Submissions

Articles

Notes

The Richmond Review of Law (RRL) invites eligible law students who would like their work to be considered for publication in the RRL to submit Notes three times per year: January, March, and October. Please check the Announcements page for precise dates and submission instructions. 

Notes are student-written articles. The Richmond Review of Law accepts Note submissions

There are three windows of time during which students may submit a Note for publication: January, April, and September.

Notes may be on any topic of the student’s choosing, so long as it is related to the law and is not preempted by an already published piece (in the Richmond Review of Law or elsewhere). Interested students should begin their research by conducting a preemption check, which seeks to answer two basic questions. First, has the topic already been covered by previous publications? In most cases, this question is answered by whether or not another published Article or Note has addressed the same issue. If another piece has been published on the topic, the topic is not preempted if the Note will present a sufficiently different viewpoint (including significant updates of legal thought or case law) so as to retain its usefulness. Second, is the topic too broad or too narrow? The topic should be framed so that it is broad enough to evoke interest, yet narrow enough to be manageable. When performing a preemption check, consult the following: major treatises; at least five years of the Index to Legal Periodicals and the loose-leaf Current Index to Legal Periodicals; major cases; topical reporters; and Journal Articles and Notes.

Notes must be between 1000–15,500 words inclusive of footnotes. The word limit does not include any information on the cover page, such as the table of contents or abstract. Notes longer than 15,500 words or less than 1000 words will not be considered without prior approval of the Notes Development Editor.

Notes must be submitted via the submission system. Notes will not be considered for publication unless the submissions follow specific guidelines. Review the submission instructions in the most recent Notes Pool posting on the Announcements page.

 Per the College’s Academic Policies, no student may submit a Note or Comment to the Richmond Review of Law during the same semester the written work is submitted for qualification assignments.

Artificial Intelligence Disclosure

The advent of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has created challenges for the field of legal scholarship. While we recognize that AI is now part of the academic landscape, we are committed to maintaining the journal’s tradition of publishing rigorous, accurate, and original scholarship. The Richmond Review of Law requires authors to disclose the use of AI upon submitting their article for review. We emphasize that the use of AI is not disqualifying. Disclosure of AI facilitates our ability to thoroughly evaluate a piece, and it promotes trust between the author and the journal. 

Authors should err on the side of disclosure. The content selection committee prefers more detailed disclosures that clearly identify where and how authors used AI. The more detailed the disclosure, the more confidently we can extend a publication offer. Authors should also indicate what AI tools they used and the extent to which they verified or built upon AI-generated material. Authors may find sample disclosures on the next page.

We reserve the right to rescind an offer for publication if, during the editing process, we discover undisclosed AI usage that compromises the integrity of the piece, including/especially hallucinated sources or quotations. If appropriate, we may also require the disclosure of AI usage in a star footnote.