The Mitchell Hamline Law Review is taking another step into the digital world with the launch of a blog that aims to raise the law review’s profile and provide an outlet for general-interest articles on legal issues.
The “Amicus Curiae” blog, launched in early February, publishes submissions on recent happenings in the law on a variety of topics and includes some practical advice for students and attorneys.
Alex Baker Kroeger and Marcus Jardine
The project is spearheaded by students Alex Baker Kroeger and Marcus Jardine, both executive online editors with the law review. Kroeger, from Minnetonka, Minn., is a third-year student in Mitchell Hamline’s part-time evening program. She works full time in marketing in downtown Minneapolis. Jardine, from Prince Edward Island, Canada, is a third-year student in the full-time program.
“We wanted to create something that more people could read and learn from,” Kroeger said of the blog. People who read Minnesota Lawyer or similar publications would probably enjoy the blog, she said. It’s not as strictly academic as the law review, it allows for a bit more opinion, and it’s a great way for young lawyers to be published and get their name out there. Plus, she said, it’s a way to continue “modernizing” the law review, which already publishes an online-only issue called “Sua Sponte.”
Authors for the blog—including judges, attorneys, and academics—are mostly from Minnesota. “We’ve been getting a lot of support from the local community, and we’re really thankful for that. We’re hoping this continued support enables us to expose readers to many interesting and rewarding areas of law,” said Jardine.
The blog will be under new management each year because the law review has a new board of editors each year, and Jardine and Kroeger are preparing to pass the torch soon. “There is a lot of room for creativity with the blog, and it’ll be exciting to see where future years take it,” Jardine said.
“Amicus Curiae” currently has about half a dozen articles, including a few from judges and a few from attorneys. The editors invite submissions, preferably 500-700 words. March’s theme is immigration and international law. The next topic will be class actions, and April/May will focus on Indian law, featuring a piece from Minnesota Supreme Court Associate Justice Anne McKeig, a 1992 graduate of Hamline University School of Law.