IHRLR Membership and Constitution

Constitution of the Intercultural Human Rights Law Review

How to join the Intercultural Human Rights Law Review

A full and detailed explanation of rules and procedures of obtaining membership and serving as an IHRLR member or editor can be found in the IHRLR Constitution (above).

Invitation for Membership

The IHRLR will invite any law student that ranks in the top fifteen percent (15%) of that student’s first-year class, as ranked by the Registrar in May of that academic year.

Invitations will also be extended to all book award winners of their 1L Legal Research and Writing Class.

Based upon review of the applicant’s letter, the Executive Committee will extend as many invitations for member-candidacy as they, in their discretion, decide will be necessary to establish a sufficient staff for the next academic year.

  • Membership status will also be extended to any student who authors a paper that is accepted by the IHRLR so long as that student will not graduate in December of the year in which the invitation is extended.
  • Any members or member candidates who have been discharged from the IHRLR shall not be extended an invitation. However, the Executive Committee has the discretion to allow a student to present a case for reinstatement, and in their discretion may reinstate the student.
  • The third method of invitation is by completion of a test designed to measure writing ability and blue booking aptitude.  This test will be designed by the Executive Committee and will be administered at the discretion of the Executive Committee.
  • The fourth method allows IHRLR to use the International Law course as a source for candidates with an interest in international law and human rights.

This allows International Law Professors to recommend strong candidates for the Law Review. The Executive Board will then interview any recommended candidates and make a determination regarding invitations for Conditional Membership. This opportunity will be open to interested J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. students.

Becoming a Member

A member of the IHRLR will write an article of publishable quality. The Executive Committee will determine if articles are of publishable quality. All members will also complete all duties assigned by the Editors of the IHRLR. See Writing Requirement, Section B, for more details.

The class of International Law is a pre- or co-requisite for Membership in the IHRLR.

Members are responsible for assisting in technical editing, preparation of typescript for the printer, and other administrative work deemed necessary by all Editors, Senior Editors, Managing Editors, and the Executive Committee of the IHRLR.

No person shall be extended an invitation for membership who is already a member of another Law Review on Campus.

No person shall hold membership simultaneously in multiple Law Review organizations.

Students may apply for the IHRLR and any other law review concurrently. Students may only accept ONE invitation to participate as a Member-Candidate for one (1) law review. Unless a student has (1) quit during the Member-Candidacy process of any other law review, (2) dropped out of the Member- Candidacy process during such process of any other law review, or (3) withdrew his/her application for membership prior to rejection to any other law review, the student is precluded from applying for membership for the IHRLR through Member-Candidacy if he or she is rejected (or denied full membership) by any other law review after completing the Member – Candidacy process of said law reviews.

Third year students who have never (1) applied/tried Out or (2) participated in the Member-Candidacy process for a law review at St. Thomas may NOT seek membership with the IHRLR. Students are required to hold at least two (2) semesters as Members of the Law Review. The Member-Candidacy process takes place in the Fall and Spring semesters only. Such process does not guarantee membership until the Student Articles Editor evaluates and assesses each student’s performance at the end of the semester. Meaning, students trying out during the Fall semester of their third year, if accepted, will only be formal Members for one (1) semester, the Spring semester of their third year. Thus, they will not satisfy the two- semester requirement.

“Exceptional Circumstances” will be reviewed on a case by case basis.

Writing Requirement

All J.D. students will satisfy their Writing Requirement during their second or third year of law school, and will be given from the beginning of summer until early August (to be set by the J.D. EIC each year, depending on the calendar) to complete the Writing Requirement, or from time to time as the J.D. EIC sees fit.

No student may begin the writing requirement process who has been accepted into the rolls of another journal organization.

The writing requirement must satisfy a minimum of twenty-five (25) pages, and contain one-hundred and twenty-five (125) footnote citations, fifty (50) of which should be citations to law review articles unless prior approval is given, under standard Bluebook formatting, unless pre-approval has been given by the Student Articles Editor for good cause.

Concurrently with the writing requirement a Bluebook exam shall be administered by the Student Articles Editor and graded anonymously, which will weigh for or against an applicant’s admission.

Students will submit the writing in increments of five parts every other week, beginning with an outline and five pages, and increasing by five pages every week thereafter. The deadlines for these submissions will be made clear to the students prior to the start of the competition.

A student applying who has already begun the write-on process in the past, may do so again, provided that the Executive Committee votes to allow it, after a proper opportunity to be heard has been given.

Failure to meet a deadline will result in a warning from the Student Articles Editor upon first incident. Upon second incident, or the showing of good cause by the Student Articles Editor, the student may attempt to show cause to the Managing Editor why he/she should not be removed from the competition. The Managing Editor will make the final decision on this issue.

Following the completion of the Competition, AGNs will be applied to the various submissions and the Executive Committee will vote on whether to grant membership or not.