Focus and Scope
The Journal is dedicated to the art and science of trial advocacy. Accordingly, the Journal categorizes manuscripts by topic and intended audience: articles, commentaries, and trial or courtroom techniques. Commentaries allow authors to discuss controversial topics that may be outside the scope of a full-length article. Articles are thoroughly researched discussions of new theories of law applicable to the trial attorney's practice. Trial techniques, unique to the Journal, are how-to discussions of proven trial tactics that include supporting case law and other research.
Location
The Journal is a publication of the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University. Cumberland School of Law is one of the nation's oldest law schools and is known for the advocacy skills of her students. Learn more about Cumberland School of Law here: Cumberland School of Law website.
Samford University, located in Birmingham, Alabama, is the largest privately supported and fully accredited institution for higher learning in the state of Alabama. Learn more about Samford University here: Samford University website.
History
Founded in 1977 by Dean Donald E. Corley, the American Journal of Trial Advocacy is the nation's oldest law review dedicated to scholarly analysis of the art of trial practice. The Journal provides both theoretical analysis of the law as well as analysis of actual litigation practices.
The Journal publishes articles authored by prominent attorneys, judges, and clinical professors throughout the country. These articles address proven tactics and techniques at the pre-trial, trial, and appellate level. Student-written notes, comments, and recent developments focus on new developments in the law that most directly affect trial practice and procedure. The Journal, in its third decade of publication, has tremendous potential for breaking new legal ground, supplying the largest section of the Bar with trial techniques, and gaining a national circulation greater than any other law review in the South. The circulation of the Journal reaches all fifty states as well as eight foreign countries.
Journal members are selected from a highly competitive candidates program. Students ranked at the top of their class and select winners of writing and advocacy competitions are offered an opportunity to attempt to write-on to the Journal. This competitive admittance program ensures a continued high level of quality throughout the Journal’s writing and editing process.
Member Candidates
An invitation to write on to the Journal by participating in our candidates program is extended to students at Cumberland School of Law who are in the top one-third of their class after their second or third semester. Students are eligible for membership only once.
The Summer Writing Program is conducted in June and July for all Cumberland 2L students in the top one-third of the class after their first year. 1Ls should submit their summer address information to the Journal by the first of June to avoid delays in receiving an invitation to participate in the candidate program. Review our Summer Program Schedule and plan ahead to participate! We encourage 1Ls to contact us with specific summer writing program questions before scheduling irreversible summer travel plans.
The Winter Writing Program is conducted in January for 2L students at Cumberland who moved into the top one-third of their class after their third semester OR who transferred into Cumberland their second year and are ranked in Cumberland's top one-third. Look at our January Program Schedule and plan ahead to participate!
NOTE: The above should not be construed to mean that 1Ls have a choice of which writing program to participate in. Deferrals of candidacy from the summer to winter are rarely granted (when a formal written request is made in June, and only for an exceptional reason); most students will have only one opportunity to write for membership.
The Journal may extend a one-time offer to write on by participating in our candidates program to one or more of the following 1L students: 1) the authors of the best memos or briefs in Cumberland’s Lawyering Skills and Legal Reasoning Program; (2) the finalists of the Parham H. Williams Freshman Trial Competition; or (3) the winners of the Donworth Freshman Moot Court Competition.
Published by the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University.