Journals

Introduction
Organization
Academic Credit And Disciplinary Procedures
Editorial Duties and Responsibilities
Amendment Procedure

Introduction
The New Mexico Law Review is a general legal journal which provides (1) a forum for criticism and development of the law, (2) an opportunity for student members to improve their legal research, analysis, and writing skills, and (3) a useful research tool for practicing attorneys.

The Law Review published its first issue in January of 1971. Currently, the Law Review publishes three issues (one volume) annually: one or two professional articles issues, one of which may be a symposium issue, and a student articles issue. Each Law Review issue is approximately 150–275 pages long and contains articles written by law professors, practitioners (as professional articles and symposium articles), and students (as case notes and comments). The symposium issue, if present, contains professional articles pertaining to a particular topic. The student articles issue contains case notes and comments discussing recent appellate cases and legal issues of significance to New Mexico practitioners.

Because the Law Review is important to both the New Mexico legal community and the University of New Mexico School of Law, Law Review members must perform their duties in a competent and professional manner. These Bylaws provide basic guidelines for meeting high scholarly and functional standards, while permitting each Editorial Board the necessary discretion to meet changing circumstances and to accommodate the inevitable growth of the Law Review in size and sophistication.
Organization
1. In General
  The Law Review consists of a faculty advisor, an Editorial Board, and a staff.
2. Faculty Advisor
  The Faculty Advisor for the Law Review is appointed by the Dean of the Law School. The Dean solicits the recommendation of the Editorial Board prior to such an appointment. The Advisor shall serve as the Law School Administration representative to the Law Review. It shall be the Advisor's function to serve as a liaison between the Editorial Board and the Administration. However, the Board shall be free to contact the Law School Administration directly when it feels that such contact is required.
3. Editorial Board
  The Editorial Board is the governing body of the Law Review and is responsible for its management and membership.
  1. Composition
    
    The Board is composed of elected members, who have voting rights, and is presided over by the Editor-in-Chief. The editorial positions may consist of the following:
    
    Editor-in-Chief
    
    Managing Editor(s)
    
    Professional Articles Editor(s)
    
    Student Articles Editor(s)
    
    Manuscript Editors
    
    The Executive Board is comprised of the Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor(s), Professional Articles Editor(s), and Student Articles Editor(s).
  2. Eligibility
    
    To be eligible to hold an editorial position, an individual must be a member of the Law Review and must be in good standing with the School of Law. Members on academic or disciplinary probation or in default of any Law Review requirements are not eligible.
  3. Election
    1. Each executive board position shall be filled through application and election. Executive Board Editors shall be elected no later than the end of February of each academic year. Results are not finalized until determination of the publishable quality of a candidate’s case note or comment is made. Members choosing to become Manuscript Editors shall inform the current Editor-in-Chief of their desire to do so; however, elections for Manuscript Editors are not necessary.
    2. Candidates must submit an application to the Editor-in-Chief. Candidates can apply for more than one position but must indicate their preference. No member can hold more than one executive board position. The Editor-in-Chief shall set a deadline for receipt of applications for elected positions. Law Review members shall receive no less than one week’s notice prior to such deadline. Once the Editor-in-Chief has received the timely applications, the Editor-in-Chief shall announce the time and manner of the election. All Law Review members are required to vote.
    3. The election for Editor-in-Chief shall be held before the election for the remaining executive board positions. This is to allow and encourage members running for Editor-in-Chief to run for other executive board positions, without compromising their political positions in the Editor-in-Chief election.
    4. Elections shall be secret and shall be by paper ballot. The ballot shall list all candidates for a given position, and shall list the number of seats available for that position. Members shall vote by marking one name for each available seat. Unless changed pursuant to section II.C.2.d.v, the number of available seats shall be as follows:
      1. There shall be one available seat for Editor-in-Chief;
      2. There shall be two available seats for Managing Editor;
      3. There shall be two available seats for Professional Articles Editor;
      4. There shall be two available seats for Student Articles Editor;
      5. The number of available seats for any position for a given election may be changed by a majority vote of the Editorial Board.
    5. The Publication Administrator shall collect the ballots and shall count them. The candidate with the most votes for each available position shall be selected for that position. The ballots shall be retained by the Publication Administrator for such time as is necessary for members to request an inspection. Any member shall, upon their request, be permitted to inspect the ballots.
    6. In the event of a tie, the candidates who are tied shall participate in a runoff election. If the runoff election results or would certainly result in a tie, then that tie shall be broken by vote of the Executive Board.
  4. Term
    
    The newly elected editorial board may begin planning and preparation for the upcoming year immediately following election. The official term of the editorial board commences the day following the last day of the final examination period of the Spring semester and extends for one year. Editors must enroll in Law Review both semesters of their final year. Exceptions may be made for Manuscript Editors who are graduating a semester early. Editors are expected to be available for Law Review work during the summer between their second and third year of law school, and after graduation if necessary to finish the volume that their Editorial Board began. Once elected, the Editor-in-Chief elect, Managing Editor(s) elect, Professional Articles Editor(s) elect, Student Articles Editor(s) elect, and any additional Editor(s) elect are required to apprentice to their outgoing counterparts in order to gain experience in their positions. New Editors are expected to participate in the publication process of the last issue of their Staff-year volume in order to gain experience with the publication process. The Editor-in-Chief elect and Managing Editor(s) elect are primarily responsible for the publication of the last issue of the volume that their outgoing counterparts began, including the first and final proofing and printing process. The outgoing Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor(s) are expected to be available during the summer after graduation to assist their incoming counterparts when necessary.
  5. Board Meetings
    
    The Editorial Board shall meet periodically at a time and place decided by the Editor-in-Chief. The Editor-in-Chief, or, in his/her absence, the Managing Editor(s), shall preside over the meeting. The agenda for these meetings shall be established by the Editor-in-Chief. Any editor wanting an item placed on the agenda should make his/her request known to the Editor-in-Chief at least one (1) day prior to the scheduled meeting.
    The Board shall, at its first meeting, or as soon thereafter as practicable, adopt by majority vote of the quorum present the rules under which the Board meetings shall be conducted. The Board shall conduct no business unless a quorum is present. However, Editorial Board business may be conducted in the absence of a quorum if necessitated by exigent circumstances, provided the Editor-in-Chief is present at the meeting, or appoints the Managing Editor(s) to act at the meeting on his/her behalf.
    Except as otherwise indicated, the Editorial Board shall govern by a majority vote of the quorum. A quorum is reached when three-quarters (3/4) of the Board members are present. No proxies will be allowed either to vote or to establish a quorum. In the event that the Board is evenly divided on any motion, the motion shall fail.
  6. Publication
    
    The Editorial Board is primarily responsible for the timely publication of the Law Review and for its content, subject to the following requirements:
    1. Student authors seeking publication as a lead author shall be evaluated in the same manner as other authors.
    2. All authors will receive a complimentary copy of the issue in which they are published. Additional reprints are available to an author at cost.
  7. Outside Work Activities
    
    Outside work activities should not adversely affect an editor’s ability to effectively perform editorial responsibilities.
4. Staff
  1. Eligibility
    1. To be eligible for staff membership on the Law Review, a student must be a member of the incoming second year class or meet the requirements of subparagraph (b) below. All candidates for Law Review membership must be in good academic standing with the law school and must try out for membership according to the procedure outlined in section II.D(2).
    2. Students who transfer to the law school at the beginning of the Fall of their second year, and who will receive a J.D. from the U.N.M. School of Law, are eligible to try out for Law Review membership according to the tryout procedure outlined in section II.D(2). In the event that such students transfer after the tryout deadline has passed, the editorial board shall provide those students with a reasonable opportunity to complete the tryout problem, and the Law Review shall evaluate their submissions in substantially the same manner as the other applicants. Transfer applicants, as all other applicants, shall abide by the Student Honor Code.
    3. Visiting students are not eligible for Law Review membership.
    4. Students who transfer to the law school during their second year because their first year school was closed for part or all of the year, who were selected for a law review or journal at their first year school, and who will receive a J.D. from the U.N.M. School of Law, are eligible to try out for Law Review membership during the competition administered after their second year, according to the tryout procedure outlined in section D(2). Students who intend to graduate before the end of the spring semester of their third year are not eligible for selection under this section.
  2. Selection
    1. Staff members shall be selected primarily through a write-on competition administered once per academic year over the summer. Grades may be a secondary consideration in selecting incoming staff members of the Law Review.
    2. The Board shall determine the scheduling of the write-on competition, but must make the tryout materials available no later then the first day of the last week of the spring semester.
    3. The Editor-in-Chief, Student Articles Editor(s), and Managing Editor(s) shall oversee the write-on competition. The Board may advise on the tryout problem and any other aspect of the write-on competition.
    4. Guidelines and restrictions concerning the write-on competition shall be made available to each applicant at the time of the competition.
    5. The Board shall determine whether students may submit Natural Resources Journal tryout packets for the write-on competition in lieu of Law Review tryout packets and shall determine governing rules. Alternatively, the Board shall determine if the competition will be a joint effort between the Law Review and the Natural Resources Journal.
    6. The Board shall establish criteria to be used in judging the write-on competition papers and selecting new members of the Law Review.
    7. Any submissions under section II.D.1.d will be evaluated anonymously along with all other submissions. If a student is selected for Law Review under section II.D.1.dthe Board may choose to select an additional first year student from the remaining submissions.
  3. Staff Member Requirements
    1. Every student selected for Law Review membership joins the journal as a Staff member. Staff members must satisfactorily complete 2 semesters of source- and cite-checking and editing assignments as well as write a case note or comment of publishable quality within the established deadlines. The Board shall determine deadlines for completion of the case notes and comments, but they should be completed no later than the end of a Staff member's second semester on Law Review.
    2. Staff members selected for Law Review under section II.D.1.d, and who completed their advanced writing requirement during their second year, may choose to write a paper instead of a case note or comment. The paper must be in the format of a law review article, of publishable quality, and the topic and minimum length must be approved by the Student Articles Editor.
  4. Withdrawl
    
    A member wishing to withdraw from Law Review may only do so only on a semester basis. Written notice of the member's withdrawal should be given to either the Editor-in-Chief or the Managing Editor(s) prior to the end of the current semester if possible, but not later than the first day of the next semester. Any member who withdraws from Law Review should note that it shall be a violation of the Honor Code to list Law Review membership on his/her resume. In addition, a withdrawing member has an ethical duty to inform current and future employers that he/she is no longer a member of Law Review.
Academic Credit and Disciplinary Procedures
1. Academic Credit
  1. Generally
    1. Each Staff member shall receive two (2) academic credits for the Fall semester and two (2) academic credits for the Spring semester of his/her first year on Law Review.
    2. Each Law Review Editor shall receive three (3) academic credits for the Fall semester and three (3) academic credits for the Spring semester of his/her second year on Law Review.
    3. Each inactive Staff member or Editor shall receive no academic credit for the semester during which he/she is an inactive member.
  2. Loss of Credit
    
    Failure to satisfactorily complete all Law Review requirements shall result in loss of Law Review credit; however, loss of credit will not occur unless a member has received three warnings. Warnings will be issued for failure to comply with deadlines, or satisfy other responsibilities, as defined by the Editorial Board each year. Warnings shall occur as follows:
    1. 1st Warning: oral warning and meeting with immediate supervisor for the missed assignment.
    2. 2nd Warning: written warning and meeting with Editor-in-Chief.
    3. 3rd Warning: written warning and meeting with Editor-in-Chief and faculty advisor.
    Extensions and exemptions for assignments and meetings will follow the procedure outlined in section III.A.3.a. Extensions for the Staff member’s writing requirement will follow the procedure outlined in section III.A.3.b.
  3. Incompletes
    1. Assignments and required meetings.
      
      Extensions and exemptions will only be granted in limited circumstances and for good cause. Repeated delays will give rise to disciplinary action.
      1. Supervisors shall grant exceptions only for good cause. Generally, an extension shall last no more than a few days, but supervisors will consider reasonable requests. If a Law Review member cannot meet an extended deadline, a further extension may only be granted in extraordinary circumstances. A deadline extension may also be granted conditionally. Extensions should always be requested as soon as the student learns that he or she might need the extension. This puts the supervisors on notice of a possible delay and allows supervisors to arrange their schedules accordingly. Students who repeatedly request extensions for assignments may receive disciplinary warnings, as outlined in section III.A.2. If students are overwhelmed with their workloads or otherwise generally unable to meet deadlines, they shall meet with their supervisor(s) and the Editor-in-Chief to discuss ways to resolve the situation.
      2. Exemptions. If, due to extraordinary circumstances, a Law Review member cannot complete an assignment, that member must request an exemption. Exemptions will be granted very rarely and may result in extra assignments later in the year to make up for the missed assignment. The decision to grant an exemption rests with the immediate supervisor and may not be allowed for certain assignments.
      3. If a law review member does not receive an extension or exemption and fails to meet a deadline, he or she will receive a warning, as outlined in section III.A.2.
      4. After issuance of the first warning, all extensions and exemptions must be approved by the Editor-in-Chief.
    2. Student Writing Requirement
      If a Staff member does not complete a case note or comment of publishable quality by the established deadline, the Editor-in-Chief may grant an extension, moving the deadline up to the last day of the Spring Semester. If such extension is not met, the incoming Editor-in-Chief may grant an additional extension, but only under extraordinary circumstances. The new deadline shall be no later then the first day of the following Fall semester. This may result in an Incomplete (“I”) on the Staff member’s transcript until it is determined that his/her case note or comment is of publishable quality. There shall be no further extensions granted under any circumstances.
      1. If a Staff member completes an unfinished case note or comment and has his/her faculty advisor verify that it is of publishable quality on or before the final extension deadline set by the Editor-in-Chief, the Incomplete shall be removed from his/her transcript, and the credit for which that Staff member was eligible in the semester the case note or comment was originally due shall be awarded.
      2. If a Staff Member’s case note or comment is not completed by the final extended deadline, or an extension is determined to be unwarranted, the Staff member will receive no credit for the semester in which the Incomplete was earned, and may receive a grade no higher than a C- as determined by the Editor-in-Chief.
2. Removal
  1. Editorial Board Members
    
    Editorial Board members may be removed from their positions if they demonstrate continual disregard for the duties and responsibilities of the position, act in a dishonest or unethical manner, or violate UNMSOL’s Honor Code.
    1. Procedure
      
      The process for removal of any Editorial Board member shall commence with the submission of a petition to the Board signed by one-third of the Editorial Board members or one-half of the entire Law Review membership. Such petition shall state the specific grounds for removal. Prior to removal, an Editorial Board member shall be given a reasonable opportunity to address the stated grounds, either in writing or at an Editorial Board meeting. The affected editor shall have no less than two weeks’ time to respond to the stated grounds. Removal shall require a two-thirds vote of the Editorial Board and concurrence of the Faculty Advisor. Such vote shall be by secret ballot upon the request of the affected editor or any editor, and any member may inspect the ballots after the vote. No vote for removal shall occur more than 30 days after the deadline given for the response. The affected editor shall not vote or be counted for purposes of meeting the two-thirds requirement. If the Editor-in-Chief is the affected editor, the Managing Editor(s) shall preside over the hearing.
      
      After removal, former Editorial Board members become Senior Staff members, unless a majority of the Editorial Board votes at the time of removal that a former Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor, Professional Articles Editor, or Student Articles Editor shall hold the position of Manuscript Editor instead. Editors are not eligible to be reinstated into the position from which they were originally removed.
      
      With the exception of the Editor-in-Chief, this procedure shall be pursued only after disciplinary action under section III.A.2 has been exhausted.
    2. Replacement
      
      Election of replacement Editorial Board members shall be held as soon after removal as possible and shall follow the same procedure for initial election outlined in section II.C.3.
      
      If further disciplinary procedures are considered necessary, former Editorial Board members may be removed from the Law Review in accordance with the procedure found above in section III.B.
  2. Staff Members
    
    Staff members may be removed from the Law Review for dishonest or unethical conduct, nonperformance, or failure to satisfactorily meet staff requirements, or for violating UNMSOL’s Honor Code. However, removal will only be pursued after disciplinary action under section III.A.2 has been exhausted.
    
    Prior to removal from the Law Review, a Staff member shall be informed in writing by the Editor-in-Chief of the grounds for removal and shall be given the opportunity to respond in writing or by personally addressing the Board. The staff member shall have no less than two weeks’ time to make such a response. No staff members shall be removed except by two-thirds (2/3) affirmative vote of all editors. Such vote shall be by secret paper ballot upon the request of the affected member or any editor, and any member may inspect the ballots after the vote. No vote for removal shall occur more than 30 days after the deadline given for the response.
    
    After a member is removed, he/she must immediately remove Law Review membership from his/her resume. In addition, the removed member has an ethical duty to inform current and future employers that he/she is no longer a member of the New Mexico Law Review.
  3. Reporting of Plagarism
    
    A Law Review member confronted with an arguable question of attribution error or plagiarism in his or her own written work who notifies another Law Review member of the potential problem for the purpose of correcting the problem shall not be removed from the Law Review as a result of his or her self-reporting.
3. Honor Code
  
  Nothing in these bylaws shall be construed to prevent the Student Bar Association from pursuing disciplinary sanctions under the Honor Code.
Editorial Duties and Responsibilities
1. Editor-in-Chief
  The Editor-in-Chief is the chief administrative officer of the Law Review and acts as spokesperson, personnel director, faculty liaison, and general troubleshooter. In addition, the Editor-in-Chief has overall supervisory responsibility for publication of the Law Review and is the final editing authority for every article which appears in the Law Review. More specifically, the Editor-in-Chief:
  1. Tracks all articles throughout the publication process.
  2. Calls and presides over meetings of the Editorial Board.
  3. Calls and presides over meetings of the Law Review staff.
  4. Serves as liaison between the administration, the faculty, and the Law Review.
  5. Serves as the official representative of the Law Review.
  6. Makes recommendations to the Administration concerning the assignment of academic credit to the staff and Editorial Board pursuant to the procedure outlined in section III.A.
  7. Presides over and participates in all meetings affecting publication decisions, board policy, or the operation of the Law Review.
  8. Coordinates the training of the staff.
  9. Formally handles staff academic or disciplinary problems.
  10. Presents all appropriate matters to the Editorial Board for their consideration.
  11. Assists all editors, when necessary, in the able completion of their responsibilities.
  12. Insures the smooth functioning of all facets of the Board's activity.
  13. Insures the accuracy of the publication. Because the Editor-in-Chief is ultimately responsible for the content of the Law Review, the Editor-in-Chief is the final arbitrator of any and all disputes that cannot be resolved among or between the respective editors.
  14. Assumes such other responsibilities as the Editorial Board assigns.
  15. Has the authority to independently conduct Editorial Board business, but only when absolutely necessitated by exigent circumstances and subject to subsequent veto by a majority vote of the Editorial Board.
  The major qualities which the Editor-in-Chief must possess are the ability to supervise others, the ability to work with outside authors who are writing articles for the Law Review, excellent editorial and citation skills, and a strong devotion to the Law Review.
2. Managing Editor(s)
  
  The Managing Editor(s) are responsible for assigning and supervising source- and cite-checking and proofreading assignments. The Managing Editor(s) also process each article to make certain that all cites in the Law Review are accurate as to form and substance and that there are no typographical or similar errors in the Law Review. Additionally, the ME(s) supervise the actual publication of each issue, with the assistance of the Editor-in-Chief. More specifically, the Managing Editor(s):
  1. Work with the printer regarding all printing matters, incorporate page proofs into a printer's copy, and review all material for accuracy before sending them to the printer.
  2. Oversee the write-on competition in conjunction with the Student Articles Editor(s).
  3. Assign all cite-checking and proofreading projects.
  4. Perform such functions as the Editor-in-Chief or Editorial Board shall assign.
  5. Keep the Editor-in-Chief advised about the status of all printing matters.
  6. Discharge the duties of the Editor-in-Chief in his/her absence.
  The Managing Editor(s) must have a thorough command of the Bluebook, an ability to supervise students, and devotion to detail.
3. Professional Articles Editor(s)
  The Professional Articles Editor(s) supervise the review of all unsolicited manuscripts for possible publication and assign the editing of selected articles to members of the Editorial Board. If necessary, the Professional Articles Editor(s) will be responsible for soliciting articles from faculty and practicing attorneys. More specifically, the Professional Articles Editor(s):
  1. Coordinate professional article review and solicitation.
  2. Oversee the process through which Staff members and Editorial Board members read submitted articles and make recommendations to the Editor-in-Chief for selection of manuscripts for publication
  3. Assign articles to members of the Editorial Board for substantive and technical editing once a publication commitment is received.
  4. Work with Editorial Board members during the editing process and establish deadlines for completion of each article.
  5. Ensure that each Editorial Board member has prepared each article for publication and has diligently worked to ensure the accuracy and timely publication of the assigned article.
  6. Perform such functions as the Editor-in-Chief or Editorial Board shall assign.
  7. Discharge the duties of the Editor-in-Chief in the absence of the Editor-in-Chief and the Managing Editor(s).
  The Professional Articles Editor(s) must have the ability to judge the quality of submitted articles to determine if the submission 1) addresses a timely legal issue, 2) provides a thorough and insightful analysis of that topic, and 3) is written in a clear and entertaining manner. The Professional Articles Editor(s) must also have a good understanding of the current state of the law in many subject areas.
4. Student Articles Editor(s)
  
  The Student Articles Editor(s) are responsible for supervising and coordinating the timely production and editing of case notes and comments prepared by Law Review Staff members. Specifically, the Student Articles Editor(s):
  1. Assign a Manuscript Editor to each Staff member who is writing a case note or comment.
  2. Work to facilitate a relationship between that Editor and that staff member, including the resolution of conflicts.
  3. Ensure the timely completion and editing of those articles, by setting deadlines and enforcing them.
  4. Perform such functions as the Editor-in-Chief or Editorial Board shall assign.
  5. Advise the Editor-in-Chief concerning the status of all student article matters.
  6. Oversee the write-on competition in conjunction with the Editor-in-Chief.
  The Student Articles Editor(s) must have a thorough command of the Bluebook, strong interpersonal skills, and devotion to detail.
5. Manuscript Editors
  1. When editing a professional article, the Manuscript Editor follows the article through the publication process, from the point at which the Professional Articles Editor(s) assign the article to the Manuscript Editor until the article is ready to be sent to the printer for actual publication. The specific procedure by which Manuscript Editors shall edit articles shall be determined by the Professional Articles Editor(s), Managing Editor(s), and Editor-in-Chief each year.
  2. When editing a student-written article, the Manuscript Editor shall work to ensure that the article is of publishable quality. The specific procedure by which Manuscript Editors shall monitor, edit, and assist staff-members in writing their articles will be determined by the Student Articles Editor(s), Managing Editor(s), and Editor-in-Chief each year.
  3. In addition, a Manuscript Editor shall assume other responsibilities as the Editor-in-Chief or Editorial Board assigns.
Amendment Procedure

The policies established in the New Mexico Law Review Bylaws are binding on the Law Review Editorial Board and Staff and may only be amended by a three-quarters (3/4) vote of the Editorial Board. These Bylaws may not be amended unless the proposed amendment is submitted to the Editorial Board in writing, and the proposed amendment is under Editorial Board consideration for a minimum of one (1) week.

Journals

Prepared and Adopted August 2007 by the 2007-2008 Editorial Board