Law School Professor Blasts Law Review Editors As 'Uncomprehending Idiots'

This feels like a disproportionate response.

The process of producing scholarship for a legal journal is arduous and annoyingly painstaking. Properly sourcing every claim to guarantee its accuracy and argumentative quality is a drain on authors and journal staff alike.

It looks like this professor has reached the breaking point.

In an email earlier this week, a law school professor that we’re not going to name — less for his sake than to shield the law review staff in question — reacts to a request for further edits with a heavy dose of vitriol:

“Uncomprehending idiots” is pretty rough. But the professor is right that it’s the student editors who are supposed to be supplying the missing citations. Unless, of course, the work is so bereft of factual support that the student editors are politely signaling “hey, can you tell us where there’s any credible support for your ideological hobby horse, because citing Ayn Rand as a constitutional authority just isn’t going to cut it.”

In any event, good luck with grading.


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HeadshotJoe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

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