Arkansas Law Review Launches New Website to Improve Access, Availability

Courtesy of the University of Arkansas School of Law

A static image of the new home page of the Arkansas Law Review website.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The University of Arkansas School of Law Arkansas Law Review has launched a new website to increase the publication's prominence through better accessibility. In addition to a new look, the site is now mobile friendly, faster and easier to navigate.

"The rest of the editorial board and I are excited to help usher in this change," said Clay Sapp, third-year law student and the publication's editor-in-chief. "The Arkansas Law Review has a tradition of more than 70 years at the U of A. We want to respect its origins and mission while also updating with the times."

The most recent issue, vol. 70, no. 2, is the symposium issue, which includes papers presented at the annual Arkansas Law Review Symposium. The articles address "The Future of the Death Penalty," the theme of the 2016-17 symposium. Next year's symposium issue will include pieces on "Environmental Sustainability and Private Governance," the topic of the 2017-18 symposium, which will be held Friday, Oct. 27, at the law school.

The Arkansas Law Review is a quarterly publication focused on relevant scholarship on notable domestic and international issues to elicit informed discussions and provide intellectual and practical assistance to members of the legal community.

Its editorial board serves the Arkansas legal community and beyond by publishing scholarship of state, national and international importance and encourages the submission of unsolicited articles, comments, essays and reviews. Submission instructions are available on the submissions page of the new site.

The Arkansas Law Review was established with the publication of the first issue in the fall semester of the 1946-47 academic year. It was preceded by the University of Arkansas Law School Bulletin, which was started five years after the University of Arkansas School of Law was established in 1924.

Julian S. Waterman, school's first dean, edited Volume 1, Issue 1 of the University of Arkansas Law School Bulletin in 1929, and the publication appeared intermittently through May 1942. It was suspended for four years before the final issue was published in May 1946, paving the way for the Arkansas Law Review.

Prior to the establishment of the Arkansas Law Review, the Arkansas Bar Association expressed interest in the creation of a law review and appointed committees to explore the possibility. The first two issues, which were published through the work of Dean Robert A Leflar and his staff, were met with enthusiastic response and the law review was turned into a joint undertaking of the law school and the Arkansas Bar Association.

Today, the law review is an established part of the legal community in Arkansas. It is cited and relied on by lawyers and courts throughout the country. Its articles and student writings have been quoted in books and learned journals throughout the world.