Cornell Law School

This Law Review Just Elected An All-Female Editorial Board

A law school’s law review has elected an all-female editorial board.
The Cornell Law Review’s new board consists of eight second year JD students, according to the Cornell Chronicle.
“We see the great step that has been taken, but we’re also very aware of the many more steps that need to happen,” Lauren Kloss, incoming editor-in-chief of the Cornell Law Review, says. “This is going to be a great year. We could tell that from our very first meeting.”
A Possibly Historic Board
The new board members say their new board may be the first all-female senior board among the top 14 law schools in the U.S.
“We’ve been waiting to see if another board comes forward,” Kloss says.
Cornell Law is no stranger to historic moves. Just 100 years ago, Mary Donlon Alger, a 1920 Cornell Law grad, was the first woman to be elected editor-in-chief of a law review.
2018 also marks the third year in a row that women outnumbered men in law schools across the country, according to data released by the ABA.
The historic magnitude of Cornell Law Review’s new all-female board, Kloss says, was only recognized when the women met with the outgoing board.
“I realized that there were plenty of men on the old board and there were none on this board,” Kloss said. “It was an exciting thing that I don’t think we quite grasped at the start.”
The Road Ahead
The new senior board will take on a hefty editorial agenda for the review’s next volume, which will consist of seven issues to be published this year.
According to the Cornell Chronicle, editors review about 500 submissions a week. Only 18 make the cut.
“The board shares the desire to form what our version of legal scholarship will look like over the next year,” Kloss said. “If we want to focus on women’s issues, we can. If we want to focus on a security issue, we can. We get to be creative in making a body of work.”
Diversity is a potential aspect that the board may be considering this year.
“It is important to us to highlight diverse authors from diverse backgrounds,” she said. “That said, we are trying to publish the strongest pieces, so it’s just one point of consideration when we’re looking at articles.”
Sources: Cornell Chronicle, ABA