The Virginia Law Review will be accepting submissions for its September 2025 Notes Pool from 8:00 a.m. on Monday, September 1st until 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 9th. Late submissions will not be accepted. All students who would like their Note to be considered for publication in the Law Review should carefully read the following submission instructions.
I. General Submission Details:
- Submissions must be emailed to valrnotes@gmail.com by 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 9th with the subject line “September 2025 Notes Pool.”
- Submissions must include a copy of the Note in .docx format and a Confidential Form in .pdf format (see below).
II. The Note:
- Overview: Your Note must be in .docx format. The file name must be the [Note Title].
- Length: Notes must be between 10,000–15,500 words inclusive of footnotes. The word limit does not include any information on the cover page, such as the table of contents or abstract. Notes longer than 15,500 words or less than 10,000 words will not be considered without prior approval of the Notes Development Editor.
- Font and Style: Please use double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font for the body of your submission. Please use single-spaced footnotes rather than endnotes for citations and references. Please use Bluebook style for your footnotes, rather than any other style guide.
- Removing Identifying Information: Please remove your name and any identifying information from the body of the document as well as personal information embedded in the digital file by following the instructions below. This includes removing identifying information typically included at the beginning of a Note in a * footnote, such as class information, Notes Advisors, or professors that assisted in the drafting and editing of the submission. Correctly following all instructions will maintain each author’s anonymity.
- In Word 2010, 2013, 2016: Go to File, select “Info,” click on “Check for Issues,” click on “Inspect Document.” In the dialog box, click “Remove All” and close box. Save document.
- In Word for Mac 2016, 2018: Go to Tools, select “Protect Document” or select “Protect Document” button on Review tab. Save document.
- Cover page: The Note should have an attached cover page (or couple of pages if necessary) which includes only the following pieces of information.
- The title of your submission
- An abstract of approximately 250 words or fewer, single-spaced, which briefly summarizes the argument of your submission.
- A table of contents.
- A list of the five (5) secondary sources that are most related to your work. Please do not list cases or statutes.
- The word count for your submission, both with and without footnotes.
- If you are resubmitting a Note that you previously submitted to the Virginia Law Review, a brief description of the substantive changes that you made.
- Though not required, it may also be advantageous to include a very brief summary of your topic’s doctrinal landscape and a clear articulation of your Note’s central argument, including how your Note advances existing scholarship (no more than one paragraph). This information may be especially useful if your Note addresses a topic that is niche or not widely taught in the law school’s core curriculum.
III. Confidential Form: In addition to the Note, all submissions must include a SEPARATE DOCUMENT from the Note with your identifying information.
- This document should be in .pdf format, single spaced, and titled “[Notes Title].Confidential” (e.g. “Breaking Bad Law.Confidential”).
- The document should include:
- Your name, phone number, e-mail address, and mailing address
- The title of your Note
- A signed statement (an electronic signature will be accepted) that your Note was substantially written during law school
- The name(s) of the professor(s) with whom you worked when writing your Note
IV. Results: The results of the September 2025 Notes Pool will be posted to the VLR website and communicated to authors within a few weeks of the submission deadline. If you have any questions, please contact Notes Development Editor, Ella Missan (rng9nz@virginia.edu).