Law journal breaks new and 'Common' ground as first Tufts publication of its type

    Tufts' first legal journal, Common Law, is scheduled to hit campus next semester in the hopes of giving undergraduate students a better understanding of the world of law.
    The students who founded the journal believe it will give college communities an often-missing perspective on legal issues.
    "A journal like ours doesn't exist, period, for undergraduate schools," associate editor Raymond Shehadeh, a junior, said.
    Journal editors plan to include academic articles from a variety of fields. Staff writers, all of whom will be undergraduates, will contribute the majority of articles, though undergraduate and graduate students not involved in the journal's publication will also be able to submit.
    Junior Catherine Kim, who serves as co-editor-in-chief, said that Common Law will allow staff members interested in pursuing legal careers to develop their researching, writing and critical thinking skills.
    "It helps people who want to go to law school, because you get a chance to write and edit," she said. "Writing skills are really important in law."
    Common Law also plans to include law school profiles and Law School Admission Test tips for students who will apply to law school.
    Kim and junior Tony Carucci, co-editors-in-chief of Common Law, came up with idea for the journal last spring. They aim to publish their first issue in March and hope to continue publishing annually.
    "For this year, our target audience is the students at Tufts who are interested in going to law school [or] who are thinking about going to law school and aren't sure yet," Kim said.
    Common Law's publication is subject to a budget approval by the Allocations Board (ALBO), followed by a Tufts Community Union Senate vote to finalize the budget. The editors project an annual budget between $2,000 and $3,000. They submitted their request for funding on Oct. 9 and are currently awaiting the Board's decision.
    Kim said the staff spoke with pre-law advisors at Tufts and examined law journals in preparation for Common Law's first issue. She cited the Dartmouth Law Journal and the Harvard College Law Journal as two sources of inspiration.
    Senior Duncan Pickard, public editor of the Media Advocacy Board, which includes all student media organizations at Tufts, said that students heading on-campus publications should consider alternatives to publishing in print to avoid draining funds from the ALBO.
    "Publications, while they're very important, can require a disproportionately larger amount of money than most student groups," he said. "It's long overdue to think about how we're funding new groups as funds diminish."
    The public editor serves to offer an impartial and often critical perspective on campus publications. Pickard was president of the TCU Senate last year, but emphasized that his opinions did not represent the views of the Senate.
    Pickard suggested that publications consider moving online. "All written media outlets have online content," Pickard said. "To be competitive, modern publications have to be on the Web. There's no question about it."
    Kim said that Common Law will be published in print, but the journal will also have online content.
    "It's definitely easier to be online in terms of finance," she said.
    Pickard said that budding publications could benefit from teaming up with more established print media as a way to cut costs.
    "I think that it's possible that some new publications could think more creatively about the way they publish," Pickard said. "If you really just want to publish in print — and that's fine, and totally understandable — then look to partner with other print organizations that are on campus."
    Associate editor Kennedy Kearney-Fischer, a senior, said that a print publication offers a value for writers that cannot be matched online.
    "I think there's something very special for a student to see their work in print and to realize, ‘Hey, this is something I can actually accomplish,'" she said. "There's something a bit more formal about having it in print."
    Kim said the editors hope to distribute Common Law issues to other schools in the Northeast.
    Shehadeh said he hopes Common Law will address issues that excite students. "I'm hoping that people will really get engaged with these articles," he said. "I'm really hoping that somehow Common Law can stand out."