Professors, Footnotes and the Internet: A Critical Examination of Australian Law Reviews

Abstract

Over the past two years a small body of literature has built up in the United States in relation to the future of the traditional law review in the age of the internet and technological change. A paper by Bernard Hibbitts, entitled "Last Writes? Re-assessing the Law Review in the Age of Cyberspace" was instrumental in provoking this discussion. Hibbitts's main thesis is that the dominant form of the North American law review not only should, but is destined to give way in the next decade to a new era of electronic self-publishing. This article considers the traditional justifications for law reviews, and contrasts this with the view presented by Hibbitts. The way in which law reviews generally operate in Australia is then distinguished from those in North America, followed by an evaluation of the different approaches that can be used in relation to the composition of the editorial board and the processes for selecting and editing articles. Finally, the impact of the internet and new computer technologies on law reviews in Australia is examined.

Keywords: Law reviews, law journals, student editors, peer review, self-publication, legal scholarship

JEL Classification: K00