# Syracuse Law Review

The Syracuse Law Review, established in 1949, is a legal research and writing program for student editors at Syracuse University College of Law and a national forum for legal scholars who contribute to it. The editorial board publishes four Law Review issues annually, including the Annual Survey of New York Law.
Contributors to the Syracuse Law Review have included notable people such as President of the United States Joe Biden, U.S. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Stephen Breyer, former New York Court of Appeals Chief Judge Judith Kaye, Erwin Chemerinsky, Owen Fiss, Akhil Reed Amar, Roscoe Pound, Richard Epstein, former director of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover, and Ronald Rotunda.
The Law Review also publishes six articles completed by student members during their first year of law review membership. The 59th Volume was recently cited by the Supreme Court of the United States in the Second Amendment case McDonald v. City of Chicago. In 2016, the Syracuse Law Review hosted the National Conference of Law Reviews.

## History

The first issue of the Syracuse Law Review was published in 1949. It included articles and commentary by judiciary members, practicing lawyers, law teachers, and students. The volume discussed issues of importance to the legal profession, legal developments and discussed noteworthy cases. Among the 14 leading articles in Volume 1 were articles on legal thinking, judicial rule-making, civil investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Authors in the inaugural volume included J. Edgar Hoover, first FBI director, and Roscoe Pound, author and dean of Harvard Law School.
In 1962, the Syracuse Law Review began publishing the Annual Survey of New York Law. In his foreword, Dean Ralph E. Kharas paid tribute to the other law schools in New York State and accepted the torch from the New York University Law Review, which had published the Annual Survey since 1947. The Annual Survey, he wrote: "has made a substantial contribution to the Empire State lawyers in their task of keeping up with the law."
Over the years, the New York Court of Appeals judges regarded the Survey as a record and reflection of the nation's common law tradition. The Survey chronicled developments with statewide, national and international implications, marked the law's progression, and served as an annual "report card" for New York's courts and judges.
In 2021, Hilda Frimpong became the first black student to lead the review.

## Notable Volumes

Over the years, scholars' articles have proposed changes to implement within the law. To date, even the United States Supreme Court has referred to this publication, citing the Review in at least 11 different court opinions.
The Syracuse Law Review has also served as a record of the events at Syracuse University College of Law and the university by sponsoring events and published commencement speeches.
As part of Volume 60, the Syracuse Law Review published a Winter 2010 Symposium book that included nine authors who discussed the recent United States Supreme Court decision Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co.

## Member Selection

Students are selected for Law Review membership based on academic ranking or success in an open writing competition held at the conclusion of the first year. All prospective members, including those who would potentially receive membership based on academic merit determined through rank, must successfully complete a form and accuracy examination to demonstrate the prospective members' knowledge and comfort with the Bluebook. Members must demonstrate mastery of legal research and writing skills by submitting scholarly articles of publishable quality, of which six winning articles and two alternates are selected for publication in the following volume.