Preamble

The University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review is published by students at the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto with a view to fostering student scholarship and academic citizenship. The Law Review believes that students have valuable contributions to make to legal scholarship, and it is in this spirit that it accepts scholarly contributions from law students, graduate students in law-related disciplines, students-at-law (articling students) and student clerks at courts in any jurisdiction.

The Law Review considers for publication any piece of student scholarship with a substantial legal focus, and it welcomes submissions throughout the year. Before submitting your work to the Law Review, please carefully read the following submissions policy statement adopted by the editors of the Law Review for Volume 68.

1. Eligibility

Eligibility to submit to the Law Review is based on two specific criteria: (a) personal status as an eligible contributing student, and (b) exclusivity of submission.

a. Personal Status as an eligible contributing student

1. Definition of "eligible contributing student"

The Law Review only accepts submissions from eligible students.

Eligible students are defined as:

1. Students enrolled in a course of study in law that is recognized by the law society (or the equivalent) in the jurisdiction of origin as a pre-requisite to the practice of law as a profession.
   1. In all common law jurisdictions in Canada, such programs are second-entry undergraduate degrees (LL.B. or J.D.), whereas in the Qu?ec and the U.K., such courses are direct-entry undergraduate degrees (e.g. LL.L, or LL.B.). In the United States, all such courses are first professional doctorates (J.D.). If you are unsure of your status, contact law.review@utoronto.ca or check with the bar or law society in your jurisdiction;
2. Students enrolled in graduate programs (course-based or research oriented) in law (LL.M., B.C.L. (Oxon.), S.J.D., etc.), or graduate-level interdisciplinary programs involving law;
3. Students-at-law (articling students);
4. Students clerking at a court in any jurisdiction

2. Eligible submissions (timing)

The Law Review accepts submissions that were written prior to law school if the author is, at the time of submission, an eligible contributing student (as defined above).

Additionally, the Law Review accepts submissions following graduation or completion of articles/clerking as long as the work was written during the period in which the author was eligible to submit to the Law Review, and the submission is sent in close proximity to graduation or the completion of articles/clerking.

The Law Review always accepts for consideration papers submitted during the academic year immediately following the academic year during which the author completed his or her course(s) of study. For example, if an author completed an LL.M. at the end of or during the 2008-2009 academic year (September 2008-August 2009) she may submit to either Volumes 68(1) (in September 2009) or 68(2) (in January 2010).

The Law Review retains the discretion to accept papers for consideration in Volume 68 that were written in a course of study completed prior to the 2008-2009 academic year. The Law Review will generally exercise this discretion to review such submissions if they were previously submitted to the Law Review and the author(s) was(were) encouraged to resubmit a revision to a future volume.

b. Exclusivity of Submission

The Law Review does not accept submissions that are currently under consideration by other journals. Authors must agree not to submit papers submitted to the Law Review for consideration to any other journal until the end of the review cycle into which the paper was entered (generally mid-November for the spring issue and mid-March for the winter issue).

2. Manuscript Requirements

Submissions to the Law Review are unconstrained in terms of length or subject matter. However, manuscripts must comply with the following requirements:

a. Title Page

All submissions must include a title page that identifies the following information:

1. Title of submission;
2. Name(s) of the author(s);
3. Contact information for the author(s);
4. Law school or interdisciplinary program of study, or articling principal, or court of clerkship.

b. Abstract

All submissions must include an abstract, the length of which must not exceed 5% of the word count of the body of the article.

c. Citations

All submissions must include citations in footnote format. Submissions with endnotes are not accepted for review.

The Law Review adheres to the style guide of the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation, 6th ed. (Scarborough: Carswell, 2006) ("McGill Guide"), and footnotes must conform fully to the principles set out in this Guide.

Students at American law schools may submit articles with footnotes set out in compliance with The Bluebook. If such a submission is selected for publication, however, the footnote style must be converted to that of the McGill Guide.

3. How to Submit

When submitting a manuscript to the Law Review, please observe the following guidelines:

a. Electronic Submissions

Manuscripts must be submitted in electronic form, double-spaced, in a .doc or .txt format (i.e. not PDF, .docx etc.).

To submit a manuscript for consideration, please email it to submissions@utflr.org.

b. Deadlines

Submission deadlines for Volume 68 are September 18, 2009 for the spring issue and January 15, 2010 for the winter issue. Following these deadlines, the editors review the submitted papers in review cycles that run approximately ten weeks (ending in early November for the spring issue and early March for the winter issue).

While submissions are accepted at any time during the academic year, the Law Review does not review papers on a rolling basis, nor does it offer expedited review.

c. Notification of Selection Results

Authors submitting in September will generally be notified by mid-November. Authors submitting in January will generally be notified by mid-March. No exceptions will be made to notify an author in advance of the general deadline.

Authors will be contacted regardless of whether or not their paper is selected for publication or for the Annual Conference on Student Publishing in Law. Authors will be notified of the results of the Law Review's selection process via e-mail.

4. Selection and Publication Processes

The Law Review strives for transparency in its submission evaluation, selection, and publication processes. The following is a brief description of these processes and the related policies adopted by the editors of the Law Review. If you have further questions about the internal practices of the Law Review, please contact law.review@utoronto.ca.

a. Submission Evaluation and Selection Process

It is the policy of the Law Review to evaluate all submissions anonymously, with respect both to the author's identity and his/her law school of origin. All submissions accepted for consideration by the Law Review are therefore "blinded" by the Editorial & Outreach Manager before they are distributed to the reviewing editors. This means that all identifying information (names of the author(s), faculties, etc.) are removed from the body and footnotes of the paper. The cover page is replaced with a form cover that includes a reference name for the paper (a combination of letters and numbers) and the title of the submission.

Once blinded, each submission is distributed to one of the ten cell groups that make up the first line of review of the Law Review. The cell groups for Volume 68 are as follows: public law, private law, environmental & energy law, constitutional law, international law, law in context, criminal law, business law, legal theory, and intellectual property law. The cell groups consist of J.D. students at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. Each cell group thoroughly reviews each submission assigned to it as a group and decides by way of vote whether or not to send a paper to the senior board for further consideration. Papers that are not passed on to the senior board are rejected at this step of the process.

The senior board makes the final decision as to whether or not to publish any given submission. While the cell groups advise the senior board by way of written and oral submissions for each passed-up paper, each member of the senior board individually reviews each paper passed up by the cell groups. In addition, senior readers (generally graduate students who have a research interest in the subject matter of the submission) are secured on an ad hoc basis to advise the board on the substantive merits of submissions. Based on the senior editors' individual determinations and the advice of the cell groups and senior readers, the senior board votes on whether or not to publish a paper. For each paper rejected for immediate publication by the senior board, a second vote is held to determine whether or not to invite the author to workshop the paper at the Annual Conference on Student Publishing (see below).

b. Publication Process for Selected Articles

It is the policy of the Law Review to reserve the right to make editorial changes in manuscripts accepted for publication, including changes required to improve grammar, spelling and clarity and to ensure that the submission conforms to the Law Review style. Moreover, the Law Review reserves the right to refuse or withdraw acceptance from, or delay publication of, any manuscript.

Once a submission has been accepted for publication, authors will have an opportunity to make a final set of changes before the production editing process begins. Authors should regard this submission as the final version of the paper. While it will be the responsibility of the author(s) to conduct further research (i.e. to correct citations) as required by the editors of the Law Review during this process, changes in style and content cannot be accommodated after this point. However, authors will have an opportunity to review page proofs and to correct typographical errors.

c. Annual Conference on Student Publishing in Law

All papers submitted to the Law Review are automatically considered for presentation at the Annual Conference on Student Publishing in Law as well as for publication. This Conference allows prospective contributors to have their papers reviewed and commented on in a workshop setting.

The Conference takes place over a two-day period in Toronto between late February and mid-March. University of Toronto Faculty of Law professors, interested students, practicing lawyers, judges, and Law Review editors attend the Conference. The Law Review will provide transportation and lodging for Conference authors living outside of Toronto.