Legal Commentary

As law review submission season rolls around again, perennial questions about under-representation of women and minority authors in law reviews come up.  I am reminded of a passage from Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell, describing the dramatic results when orchestral auditions became anonymous:

Screens were erected between the committee and the auditioner, and if the person auditioning cleared his or her throat or made any identifiable sound - if they were wearing heels, for example, and stepped on a part of the floor that wasn't carpeted - they were ushered out and given a new number.  And as these new rules were put in place around the country, an extraordinary thing happened: orchestras began to hire women.  In the past thirty years, since screens became commonplace, the number of women in the top U.S. orchestras has increased fivefold.

I don't want to suggest that the analogy is perfect - the nature and experience of those selecting pieces/performers is different and maybe the "sound" of a law review article isn't as ungendered as an orchestral piece (see past posts on Prawfsblawg for a discussion of the "audacity factor").  But it does lead me to wonder about the blind submission practice of Harvard Law Review and a few other law reviews.  They have been much discussed, but have these policies had any effect?  And, if so, on what?  A wider variety of author affiliation or seniority?