Back in late 2023, like many other new law students, I had not heard of the Monash University Law Review (‘MonULR’ for short). Therefore, I was most surprised when I received an invitation to apply to the Review as a fresh-faced first year student. Now, two years later, I am honoured to have been appointed as one of the 2026 Managing Editors of the Review, working in the Submissions portfolio. So now you might be wondering: what does the Review actually do?
What Does the Review Do?
As the name suggests, the MonULR is a law review. That is to say, it is a scholarly journal that focuses on legal issues. Indeed, the Review is the flagship academic journal of the Monash Law School. It publishes articles that span a wide range of topics, though they all must be related to Australian law. The Review has been publishing articles since 1974 and has recently moved to an online-only format; you can read some of the latest publications here.
One of the things that makes the Review special is the fact that it is primarily managed by students, with faculty advisors providing assistance when required. Generally speaking, there are usually five Editors (two Editors-in-Chief and three Managing Editors), around ten Assistant Editors and approximately thirty Committee Members, all of whom are current Monash Law students. All the members of the Review are volunteers and each individual plays a crucial role in ensuring that the Review continues to publish high quality legal research.
What Is the Review’s Editorial Process?
Like many other scholarly journals, the Review has a long editorial process. It starts when an author submits their work to the Review.
The first step is the internal review. A Submissions Manager will review the article to ensure that it is a suitable piece for the Review. Essentially, this is a quick check to make sure that it is related to general Australian law and that it is of a sufficient quality.
If the submission passes the internal review, it next has to get through the peer review process. A Submissions Manager will locate experts in the area(s) of law that is covered in the submission and request a referee report. As the Review follows a double-blind peer review model, the reviewer does not know who the author is and vice versa. The majority of articles will have two peer reviewers, but if there is disagreement between the peer reviewers, then a third reviewer may be consulted.
If peer reviewers approve the submission for publication, the article then goes through the copyediting process. The Committee Managers will typeset the article and divide the submissions into smaller parts (usually into 6–8 parts) and assign a Committee Member to each part. The Committee Member must then check the article to ensure compliance with the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (4th edition) and also verify every source. Once all the Committee Members have completed this process for their respective parts, the parts are put back together (to form the full article) and an Assistant Editor will review all of the Committee Members’ changes to ensure that nothing has been missed and that everything is correct. If applicable, comments are left for the author to review, if a contentious change needs to be made (e.g. changing a pinpoint). Sometimes, a second Assistant Editor will review the completed article again, to double-check all the changes and comments. Once the Assistant Editor(s) has completed their review, the article, with the comments, is then given to a Managing Editor, who reviews all of the comments and resolves any issues that do not require the author’s approval. The Managing Editor then liaises with the author to discuss any controversial changes that need to be made to the article. Once the changes have been made (or rejected), an Editor-in-Chief will resolve any outstanding issues, do one final check and prepare the article for publication.
Since the Review is now online only, this usually just involves uploading it to the appropriate platform. It used to take quite a while to prepare the articles for publication when the Review was a paper publication!
How Do I Participate? What Are the Benefits?
As Student
As aforementioned, the Review is predominantly student-run. The Editors, Assistant Editors and Committee Members are all students! To join the Review, you must be a Monash law student with at least one more year of study from the time of the application (applications open once a year, usually around November). Everyone starts as a Committee Member, but you can later apply to be an Assistant Editor; applications usually open once at the end of the year but occasionally there are mid-year promotions too. Assistant Editors can then apply to become Editors.
There are many benefits to becoming a member of the Review. Through the copyediting process, you will become very familiar with the AGLC4 as well as how to perform rigorous legal research. In addition to this, the Review runs exclusive events, including networking events, for its members. Indeed, the banner of this article is a photo taken at the 2025 Annual Dinner, which is the Review’s main event of the year.
The Review hosts a number of events throughout the year, many of which are run in conjunction with its sponsor firms. They’re great opportunities to network and to learn about the legal profession.
As an Author
If you wish to submit an article for publication in the Review, please follow the appropriate steps set out here. Most of the authors are academics, but the Review does accept submissions from legal practitioners and occasionally students (though you will need to supply two letters of recommendation). Furthermore, while the majority of submissions to the Review are journal articles, it sometimes publishes case notes, book reviews and lectures.
Conclusion
The Review is a prestigious law journal and I am honoured to be a part of it. Law journals, like the Review, play a critical role in the legal profession: they foster discussions, explore new concepts and challenge old ideas. They are essential to law reform processes and can aid judges in novel and complex cases. Perhaps most importantly, they prove that the law is not a static concept: it is an ever-changing discipline and there is always room for more discussion and innovation.