About

The Arizona State Law Journal is a nationally recognized periodical and the flagship scholarly publication of the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. Founded in 1969 under the title Law and the Social Order, Journal was originally published during just the second year of ASU Law’s operations. Founding Editor-in-Chief John S. Lancy helped create the Journal, and the Dean considered the first publication a “near miracle.”

Building on that early momentum, Journal has produced eminent scholarship and been cited in major textbooks, treatises, and judicial opinions at all levels of the state and federal judiciary, including the United States Supreme Court. The Arizona State Law Journal has featured work from Steven Calabresi, Erwin Chemerinsky, Carole Goldberg, Mary M. Schroeder, Sanford Levinson, Richard Posner, Vernon Smith, Ronald Dworkin, Cass Sunstein, Ashley Deeks, and Jeremy Waldron, to name a few. Its student-written Notes and Comments have consistently earned Scribes Law Review Awards and Burton Distinguished Legal Writing Awards.

Journal also holds a reputation for publishing prominent Indian Law pieces, with articles even gracing the pages of prominent Supreme Court Indian Law cases. For example, Justice Sotomayor cited Catherine T. Struve, Tribal Immunity and Tribal Courts, 36 Ariz. St. L.J. 137 (2004), in her Michigan v. Bay Mills Indian Community concurrence. Likewise, Justice Gorsuch cited Robert N. Clinton, There Is No Federal Supremacy Clause for Indian Tribes, 34 Ariz. St. L.J. 113 (2002), in his Haaland v. Brackeen concurrence.

Journal alumni have gone on to become partners at the world’s largest law firms, represent Arizonans in the state legislature and governor’s office, and sit on both federal and state judicial benches. Similarly, its published scholars have gone on to obtain prestigious fellowships and professorships, including at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.

Journal remains committed to timely and accessible legal scholarship. It regularly hosts Symposia, including a 1979 Evidence Symposium, a 2018 Symposium celebrating the 100th anniversary of Masses Publishing Co. v. Patten, and a 2025 Water Law Symposium. Journal also recently created the Arizona State Law Journal Forum, designed with a focus on concise, timely, and accessible scholarship.