Law Library Support for Student Authors
The Law Library offers assistance to students interested in publishing their work during the research and writing process as well as the publishing process.
Research Assistance
Students looking for help with the research or writing process can reach out to Stephanie Farne, Legal Information Librarian & Lecturer in Law, by email at stephanie.farne@bc.edu, or by phone at 617-552-8607.
Publishing Assistance
The Law Library will subsidize the fees associated with submitting articles through Scholastica for law students, and can assist with the submission process. To learn more, contact Avi Bauer, the Digital Initiatives & Scholarly Communication Specialist, by email at abraham.bauer@bc.edu, or by phone at 617-552-8602.
In addition to general research and publishing assistance, the Law Library provides several services to student authors seeking either publication or wider readership, listed below. If you have any questions about these services, or don't know which one is right for you, please contact Avi Bauer, the Digital Initiatives & Scholarly Communication Specialist, by email at abraham.bauer@bc.edu, or by phone at 617-552-8602.
For further tips and resources, see Levit et al. (2021), Submission of Law Student Articles for Publication, which discusses many helpful tips for student writers and provides a summary of journal policies regarding accepting student work.
LIRA @ BC Law
Students are encouraged to submit articles that have been accepted for publication to LIRA @ BC Law, the Law School's institutional repository. Among other benefits, including your article in the repository exposes the full text of the article to Google searches, making it easier for potential employers and others to find your work.
SSRN
In order to reach the widest possible audience, student authors may also wish to submit their work to the Social Science Research Network (SSRN). SSRN is a freely available public database containing both published and unpublished scholarly articles in a variety of disciplines, including legal studies. If your article has been accepted for publication, make sure that you are not violating your publication agreement by posting your article to SSRN.
Law Review Companions
Many law reviews publish online companions which have separate submission processes and policies from their parent journals, and some of these companions accept student work. The law library maintains a list of law review companions; you can use the links on the list to investigate the specific submission policy of each publication.