The North Carolina Law Review is a law journal of the University of North Carolina School of Law. It publishes six issues each year as well as its online supplement, the North Carolina Law Review Forum (Bluebook abbreviation: ).
History
Established in 1922, the North Carolina Law Review is the oldest law journal in the state and tied for the seventh oldest in the American South. In its first volume, the founding editors wrote that the journal would provide "a supplement to the routine daily class work of the School, [and] it will afford to the second and third year students, a means of intensive training in legal writing."
Due to its "local roots" in North Carolina, the Review has historically tailored much of its content to state concerns. Until 1959, the Review regularly published comprehensive surveys of new North Carolina statutes, but space constraints and expanding legislative action made the surveys impracticable for the journal. In Volume 50, it was estimated that 43% of the Review's articles focused on state issues and 57% focused on national and international issues, working toward the "dual objective" of addressing "both provincial and more general topics."
The number of students serving as the journal's editorial board and staff has fluctuated over time. At one point during World War II, only three students were on the Review with four advising faculty members. At the time, the journal listed multiple "Editors in War Service" alongside its standard masthead. By 2023, its membership had grown to 70 students.
Ranking and impact
In 2022, the North Carolina Law Review was ranked #38 among law journals by Washington and Lee University School of Law. According to a 2023 meta-ranking conducted by University of Oregon Professor Bryce Clayton Newell, the Review was ranked #30.
Alumni
Academia
William Brantley Aycock, chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Martin Brinkley, dean of the University of North Carolina School of Law George C. Cochran, civil rights scholar and law professor at the University of Mississippi School of Law Jefferson B. Fordham, dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School S. Elizabeth Gibson, law professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law Thomas Warren Ross, president of the University of North Carolina system
Executive politics and public life
Julius L. Chambers, civil rights leader, chancellor of North Carolina Central University, and first African-American editor-in-chief C. Boyden Gray, White House counsel and ambassador to the European Union Grier Martin, assistant secretary of defense for manpower and reserve affairs at the U.S. Department of Defense Matthew G.T. Martin, United States attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina Dan K. Moore, governor of North Carolina Ripley Rand, United States attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina Teresa Wynn Roseborough, deputy assistant attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice and general counsel at The Home Depot
Judiciary
Tamara P. Barringer, justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court
Algernon Lee Butler, district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina Franklin Taylor Dupree Jr., district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina James Carroll Fox, district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina
Henry Frye, first African-American chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court Barbara Jackson, justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court Richard E. Myers II, chief district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina Sarah Parker, chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court James Dickson Phillips Jr., circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Martin Karl Reidinger, chief district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina David B. Sentelle, senior circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Susie Sharp, first female chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court Emin Toro, judge of the U.S. Tax Court Lacy Thornburg, district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina and attorney general of North Carolina Willis Whichard, justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court