UMichigan J. of Law Reform, call for manuscripts

From the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reforms web site:

The Journal of Law Reform seeks to improve the law and its administration by providing a forum for discussion that:

• Identifies contemporary issues for reform efforts,
• Proposes concrete means to accomplish change, and
• Evaluates the impact of law reform.

In short, the Journal prefers a submission that not only describes an area of the law that warrants reform, but prescribes a means of accomplishing that reform. The Journal also welcomes multidisciplinary and empirical work as contributions to this discussion.

Types of Submissions

The Journal encourages the submission of unsolicited manuscripts for publication. While the Journal primarily looks for unsolicited articles written by law professors, judges, practitioners, and academics from other disciplines, it also welcomes submissions of unsolicited manuscripts from law students and recent law school graduates whose pieces stem from their academic work as law students. However, the Journal only accepts unsolicited student writing on a limited basis and will do so when such work is deemed to be of exceptional quality. The Journal classifies the work of students and nonprofessional recent graduates as signed "notes," rather than "articles," and accords the student author's full biographical information.

Submission Requirements

Each manuscript should be typed, double-spaced and generally conform to The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (18th ed. 2005) and The Chicago Manual of Style (15th ed. 2003). Each manuscript should be accompanied by a cover letter giving a brief overview of the manuscript and providing author contact information including name, e-mail address, phone number, and mailing address. Enclosing a résumé, a list of previous publications, and/or a vita with the submission, while not necessary, can also be helpful for the Journal's reviewers.

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
University of Michigan Law School
Attn: Article Editors (if an article) or Attn: Executive Note Editor (if a student note)
625 S. State Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1215

More information: here

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image; Wikipedia, University of Michigan Law Library interior

New England Law Review - Invitation for Unsolicited Manuscripts

From the invitation to authors, New England Law Review

Article Submissions
A Message to Authors

The Editors and Staff of the New England Law Review are committed to providing authors with courteous and timely service. We strive to make the experience of publishing with us the best you will find at any journal.

The New England Law Review also encourages novice authors to submit their articles for publication. The New England Law Review is committed to publishing not only highly qualified authors but authors who present new ideas to the legal community. All authors must be graduates of an ABA-accredited law school or foreign equivalent.

We understand that the article is your work and bears your name. Our goal is to assist you in publishing an article that meets the highest academic standards.

Article Submissions

The New England Law Review invites the submission of unsolicited manuscripts, preferably electronically, but also through postal mail at the address listed below. We request that contributing authors disclose any economic interests and affiliations that may influence the views expressed in their submissions. The best times to send submissions are between late March and early November.

Electronically: Manuscripts may be sent by e-mail to lawreview@nesl.edu. Articles must be submitted in Microsoft Word format. Also, please attach a cover letter describing the article and indicating why it should be published by the New England Law Review and an updated curriculum vitae.

By mail: Manuscripts should be sent to the attention of the Articles Editors. Manuscripts submitted via postal mail cannot be returned unless a self-addressed, postage-paid envelope is enclosed with the manuscript. Our address is:

New England Law Review
New England Law | Boston
46 Church Street
Boston, MA 02116

NESL.EDU

Image: file photo

Proactive, Organized, Upbeat -- for Start-ups and Follow-throughs

I found a wonderful set of ideas, designed for a new attorney who is building a practice. However, many of the daily rhythm points make sense in other contexts, including a big writing context.

Here's a piece of the day, up through noon. Follow this link for more.

Proposed Time Sheet Approach For Surviving as a New Lawyer.

This approach is presented as follows: "time what why"

6:00 a.m. to 7:15 a.m.

Arise. Engage in stretching exercises for 15 minutes. Engage in aerobic exercise (walking, running, etc.) for 15 to 20 minutes. Engage in the ritual of your choice for 15 to 20 minutes followed by 15 to 20 minutes of journalizing. Eat breakfast at a fixed time.

A practice that has been shown to help in combating depression is regular, fixed times for getting up in the morning and regular aerobic exercise. The least expensive remedies for stress are fixed sleep periods, aerobic exercise and stretching.

Overall mental health and job search successes are tightly linked to honest observance of religious ritual (statistically the honesty and sincerity is the controlling factor for the benefit) and journalizing (not time/date/note entries but reflective and expressive writing about one's life).

It is important to maintain mental health and to reduce stress and depression. It is also important to succeed.

8:30 a.m.

Leave home and go to a professionally related activity with people. Participate in a free legal services clinic for the poor or AIDS victims or minorities or immigrants or the families of criminals or death row appeals or ... just so long as it is a professional activity and you are leaving by 8:30 a.m. (or earlier) and starting by 9:00 a.m.

This keeps you on an organized schedule. It provides you with useful experience that can be added to your resume, provides you with some training. It keeps you from becoming isolated and from wasting or losing time (which often happens if you habitually go to the library to read papers and look for job openings or some similar endeavor).

Noon

Eat a regular meal. Try to join a "brown bag" group that includes attorneys.

Eating with, and listening to (which is why you are eating with others) attorneys in similar situations to yourself is an excellent way to gain insight and to reconsider ideas you have. It also helps you build appropriate professional contacts and is the beginning of a network.

If you have a secondary skill (e.g. accounting, insurance, stock brokering, etc.) it is good to also find a group in that area (or those areas) to have lunch with from time to time.

Some attorneys have as many as three lunch groups. (E.g. Mon Wed Fri with attorneys, Tues with insurance adjusters, Thurs with chiropractors). More is stretching it and most people should start with one.

More here>>

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Quarterly Publication Opportunities -- The Journal of Affordable Housing & Community Development Law

The Journal of Affordable Housing & Community Development Law, the legal publication of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law,[seeks] submissions from students, professors, and practitioners. The Journal publishes full-length articles, book reviews, and shorter commentaries on a wide range of affordable housing and community and economic development issues. The last deadline was June 15, 2009, for an issue focused on "“Housing and Community Development in the Economic Crisis.”
The journal is published quarterly. Keep you eye out for the September topic.

Hat tip: Poverty Law Prof Blog

Access to prior journals is available to members of the American Bar Association Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law. This forum also sponsors a student law competition, with last year's deadline in March.

INFORMATION FOR AUTHORS

The mission of The Journal of Affordable Housing & Community Development Law, the official quarterly publication of the Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law of the American Bar Association, is to provide information on programs related to affordable housing and community development law, facilitate communication among housing lawyers, and provide a clearinghouse for the exchange of ideas and solutions in the field.

Article Length. Feature articles traditionally are between 5,000 and 7,500 words, or 20 - to - 25 double-spaced pages in length. The Journal of Affordable Housing & Community Development Law also accepts some shorter articles.

Style. The writing should be brisk and straightforward. Authors should use a style that is readable and more informal than a law review article. To that end, authors should

• Use gender-neutral language
• Avoid long quotations
• Avoid excess verbiage
• Avoid using a long word when a short one will do
• Avoid using a foreign phrase, scientific word, or jargon if you can think of a more common English equivalent
• Avoid overworked figures of speech
• Avoid excessive capitalization
• Avoid excessive use of commas
  

Footnotes. Use endnotes rather than footnotes. Include footnotes at the end of your article. The Journal of Affordable Housing & Community Development Law follows the citation style of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, Eighteenth Edition.

Author Biography. Please include a one-sentence description of your current professional affiliation.

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Image: Community Emergency Outreach building; Fayetteville, Arkansas -- distributes food and emergency funding, M-F, from 1-3 p.m. The CEO is a consortium of 17 churches in Northwest Arkansas that pool their resources to coordinate relief efforts.

July 31, 2009 Nominations due for Morris Dees Justice Award

Nomination Criteria: Nominees should be lawyers who have devoted their careers to serving the public interest and pursuing justice, and whose work has brought about positive change in the community, state, or nation.

Nominations should highlight these qualities:

- Courage Under Fire: Maintains a dedication to service even when challenged or threatened by individuals or groups
- Champions the Cause: Pursues service with energy and compassion.
- Leader of Change: Creates new or innovative approaches to resolving social problems.
- Career of Service: Has spent the majority of his or her legal career in service to public interests.
- Embodies the Highest Standard of Excellence: Exhibits legal and ethical excellence.

For more information, or to nominate someone online, go to: http://www.MorrisDeesAward.com

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wikipedia entry:

Morris Dees Justice Award

In 2006, the law firm of Skadden Arps Meagher & Flom partnered with the University of Alabama School of Law to create the Morris Dees Justice Award in honor of Dees, an Alabama graduate, for his lifelong dedication to public service. The award is given annually to a lawyer who has "devoted his or her career to serving the public interest and pursuing justice, and whose work has brought positive change in the community, state or nation,"^[18] as illustrated by the lives of the following recipients.

The first recipient of the award was U. S. District Judge William Wayne Justice, of the Eastern District of Texas, who received it November 16, 2006 at a ceremony in Skadden offices in New York City.^[19] Judge Justice was recognized for his lifelong efforts to protect civil rights and safeguard constitutional rights during more than 30 years as a federal district judge, hearing notable cases dealing with integration, prisoners' rights (Ruiz v. Estelle, 1972), procedural due process, equal access to education (United States v. Texas, 1970), free public education for children of illegal immigrants (Plyer v. Doe, 1982), dilution of voting rights, and care for the mentally challenged.^[20]

In 2007, the award was presented to Arthur N. Read, general counsel for Friends of Farmworkers, Inc., a legal services provider in Philadelphia, for dedicating his career and life to providing a voice for the disadvantaged and advocating on behalf of the underprivileged.^[21] In Vlasic Farms, Inc. v. Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board (2001), he won for workers in Pennsylvania's mushroom industry the right to organize, and in El Concilia v. DER (1984), Read won a class-action lawsuit arguing that Pennsylvania had failed to inspect migrant camp housing for workers, bringing such housing largely into compliance with state and federal law.

In 2008, the award went to immigrant rights advocate Cheryl Little, Executive Director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, a non-profit legal assistance organization in Miami, for her dedication to protecting the rights of immigrants, especially Haitian refugees, throughout her professional career.^[22] Little is considered one of the country’s leading experts on immigration law.^[23]