More on Catholic Law Reviews

Thanks to Susan for posting the quote from the University of St. Thomas Law Journal's webpage about the journal serving the school's mission.  We have an all symposium-format right now and have published symposia on topics like John Noonan's scholarship and judging, same-sex marriage, business ethics, "pro-life progressivism," American "exceptionalism" in foreign policy, and alternatives to incarceration.  In each case we have tried to put Catholic views in conversation and debate with each other and with other perspectives on current moral and legal issues.  As the Journal's faculty advisor, I have to admit that there were practical, and not only principled, reasons why we were not particularly tempted with seeking simply "to publish the best articles [we could] (or, at least, articles by the most prominent legal scholars who will publish with [us]), regardless of subject matter."  We knew that because our journal and law school were new, the process of competing for unsolicited articles would be very difficult.  We followed Randy Barnett's advice and adopted the format of symposia with faculty heavily involved in conceiving the events and securing speakers.  We expected this to improve greatly the quality of articles and contributors we published, and I believe it has.

But the symposium-format decision was more than just pragmatic.  It also allowed us to choose topics relevant to our mission, where as I said Catholic insights can be placed in conversation and debate with other views.  As Richard suggests, this kind of focus can lead to rewarding exchanges and can bring in perspectives that are otherwise overlooked in legal scholarship.  Organizing a symposium also can provide a real community-building opportunity for faculty and students to work together in a common scholarly endeavor, far more as equals than in the research-assistant relationship.  It is probably no great news to anyone to suggest that symposia, with the involvement of faculty who care, can be a good way to bring Catholic intellectual perspectives into a law review's pages.  The Catholic legal-thought journals at Villanova and St. John's are doing this beautifully -- through the efforts of our own Mark and Susan among others -- as the recent conferences on John Paul II and John Courtney Murray show.  And good symposia on faith-sensitive topics have appeared in main journals like the Boston College Law Review.  The idea of doing symposia is always worth remembering, even if it's not a rocket-science point, and even if there are often obstacles to accomplishing it.

Tom