issues, In Brief has solicited above, we wanted to have a place recognition nationwide, which have been comparatively slow to Law Review, and consists solely of the help of professors to write the for you to go with great officiating, should lead to a larger subscriber adapt. Thus, despite the fact that brief, timely responses to those ar- pieces that it will use. After that, great coaching, to let you develop base and a greater pool of article most of the current generation of ticles. however, Zucker and Yeung an- your game," Evans said. "And also submissions. In that sense, this law students is very comfortable Second, and at the other end ticipate that In Briefs editors will to have training in life skills and symposium has already paid divi- with technology, student-pub- of the spectrum, is the legal blog. be able to select its content from a ways to develop as a person out- dends, as several attendees sought lished legal literature has only re- While no major law review has pool of essays that professors, UVA side the game, and to prepare for subscription information and one cently ventured onto the Internet yet taken this route, law profes- students, and practitioners sub- life after basketball, which may speaker expressed an interest in in a manner comparable to other sors such as Yale's Jack Balkin mit. Indeed, after only two weeks come sooner for guys in our league submitting an article." kinds of publications. and UCLA's Eugene Volokh advo- online, Zucker reports that several I But now that a handful of law cate this approach. Indeed, other authors have already submitted es- journals have begun branching out journals are known to be consid- says through the In Brief website. onto the Internet, it appears that ering it. While legal blogs have So if the future of legal scholar- Virginia many others will follow. Accord- the advantages of readership and ship is online, what will happen to ing to Jim Zucker, Virginia Law Re- speed of publication, many view the traditional printed Law Review Law Weekly view's Editor-in-Chief, his counter- this avenue as being insufficiently page? According to Zucker, the parts at the nations' other leading academic. As Virginia Law Review's move online may make printed law law reviews are almost uniformly Technology Development Editor reviews little more than "brand- planning the near-term launch of Chris Yeung says, the main prob- name repositories" of scholarship an online companion to their print lem with blogs is that they "consist that is accessible elsewhere. Even journals. of unpolished ideas" that don't go so, he believes that academic lit- John Kabealo Although Zucker claims that the through the standard editing and erature's move to the Internet will Editor-in-Chief Law Review didn't feel any pressure substantiation processes. only enhance the quality of legal Scott Dorfman Josephine Liu after the Yale Law Journal pub- As an alternative to these two di- scholarship. Executive Editor ProductionEditor lished the first online companion vergent approaches, Virginia Law (The Pocket Part) in October 2005, Review has joined several other law Drew Snyder he believes that past and current reviews that have sought an inter- Managing Editor A Law Weekly Law Review managing boards pos- mediate route. Attempting to bal- Chris Tucker sessed a uniform sense that the fu- ance the speed with which a blog Apology News Editor Toby Mergler Tim McCarten 00 MOOT COURT Last weeks SBA Notebook was Columns Editor Features Editor written by then-President, Adam continued from page 1 Wolk. In it, he urged people to vote in Ulrick Casseus Anna Nisbet the SBA elections and discussed the Reviews Editor PhotographyEditor UVA Law, JAG School Cooperate in importance of the SBA to the school. Some took it as more self-important Andrew McCarthy Stephanie Weitzner Extramural Advocacy than they were used to reading, and Treasurer Business Editor thought it sounded a bit preachy. John Sheehan problems," Gordon said. "They Coombs continued, "we now have Please rest assured that Wolk Web Editor spend about 30 to 40 hours with a faculty member from the UVA didn't intend to preach to the student Andrew Christensen Michael Seeligson us over the last 10 days before a Law School as part of the pro- body. In fact, what he wrote was a Associate News Editor Associate ProductionEditor competition, and usually attend gram. The authorization of LL.M. draft that he realized should not run the competitions with the par- credit is a big step in cementing preciselybecause it sounded preachy. Lauren Rogoff Stephanie Weitzner ticipants. Granting [academic] our relationship with UVA," he Through an oversight by a member Associate PhotographyEditor Associate Columns Editor credit to the JAGs cements our re- added, conveying his hopes that of the Law Weekly staff (namely, lationship permanently, and is a the two schools will continue to John Kabealo), we printed Wolk's COLUMNISTS: Beth Cooper, Preston Hartman, Sascha Heller, Josh Levy, big boost to recognize the efforts strengthen their ties in the fu- first draft, rather than a subsequent Jerry Parker, Grace Su, Adam Wolk version that was funny, lighthearted, REVIEWERS: Ryan Dougherty, Craig Smith that these coaches make." ture. Major Coombs, who was instru- Gordon similarly expressed and, dare we say it, inspirational. In Published weekly on Friday except during holiday and examination periods and serving the mental in arranging for coaches a robust, positive vision for the short, it was quintessentially Wolk. Law School community at the University of Virginia, the Virginia Law Weekly (ISSN 0042-661X) is not to get credit, reflected on the Extramural Advocacy Team/JAG In all seriousness, it is difficult at an official publication of the University and does not necessarily express the views of the University. Any article appearing herein maybe reproduced provided that credit is given to both the Virginia Law importance of the new, officially School alliance, in light of its re- times for people to put their thoughts Weekly and the author of the article. Advanced written permission of the Virginia Law Weekly is also and feelings into print for public con- required for reproduction of any cartoon or illustration. established program. cent evolution. "The relationship had been an "We believe this is a ground- sumption, and although Wolk him- Virginia Law Weekly Phone: 434.924.3070 580 Massie Road Fax: 434.924.7536 informal one," Coombs said. "Its breaking arrangement that will self has laughed off our oversight, University ofVirginia School of Law [email protected] annual existence was due to the pay incredible dividends, not just we feel it important to attempt to Charlottesville, Virginia 22903-1789 www.lawweekly.org requests for help by UVA Law in terms of our teams' successes mitigate the effect of our mistake. We School students, former [JAG this year, but also in ensuring a appreciate everything Wolk has con- EDITORIAL POLICY: The Virginia Law Weekly publishes letters and columns of interest to the Law School and the legal community at large. Views expressed in such submissions are those of the author(s) School] faculty donating their legacy of competitive UVA teams tributed to the Law Weekly as well as and not necessarily those of the Law Weekly or the Editorial Board. Letters from organizations must bear time to supervise the program, for years to come," Gordon pre- the Law School community at large, the name, signature, and title of the person authorizing the submission. All letters and columns must either be submitted in hardcopy bearing a handwritten signature along with an electronic version, or and members of the Graduate dicted. "All of the best appellate and apologize for our oversight. be mailed from the author's e-mail account. Submissions must be received by 5 p.m. the Monday before Course volunteering to be coach- teams have coaches, and this step publication and must be in accordance with the submission guidelines. Letters over 500 words and col- umns over 700 words may not be accepted. The Editorial Board reserves the right to edit all submissions es." was necessary for our advance- John Kabealo for length, grammar, and clarity. Although every effort is made to publish all materials meeting our Editor-in-Chief guidelines, we regret that not all submissions received can be published. "Unlike in previous years," ment as an extramural program."