Law Reviews: Good for Judges, Bad for Law Schools?
Melbourne University Law Review, Vol. 26, p. 560, 2002
Unlversity of Adelaíde Law School Research Paper No. 20ll-003
20 Pages Posted: 10 Mar 2011 Last revised: 31 Aug 2012
There are 2 versions of this paper
Law Reviews: Good for Judges, Bad for Law Schools?
Law Reviews: Good for Judges, Bad for Law Schools?
Date Written: March 9, 2011
Abstract
This article responds to Justice Kirby’s recent praise of law reviews. It will be argued that law reviews should be a matter of concern, both because of the questions that their use raises about the judiciary and for the problems that they cause for law schools. The increasing use of law review writing by judges, compared to the sparse use of this work by earlier generations, signifies a judiciary that is forsaking the common law tradition in favour of an openly instrumentalist style of judging. It also will be argued that law reviews have become the public face of an unpleasant and inappropriate form of academic life; one that degrades scholars, wastes valuable resources and devalues the importance of good teaching and collegiality in law schools.
Keywords: Justice Kirby, Law Reviews, Writing by judges, common law tradition
JEL Classification: K10, K40
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation