The summer of 2023 has been marked by labor movements and discussions of fair compensation. The legal field has not been left out of these discussions, with students pushing for remuneration for their work on law reviews and journals. Particularly, students of NYU Law embarked on this mission in March, requesting to be paid in cash or receive the maximum school credit permissible for their contributions to journal work.
These students now enjoy the support of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) House of Delegates. The body recently expressed that law schools should offer financial compensation, either through payment or school credit to law review editors. This proposed change aims to reduce the social and economic barriers impeding the participation of law students from lower-income or diverse backgrounds in journal editing. The rationale is that these students who need to work to supplement their income often do not have sufficient time to simultaneously handle law review duties.
According to the resolution report, “The law schools that offer either credit or compensation — or even both simultaneously — did so because the high amount of work involved in law journal participation precluded students from obtaining outside employment, not just during the school year but often for part of the summer as well.”
Though a majority of law schools already offer academic credit for participation in law review or journals, only a minority provide stipends. The concept of an hourly wage for law review or journal editors still remains largely atypical. If this resolution passes, law schools may be inclined to offer more academic credit to their editors. However, as academic prestige alone doesn’t cover expenses, there’s a hope that some schools may break the mold and offer cash compensation to their student editors. Reuters provided a comprehensive report on this ongoing issue.