I have unfortunately graduated from law school without publishing a paper or even submitting one. Even though it's an equally daunting task now as it was before, I have decided to go for it. Any resources or advice you guys might give me to help me in this journey.
No need to take the pain of writing a research paper now. Those who had taken the pain and efforts of writing multiple research papers in law school are now either working their a** off in firms without getting adequate pay (neither are they being able to enjoy or maintain a work-life balance) or are unemployed currently.
No need to take the pain of writing a research paper now. Those who had spend their entire law school on writing papers are now working their a** off in firms (16 hrs each day of the week) and unable to maintain even a decent work-life balance, let alone a normal one. Many of the people who wrote "reputed papers"are struggling to land a job nowadays.
Look at the law reviews. NLSIR, NUJS etc. Depending on your subjects you could also try the specialist ones like JILS, JILT or Nalsar's constitutional law journal. EPW has a wider leadership but takes much more time and isn't always great at communication. Look at a few articles to get an idea of what they think is good work. See if you can get friends and former profs to give you feedback on your paper. If a long piece is intimidating, start with 1000 words for blogs and then write longer papers as you get more confident.
Hey, so though I get your question, and that's where most people start with. The question you should be asking is not how to publish research papers, but how to create value through your writing. Start small, read a lot, but also write a lot. That means, don't get stuck in a research blackhole, where you're researching for months on end. This kind of research phase works for people who are seasoned writers, and their writing benefits from it; but for a novice, you should focus on creating value on contemporary topics through small pieces.
As for where to publish? Some publications mentioned on this thread (NLSIR/Online, WBNUJS LR) are quite rigorous in what they consider good scholarship. Then there are places which are dumps and would publish questionable scholarship, they are also student run, just not quite as well. Please don't publish there (ipleaders, anything by Lawsikho or the like, fancy legal names are a dead giveaway). Find a Goldilocks' zone of platforms for starters, you should be looking for platforms which don't punish you by just not replying, and do have decent standards.
Though I'm not fond of blogs, they seem to be the ideal start. If you have your niche already figured out, that helps narrowing down platforms. Certain NLUs other than the one's mentioned are better in terms of responsiveness and approachability, independent platforms like IndCorpLaw are also decent. Don't get too comfortable, and be quick to move on to larger pieces. To be honest, some publications also see where you're from before considering your pieces. You should be smart enough to figure those out. Don't shy away from essay competitions too, they have a higher level of accountability since they HAVE to release the results.
Please ignore the cynics. Once you start creating value through your legal writing, you wouldn't just be writing to improve employability. P.S. value isn't always academic or practice oriented (See, Legallyindia ;)).
If I already have a job with a T1, will it place me at a disadvantage to not have any published papers in some aspect of work? If not, don't really see the point of publishing papers at this stage. Not asking to be snarky, just saw the eh no point comments be downvoted so genuinely wondering if I need to.
If you have already started working, the work experience matters a lot more than the kind of writing you've done. I don't think it matters unless it's a specialised field like TMT, Arbitration, etc. where it's better to also be known among your peers through your writing; or a field you are trying to enter so you have a foot in the door.
Those who had spend their entire law school on writing papers are now working their a** off in firms (16 hrs each day of the week) and unable to maintain even a decent work-life balance, let alone a normal one. Many of the people who wrote "reputed papers"are struggling to land a job nowadays.
As for where to publish? Some publications mentioned on this thread (NLSIR/Online, WBNUJS LR) are quite rigorous in what they consider good scholarship. Then there are places which are dumps and would publish questionable scholarship, they are also student run, just not quite as well. Please don't publish there (ipleaders, anything by Lawsikho or the like, fancy legal names are a dead giveaway). Find a Goldilocks' zone of platforms for starters, you should be looking for platforms which don't punish you by just not replying, and do have decent standards.
Though I'm not fond of blogs, they seem to be the ideal start. If you have your niche already figured out, that helps narrowing down platforms. Certain NLUs other than the one's mentioned are better in terms of responsiveness and approachability, independent platforms like IndCorpLaw are also decent. Don't get too comfortable, and be quick to move on to larger pieces. To be honest, some publications also see where you're from before considering your pieces. You should be smart enough to figure those out. Don't shy away from essay competitions too, they have a higher level of accountability since they HAVE to release the results.
Please ignore the cynics. Once you start creating value through your legal writing, you wouldn't just be writing to improve employability. P.S. value isn't always academic or practice oriented (See, Legallyindia ;)).
Best of luck!