Pepperdine Law Review

Pepperdine Law Review
Title	Pepperdine Law Review
Discipline	Law
Publisher	Pepperdine University School of Law
Country	United States
Frequency	Quarterly
History	1973–present

Contents

Pepperdine Law Review is a quarterly scholarly journal produced at Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, California. The Review publishes articles, essays, and student notes on a wide range of legal topics, engaging with issues relevant to practice, jurisprudence, and public policy. Contributors have included judges, scholars, and practitioners from institutions such as Supreme Court of the United States, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, and Stanford Law School.

History

The Review was founded in the early 1970s amid expansion at Pepperdine University and the establishment of the Pepperdine University School of Law. Early editorial boards invited submissions from scholars affiliated with Columbia Law School, University of Chicago Law School, and New York University School of Law to build credibility. Over subsequent decades the Review published pieces by contributors linked to United States Department of Justice, American Bar Association, Federal Trade Commission, and judges from the United States District Court for the Central District of California. The journal developed signature symposia addressing topics arising from decisions by the United States Supreme Court, policy shifts at the United States Congress, and regulatory developments by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Review aims to bridge doctrinal analysis and practical application by featuring work from legal academics at Georgetown University Law Center, University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, alongside practitioners from firms such as Latham & Watkins, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. It emphasizes subjects including constitutional issues that intersect with decisions from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, transactional concerns influenced by rulings of the Delaware Court of Chancery, and regulatory trends shaped by the Internal Revenue Service and agencies like the Federal Communications Commission. The Review also covers litigation trends involving parties such as Microsoft Corporation, Apple Inc., and Google LLC.

The Review follows a student-edited model common to American law journals exemplified by Harvard Law Review and Yale Law Journal. Selection of articles involves blind submission review and editorial assessment by student editors, with final publication decisions informed by faculty advisers from Pepperdine University School of Law and visiting scholars from Oxford University Press-affiliated scholars. Annual symposia coordinate peer speakers from institutions including Cornell Law School, Duke University School of Law, and University of California, Berkeley School of Law. The editorial calendar aligns with the academic terms of Pepperdine University and with landmark legal events such as oral arguments before the Supreme Court of the United States.

The Review's symposia have featured panels on eminent legal controversies involving actors like the Department of Homeland Security, the National Labor Relations Board, and multinational disputes featuring corporations including ExxonMobil and Chevron Corporation. Published articles have addressed constitutional questions linked to cases from the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, statutory interpretation debates influenced by the Administrative Procedure Act, and comparative law essays referencing the European Court of Human Rights and the International Court of Justice. Contributors have included scholars connected to Columbia University, Princeton University, and practitioners from the Federalist Society and the American Constitution Society.

Editorial leadership has included students who later clerked for judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and for Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. Alumni have gone on to roles at institutions such as Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Bureau of Investigation, major law firms including Covington & Burling and Kirkland & Ellis, and academic positions at University of Southern California Gould School of Law and Pepperdine University School of Law. Guest editors and advisory board members have been drawn from trustees and scholars affiliated with Hoover Institution, Brookings Institution, and the Cato Institute.

The Review has received recognition for article selection and citation impact in indices that track legal scholarship alongside journals like Georgetown Law Journal and California Law Review. Individual articles have been cited in briefs filed before the Supreme Court of the United States and in opinions from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and have been acknowledged by organizations such as the American Bar Association and the Association of American Law Schools. The journal's student editors have received awards and honors that facilitated clerkships at the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and positions within the United States Attorney's Office.

The Review is distributed in print to libraries at institutions including Library of Congress, Harvard Law School Library, and Yale Law School Library, and is available electronically through legal research platforms used by practitioners at firms like WilmerHale and Jones Day. Individual issues are acquired by university libraries across the United States, with subscriptions reaching scholars at Oxford University, Cambridge University, and research centers such as the Harvard Kennedy School. The journal's archives document contributions spanning decades of legal discourse in American and comparative contexts.