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Law Journals: Tips for Writing a Note : Home

What is a Note?

  • A Note is a piece of legal scholarship written by a student that identifies a specific, unresolved legal problem and offers a solution.

  • Notes are shorter than Articles or Essays–typically 35 to 45 pages in length–and narrower in scope, usually focusing on and solving discrete legal problems. 

  • Notes take clear positions on the issues they address and solutions they propose, but are not advocates’ briefs. They are academic contributions; therefore, like scholarly work in most fields, they must recognize all sides of the issues discussed and be as objective as possible.

  • Notes are frequently relied on in the legal world, though they are read more often than they are cited. Practitioners, judges, clerks, scholars, legislative staffers, and students depend on Notes for clear, concise articulations of complicated areas of the law, for arguments to use in briefs, and for support in judicial opinions.  (See more from this resource.)