Editorial Policy of the Columbia Law Review

The Columbia Law Review has now selected all of the Articles and Essays for its Spring 2010 issues. We are unlikely to make any further offers of publication until we begin considering pieces for Fall 2010 in late February. We appreciate your interest in publishing with us, and look forward to the prospect of future submissions.

The Columbia Law Review believes that a vast majority of law review articles can convey their arguments effectively with between 20,000 and 37,000 words (inclusive of footnotes).  We will accept submissions exceeding 32,000 words in the event that the length is merited.  We will, however, give strong preference to pieces that are fewer than 32,000 words in length. This policy reflects our commitment to what a number of law reviews around the United States have recognized:  We can do our part to make legal scholarship more focused and effective. 

Regular Submission Review
The Columbia Law Review is published eight times a year, in every month but February, July, August, and September. The Review strongly encourages authors to submit pieces electronically.

Article submissions can also be mailed to the Articles Committee; Essays and Reviews to the Essays & Reviews Committee; Sidebar submissions to the Sidebar Committee. Our address for both mail and courier delivery is:

Columbia Law Review
435 West 116th Street
New York, NY 10027

We regret that manuscripts cannot be returned. Please allow 2-4 weeks for processing of all electronic submissions, and 8-10 weeks for all mailed submissions.
Submission requirements:

• Submit only one, double spaced copy of your manuscript. We greatly prefer if submissions appear in Microsoft Word format. Regular submissions are only accepted electronically via our website-based submissions system. Please note that we do not accept regular submissions by e-mail, disk, or facsimile.
• Text and citations should conform to A Uniform System of Citation (18th ed. 2005) ("The Bluebook"). Footnotes are strongly preferred over endnotes.
• If you submit your piece via mail, enclose a cover letter that references the name of your manuscript, and provides your address, telephone number, and e-mail address.
• The Review encourages the use of gender-neutral language.

Expedited Review
If you have received an offer from another journal for your Article, Essay, or Book Review and would like to request an expedited review, please send an e-mail to the Executive Articles Editor (for Articles) or the Executive Essay & Review Editor (for Essays and Book Reviews). In the body of the e-mail, please include

• your name
• the title of your manuscript
• the name of the journal that has extended an offer to you
• the date the offer expires
• the phone number or e-mail address of a contact person at that journal

The editors of the Review attempt to honor all requests for expedited review for which the above information is provided. To increase the chances of timely review, please attach to the e-mail an electronic version of your manuscript, in Word (.doc) format. While we strongly discourage it, if you are unable to send e-mail, you may request expedited review by calling the Executive Articles Editor at (212) 854-6185; expedited review requests sent by facsimile are also strongly discouraged.
Please be aware of the Review's policy concerning expedited reviews: If the Review makes an offer of publication for an Article, Essay, or Review following an expedited review, the author has only one hour from the time of actual notification in which to accept the offer.