The Journalists: Doorva Tripathi & Saumya Agarwal, NLIU Law Review

The Journalists is a deeper look at the journals published by law schools around the country. In this edition, we take a look at the NLIU Law Review with Campus Ambassador Devansh Malhotra interviewing the journal's Editor-in-Chief Doorva Tripathi and Deputy Editor-in-Chief Saumya Agarwal.

What makes the NLIU Law Review Journal unique and distinct from other journals?

Having completed ten years in 2020, the NLIU Law Review has a fairly established presence in the legal community. Yet, with every issue, the journal strives to significantly improve in terms of the quality of publication. In addition to this, the team at the NLIU Law Review puts in much effort in ensuring that the best interests of the authors are taken care of.

It engages in speedy review, keeping the authors updated at every stage. The team even goes as far as providing the authors with edited manuscripts and detailed feedback forms to ensure transparency in review and help authors better their works. These factors make the journal distinct from other journals.

What was the process for the appointment of the Editor-in-Chief and the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the NLIU Law Review?

The procedure for the appointment of the Editor-in-Chief and the Deputy Editor-in-Chief at the NLIU Law Review entails a call for applications from the existing student members, requiring the interested candidates to send in their CV and a statement of purpose highlighting their previous contributions as well as their future plans for the journal.

The final decision as regards the two positions of leadership is taken by the graduating core committee, along with the faculty in-charge of the journal, after carefully considering all the applications.

What are the tasks performed by the Editor-in-Chief and the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the NLIU Law Review?

The tasks performed by the Editor-in-Chief and the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the NLIU Law Review are multifold, ranging from ensuring the timely completion of review to streamlining internal communications among the boards of the journal as well as external communications of the journal with the university administration, peers, authors, publishers and so on.

In addition to this, the Editor and the Deputy Editor-in-Chief are also responsible for the planning of the events such as symposiums, discussions and educational workshops that the NLIU Law Review organises.

How has the experience of the student team at the NLIU Law Review been so far?

With the recent onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown imposed as a result of this, a majority of communications have to be made, and all approvals have to be acquired, through the online mode. As a result, the student team constituted this year has faced new challenges relating to the review and print publication of the journal as well as the organisation of events.

Even so, the team has managed to overcome these hurdles such that all the objectives for the academic year are met in an ideal fashion. Presently, the NLIU Law Review is in the talks of organising an online event on a nationwide scale.

How has COVID-19 affected the functioning of the editorial board? Have there been any changes?

As stated above, the editorial board did initially face certain obstructions to its functioning as all communications among editors within the different review committees as well as communications of the committees inter se had to be shifted to the online mode. However, this has not affected the overall functioning of the Board.

On the contrary, the review of manuscripts for the first edition of the NLIU Law Review of this year, for which we received over 500 submissions, was completed in record time.

The board even managed to recently put together and publish a comprehensive primer on how legal manuscripts should be reviewed and edited.

What advice would you give to writers interested in getting published in your journal?

Our advice to all those who are interested in writing for the NLIU Law Review would be to bring to the table a perspective to an issue of law that is fresh, one that not only piques the interest of the readers but also makes them re-evaluate their existing viewpoint on the subject.

The journal places great importance on legal papers that are contemporarily relevant and significantly contribute to the existing scholarly literature on the subject.