YJLL's Statement of Purpose
The 1989 editors of YJLL taught us that, "[t]he paradox of our ambition is that it is activism from within the narrow confines of the academy. The centerpiece of our efforts is yet another of that most typical law school activity, the law journal. But just how much protest can you have within the privilege of the Ivy League? How much liberation within the law? Academics and activism, protest and privilege, everything and nothing: Law and Liberation, at its most basic, is an attempt to take the awareness of this tension into our struggle for social change. Refusing to hide from this tension is our own first step towards participating in the liberation struggles of others.”
Law and Liberation embraces the premise that the legal system in the United States has failed to fulfill its promise of social justice for those disenfranchised by virtue of their race, class, gender, sexual orientation, or other characteristics. We regard it as not coincidental that the basic legal framework of this country was established, at least in part, to secure power and prerogatives of a group of white male elites and that the enlightenment ideals of freedom and equality inscribed in the Constitution denied the personhood of a large segment of the population. Nor do the problems resulting from the persistently unjust distribution of social wealth and power stop at our national borders; indeed, we recognize that these inequities arise within the context of a global system of power and the disempowered in our own are crucially linked. To understand the workings of our own contemporary legal structure (culture), then, requires an analysis of its role within the global system of social power in which we maintain our relative hegemony.
As law students, we have become increasingly aware of the disparity between the idealized image of law presented in the casebook and classroom, and the reality of law as an institutional mechanism of control. The presumption that the proper goal of our legal system is to attain neutrality, cost-efficiency, or some kind of objectivity is perhaps the most conspicuous of the many fictions dominating our legal education; but it certainly does not stand alone. What we find missing in the current atmosphere of legal thought is any appreciation of the function of law in legitimating existing relations of power and social domination and any consideration of the prospects of realigning those social relations of power. Much of contemporary legal analysis falls within the narrow conceptual confines of the existing system.
It is precisely to this urgent reality that the Yale Journal of Law and Liberation responds. We aim to take a step towards a constructive understanding of the law and, in doing so, generate a new way of thinking about the law that employs a multi-disciplinary approach to make possible a deeper understanding of legal issues. We publish writing from famous scholars alongside path-breaking practitioners alongside system-impacted people alongside artists. We recognize the influential role assumed by journals at Yale Law School, and we aim to use the Journal of Law and Liberation to provide a forum for those who are voiceless in the dominant legal culture. Through these activities, we hope to reinforce the belief that social change is effected most readily when theory and practice continuously inform each other.
How to Submit
Please submit draft writing to YJLL by December 1. Authors should include a brief abstract and a curriculum vitae with their submission.
Submission Guidelines
Length: YJLL reviews articles between 10,000 and 25,000 words with no preference as to length. We are looking for innovative, creative, thought-provoking arguments that move us closer to freedom. Creative pieces need not conform to these restrictions.
Topics of Interest: While we welcome submissions across all topics related to law and liberation, we are particularly interested in the following topics:
- Civil Rights
- Collective Liberation
- Abolition
- Freedom of Movement
- Community Organizing
- Decolonization
- Environmental and Climate Justice
- Impact Litigation
- Movement Lawyering
Format: Text and citations should preferably conform to The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (21st ed. 2020). Submissions must use footnotes.
Authorship: The Law Review seeks to publish authors from diverse backgrounds including academics, practitioners, artists, and people with knowledge about the law through lived experience. For student submissions, we consider submissions from any student at a Connecticut-based law school.
Submission Process: Submissions are accepted via Scholastica or email at yjll.notes@yale.edu. For inquiries or further information, please contact Editor-in-Chief, Aletta Brady, at aletta.brady@yale.edu.
We look forward to reviewing your submissions. Onwards!
