Foreword: Recent Developments and Ruminations in Retrospect

AuthorLouisiana Law Review Board of Editors, Volume 70
PositionLouisiana Law Review Board of Editors, Volume 70
Pages1099-1104

Page 1099

From the beginning of our tenure, the Board of Editors for Volume 70 of the Louisiana Law Review has maintained two primary goals. The first is to improve the law review's national profile. To further that end, all of the professional articles and student pieces published in the first and third issues of volume 70 relate to national legal topics. The majority of the articles in our second issue, a symposium on punitive damages, are also national in scope. This particular goal is especially significant not only because of the relationship between the law review's national ranking and the LSU Law Center's national ranking, but also because of the influence that law review rankings have over an author's response to an offer of publication.

The second goal is to fulfill our time-honored obligation as Louisiana's flagship legal journal by publishing articles of local importance. Our fourth issue is devoted to accomplishing that very task. We were motivated to completely slate our final issue with Louisiana-focused pieces both by this goal and by the Louisiana Law Review's history as a leader in producing outstanding state legal commentary.

Since its first volume, the Louisiana Law Review has dedicated its pages to informing Louisiana practitioners about current cases and legislation as well as important aspects of, and perceived problems with, Louisiana's law and legal system. These commentaries were often grouped together either as faculty or student symposiums. The first volume of the Louisiana Law Review contained a faculty symposium, titled The Work of the Louisiana Supreme Court for the 1937-1938 Term. 1 The faculty symposium issue focused on Louisiana Supreme Court cases from the court's most recent term, and it was included in volumes 1 through 22, 2 excluding volume 14. 3 Initially, from volumes 1 Page 1100 through 5, the faculty symposium on Louisiana Supreme Court jurisprudence took the form of one consolidated article with several professors contributing sections corresponding to their areas of expertise. 4 But beginning with volume 6, the symposium was broken down into individual pieces authored by the faculty of the law school that either made up an entire issue or the majority of an issue. 5

Beginning with volume 23 and continuing through volume 40, the symposium's title was changed to Work of the Louisiana Appellate Courts, and the focus of the symposium was broadened to include Louisiana circuit court of appeal developments. 6 During that period, only volumes 25 and 26 divided commentary on Page 1101 Louisiana Supreme Court and appellate court cases. 7 From volumes 41 through 52, the faculty symposium was titled Developments in the Law. 8 Volumes 45, 46, 50, and 52 did not contain the formal title Developments in the Law, but the same format of individual pieces by professors, adjuncts, and practitioners in their respective areas of expertise was used despite the absence of the official title. 9 The Louisiana-focused theme of the faculty symposium remained constant, while the title continued to change. Volumes 53 and 54 called it Review of Recent Developments. 10 Volume 55 omitted a formal title, as in volumes 45, 46, 50, and 52, but followed the same format. 11 Finally, volumes 56 and 57 called the faculty symposium Ruminations on the Law. 12

In volume 58, the second issue contained three articles titled Ruminations followed by a specific subject-related title, 13 but the entire issue was not devoted to the Recent Developments pieces that typified the faculty symposium from years past. 14 In volume 59, the second issue contained only two articles formally labeled Page 1102 Recent Developments: 15 Torts: Recent Developments 16 and Matrimonial Regimes: Recent Developments. 17 In volume 60, only one article titled Recent Developments appeared: 18 Matrimonial Regimes: Recent Developments. 19

Then, in volumes 61 through 63, no Recent Developments pieces appeared. 20 In volume 64, the second issue contained two articles focused on Louisiana law 21 and one focused on developing United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals admiralty law. 22 This grouping, however, appears to be coincidental because the lead article in that issue was on a federal tax issue. 23 In any event, none of the three articles that could have fit the traditional mold was titled Recent Developments, Ruminations, or anything else that would suggest a conscious effort to produce focused commentary on Louisiana law.

Volume 65, like volumes 61 through 63, did not have any Recent Developments articles. 24 Issue 2 of volume 66 was devoted to articles on Louisiana law, aside from one article about Dean Paul M. Hebert. 25 Still, neither the Recent Developments title nor anything similar was used in any of the articles' titles. 26 Volume 67, like volume 60, contained a single Recent Developments article, Matrimonial Regimes: Recent Developments. 27 Issue 2 of volume 68 was devoted to Katrina-specific articles as opposed to a Page 1103 general Louisiana law theme. 28 Still, that issue had the focus and format that issue 4 of volume 70 adopts: Louisiana-specific law review articles authored by professionals and students. Volume 69 did not contain a purely Louisiana focused issue or any Recent Developments articles. 29

In addition to articles and entire issues devoted to recent jurisprudential developments, the law review has also published legislative symposiums. In issue 1 of volume 1, Dean Paul M. Hebert and his research assistant, Carlos E. Lazarus, authored an article, titled The Louisiana Legislation of 1938, 30 which took a similar form to The Work of the Louisiana Supreme Court article that also appeared in the first volume. 31 Yet, unlike the Louisiana Supreme Court faculty symposium, the Louisiana legislation piece did not reappear in the Louisiana Law Review until volume 15, in which the entire first issue was devoted to a faculty symposium, titled Survey of 1954 Louisiana Legislation. 32 This type of legislative survey authored by...

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