Membership Selection
Membership in the University of Hawaiʻi Law Review is based on academic merit or exceptional writing performance. Membership is open to second- and third-year full-time students, and part-time students who have completed their 1L curriculum requirements. The membership application period occurs at the immediate end of each Spring semester. Students are notified of their selection status during the summer.
Approximately twenty new members are invited to join the Law Review each year. However, the number of new members may be modified at the discretion of the Law Review Editorial Board. Students accepting an invitation to join Law Review must be able to commit to two years of service.*
There are three (3) ways that the Hawaiʻi Law Review selects members.
LAW REVIEW GRADE-ON
An invitation to join the Law Review is automatically extended to the top academically ranked students. Academic ranking is based on cumulative GPAs after completion of the 1L curriculum. The top eight (8) full-time and top two (2) part-time students will be invited to join the Law Review.
LAW REVIEW WRITE-ON CASENOTE COMPETITION
The Law Review conducts an anonymous Casenote Competition as a way of recruiting qualified law students who have not yet written their Second Year Seminar paper. The authors of the top eight (8) papers received through the writing competition will be invited to join Law Review.
The Casenote Competition consists of two parts: (1) a written casenote and (2) a timed technical editing exercise. The casenote is scored based on analysis, structure, Bluebooking, administrative precision, and creativity.
A casenote is scholarly legal writing, unlike the papers written for Legal Practice. Students will be provided with a topic and directed to advocate for a position. Papers are not evaluated based on which position students choose to advocate. Nor is it necessary to have a prior understanding of the relevant substantive law, as this is a “closed universe” competition with all necessary legal sources provided. As such, outside research is prohibited. Students may not discuss the write-on questions with professors, attorneys, or other students, but students may look at other law review articles for style and formatguidelines.
The technical editing exercise lasts approximately two hours and involves identifying and correcting errors in a writing sample. Selections of the top papers will be made after all grades have been computed and class rank has been determined.
The competition will last approximately two weeks.
LAW REVIEW WRITE-ON COMMENTS COMPETITION
The Law Review conducts a Comments Competition as a way of recruiting qualified law students through submission of their Second-Year-Seminar (SYS) paper. The Comments Competition is open to all students who: (1) have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher after the completion of the Spring semester, and (2) completed their SYS paper during the spring or the previous summer.
Depending on the quality of the SYS papers submitted and the needs of the Law Review, one (1) or two (2) students will be offered a position as a staff-editor for the following school year before the start of the fall semester. Students invited to join Law Review through the Comments Competition must be able to commit to the position for the entire school year.
Winners of the Comments Competition may be invited by the Law Review to publish their SYS papers in the journal, but selection to become a member does not guarantee publication.
*2L students selected through submission of their SYS paper in the Comments Competition are an exception to the two-year Law Review commitment.
Thanks for putting this out there!
I actually do have 2 questions for you if it’s okay. Is it just me or do some of the responses look like written by brain dead folks? 
Cheers!
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