The Wonders of Law Review Cover Art
posted by Miriam Cherry
Recently I’ve been sent the reprints of several completed articles. I’ve also been cleaning and packing my office to get ready for my move to California and have rediscovered some of my old reprints.
Now, I’m no art critic, but when I travel, I do like to go to art museums. And, I have to admit that I’m somewhat underwhelmed with the quality of the law review cover art.
Granted, this was an unscientific survey of what I had lying around in my office. Maybe some of the law reviews that have yet to accept my articles have a large art budget (but I’m doubtful).
Here’s what I found:
White and red, with a line drawing of what I think is a law school building.
Green and white, with a line drawing of what I think is the law school building, but which oddly resembles a giant tortoise.
Navy Background with the school’s seal.
Gray with navy printing. No graphics.
Navy with gray printing. No graphics.
All pretty standard, and all pretty dull. Sooooo… you tell me. What’s the coolest law review cover out there? Does your school’s journal have the school mascot printed on it? Is it purple and chartreuse? Or, perhaps you will tell me that I am completely wrong, and it is the “understated” nature of the law review cover that is part of its appeal.
May 25, 2006 at 1:22 am
Posted in: Law School, Law School (Law Reviews)
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Responses (13)
Eric Muller - May 25, 2006 at 8:24 am
Doesn’t the University of Colorado’s law review have a silhouette of mountains on its cover? I think it does.
The Wyoming Law Review has a photograph of a mountain scene, with trees and a riverbed. (Or at least it did back in 2001; haven’t checked recently.)
And of course, there’s the Rutgers-Camden Law Review, which features a gorgeous profile of the spectacular skyline of the City of Camden.
(Just joking about that last one. I grew up a few miles from there, so I get to poke fun.)
danithew - May 25, 2006 at 8:29 am
I’d be thrilled to contribute some abstract imagery for a cover if anyone ever was interested. I have a friend who is going to help me scan these images a little better, but here are some examples of my work:
http://blogdiss.weblogs.us/artwork/
Seth R. - May 25, 2006 at 9:11 am
Yes Eric, there is a picture of sorts on Wyoming’s cover.
I’m just curious as to exactly where Miriam thinks the Law Reviews are going to get the money for all this cool artwork.
Eric Muller - May 25, 2006 at 9:35 am
Seth,
Maybe a bake sale?
Dave! - May 25, 2006 at 11:04 am
Part of its appeal? Are they selling Law Review on newsstands now?
Seth: Artwork doesn’t have to cost anything. The vast majority of law schools are at universities that also have art schools. Student art isn’t *all* bad, but it is almost universally cheap.
Joe - May 25, 2006 at 1:09 pm
The Harvard Law Review has the best cover: It just screams gravitas.
Tom Ames - May 25, 2006 at 2:06 pm
I think what’s more pathetic is the system by which Law Reviews get edited. The whole enterprise is in serious need of professionalization.
Zak Kramer - May 25, 2006 at 2:42 pm
The Seattle Journal for Social Justice has a different piece of art on every cover. And that includes author reprints. It’s quite lovely.
lee - May 25, 2006 at 5:29 pm
Harvard International Law Journal has to have one of the sleekest covers.
http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/ilj/
Miriam Cherry - May 25, 2006 at 10:25 pm
I think most people picked up on the joking element here… I’m not suggesting that law reviews should spend their entire budgets on art. But a one time investment, or perhaps the work of a talented designer, would be really cool. What’s stopping a law review from picking out a really neat cover? Probably just inertia.
Yeah, no one’s running to buy law reviews off the newstand, but I did once know a lawprof who would decide between roughly equivalent level publication offers based on which cover he liked more.
I couldn’t find pics of the Wyoming or Colorado L. Rev on the web, but I will look for them the next time I’m in the law library.
Now, the Seattle Journal for Social Justice, that’s money. Take a look!
http://www.law.seattleu.edu/sjsj
conrad erb - May 26, 2006 at 5:19 pm
I wonder if prestige and traditional has something to do with it.
Following up on a SC law review editors conference, I once had the pleasure of asking all of the law reviews whether or not they would consider adding a ‘letters to the editor’ section of the law review. Whether or not the idea has merits, many of the lower ranked schools said that they were very careful about making their reviews look as authoritative, serious and substantial as possible.
Until harvard + stanford + yale and all the other top 10 schools start printing snazzier covers, I don’t think law review covers are going to be changing for most schools.
Kayleigh Lambert - May 24, 2007 at 11:49 am
I had a wonderful graphic for our new journal cover, but “media relations” said no. General counsel loved it, our adviser loved it but some other administrative person with a penchant for saying no regardless of value or aesthetic did just that, said no without justification. So the boring covers of law reviews are not always the result of uncreative law students, but that of the typical bureaucratic morass in which we find ourselves operating.
Kayleigh Lambert - May 24, 2007 at 11:49 am
I had a wonderful graphic for our new journal cover, but “media relations” said no. General counsel loved it, our adviser loved it but some other administrative person with a penchant for saying no regardless of value or aesthetic did just that, said no without justification. So the boring covers of law reviews are not always the result of uncreative law students, but that of the typical bureaucratic morass in which we find ourselves operating.
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