Business Law Review, Launched Five Years Ago, Increases Journal Opportunities for AUWCL Students

First Row (Left to right): Alexandra Cain, Tiana Cherry, Nina Rodriguez, Joanna Scleidorovich, and Marjorie Castillo. Top Row (Left to right): Alex McLeod, Gabriel Raskas, and Cat Coppler.

The American University Business Law Brief made the transition to a full Law Review in Fall 2011, becoming the first comprehensive business law journal in Washington, D.C. Since then, the Business Law Review (BLR) has significantly increased law review opportunities for students at AUWCL – more than 230 students have participated in BLR since its launch.

“The Business Law Review has allowed so many of our students who are interested in business to get a much wider and deeper experience in the subject,” said Professor David Snyder, director of the Business Law Program. “Our curriculum is tremendous, but the journal experience gives the students exposure to cutting edge issues of the greatest interest and importance to the practicing bar and to business clients.”

One example Snyder notes is how this year’s Business Law Review symposium focused on compliance issues in the financial industry. “We cannot offer a course in something that specific,” he said, “but working with leading practitioners has let the students take their basic knowledge, sharpen it, and put it to use in producing a volume that will be extremely useful to the bar and that will give the students a head start in a burgeoning area of practice.” 

Alexandra (Alex) McLeod, Gabriel Raskas, and Cat Coppler, current BLR editor-in-chief, manager editor, and executive editor, respectively, all Class of 2017, are spending quite a bit of time in the BLR office in the Terrace Level of Capital Hall planning the Spring issue and working with their more than 60 fellow staff members. They see the law review as an outlet for gaining significant practical and leadership experience, but also as a tight-knit community within the law school.  And the experiences Alex, Cat, and Gabriel have gained while at AUWCL are as diverse as the topics covered in the BLR since its founding.

“We want to make sure our students are solid on all the fundamentals—corporate and securities, commercial law and bankruptcy, and so on—but the journal experience gives dozens of students, every year, a chance to build on those foundations,” Snyder said. “It also continually strengthens the presence of business law in the AUWCL community.”

Keep up with all the news on the Business Law Review at www.aublr.org, on Twitter @aublr, or Instagram @aublr. 

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