What did it take to start a new law review and, more to the point, what did it take when the law school itself was brand new? The circumstances surrounding the launch of the Hamline Law Review in 1978 were strikingly different than those surrounding this new combination with the William Mitchell Law Review in 2016. How did it happen and how does it compare with the emergence of the Mitchell Hamline Law Review today?
By the fall of 1977, only two classes had graduated from Hamline University School of Law. As the third law school in the community, it was a pioneer in every sense of the word and the second-year students were ready to roll in helping to raise its status and establish its credibility in the legal community. As Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Sheran was to write in the 1978 inaugural issue, this would be “a big step forward in your rapidly advancing academic accomplishments.” The same milestone would be expressed by United States District Court for the District of Minnesota Chief Judge Edward Devitt: “I am pleased to see that Minnesota’s third law school is thriving to the point where it has determined to launch a law review. The journal will enhance the already burgeoning reputation of the Hamline Law School in the scholastic and legal community.”
We were entirely new to the business of creating a sustainable, quality publication that would continue on a parallel path with the school’s solid trajectory. Not only did we need to decide what to publish and where to find authors, but also to manage the business of producing a complicated and demanding journal that would adhere to the Bluebook religiously, stand on its own among peers, and serve as a springboard for future Hamline law students to carry to ever higher levels. To make our first issue unique and practical, we decided to undertake and include a major research project covering the Minnesota Statutes of Limitations that we could handle on our own. After devoting two years of seemingly endless but dedicated teamwork, we unpacked Volume 1978, Number 1, with its 496 pages, on the very brink of Commencement.
As I look over the long rows of grey and red volumes on my bookshelves, I realize the enormous contribution the Hamline Law Review has made to legal analysis, discourse and debate, and to providing pragmatic tools for important research and everyday practice. Also, the frequent use of a primary focus through symposia and major research projects that began in 1978 stands out as a lasting tradition. No less than twenty symposia and conferences that featured experts in major fields, with often complementary, timely, and thorough research projects undertaken by successive editorial boards, emerged as distinguishing features of the publication. All the required attention to detail, accuracy, and clarity—as in any law review—has meant that the information, perspectives, insights, and theories presented in its pages can be trusted as worthwhile material to cite and develop for scholarly and practical purposes.