Legal Commentary

I wanted to build on Dan's comments about the fascinating thread over at Brian's Leiter's place but then take them in a different direction.  What I found most interesting were the comments about faculty influence on the selection process.  Here are a few examples:

• from Elisabeth: "HLR and YLJ get multiple faculty reviews before publishing anything."
• from Brian Leiter: "[O]ne thing that is unclear is how much of a role in article selection faculty play at the elite law schools. They clearly play more now than even fifteen years ago, but is it really the case that any article published in Yale or Harvard or Chicago or Columbia is really a 'peer' refereed article at this point?"
• from L&E Scholar: "[S]omething interesting appears to be happening at Stanford. They sent me an econometric article they were considering (& I'm not in-house). Also, they asked me if I would agree to be on a standing referee list/advisory board for this kind of work. My respect for Stanford went up a lot after this since I see it as a push toward a real refereeing system . . . ."
• from Jeffrey Kessler: "I can confirm what is going on at Stanford. As of a few months ago, Stanford Law Review's new policy is to have all articles peer reviewed before they are accepted. (We had to make one exception because another school gave the author a one hour exploding offer.) Since this policy was put in place, most articles we selected have been reviewed by more than one professor, and we've made a special effort to reach out to experts at other schools. Faculty from across the country have been very gracious in giving us thoughtful, incredibly insightful commentary."

• from Frank Cross: "I think it's good what Stanford and other schools are doing, but its not peer review. I was one of those 'faculty from across the country' who commented to Stanford's law review on a submission. It wasn't at all the same as a peer review, in part because of time constraints."

I would love to get both descriptive and normative commentary on these developments.  On the descriptive side: How many law reviews are doing this?  Is it a formal or informal process?  Are written comments asked for?  Is the author notified of the process and/or the comments?  How influential are the comments on the law review?  Has any review gone forward in the face of a "no" from a faculty member?  And are there other, more informal methods of faculty involvement, such as when a faculty member from the home school sends over a submitted article with a positive note?

On the normative side: Is this faculty influence a good idea?  If so, what is the best method of implementing it?  How strong should the role of faculty be in the process?  How transparent?  Can "walking an article down" be considered a form of peer review?