Oregon Law Review Celebrates 100th Anniversary

Current OLR board

February 17, 2022

Oregon Law Review (OLR) will celebrate its 100th anniversary this spring. It is the oldest continuously published law journal in the Pacific Northwest and has been run by students since 1967. OLR was founded in 1921 by the faculty at the University of Oregon School of Law. The faculty published the first volume in April of 1921, during a divisive period in Oregon’s history.

In 1921, Klansmen marched through Oregon’s streets to aid in what would be their 1922 sweeping victory of state legislative seats. The Anti-Sterilization League battled decisions by the Oregon State Eugenics Board to sterilize “confirmed criminals.” Laws prohibited Black people from living in Oregon and people of color from voting in Oregon. These race-based laws, conflict, and terrorization against the Black community would continue to be marked in history for another five years.

Now, a century later, Oregon Law Review is publishing novel and timely legal scholarship that examines the present intersection of race and criminal law as we look to the century ahead. Contributors to the Review include scholars, practitioners, judges, and Justices of the US Supreme Court. With each issue that is published, the Oregon Law Review staff seeks to advance legal scholarship with innovative, top-quality articles. OLR is publishing a symposium issue for its 100th volume comprised of the following articles: 

Batson v. Armstrong: Prosecutorial Bias and the Missing Evidence Problem

Darryl K. Brown, O.M. Vicars Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law

Criminal Justice Through Management: From Police, Prosecutors, Courts and Prisons to a Modern Administrative Agency

Edward L. Rubin, University Professor of Law and Political Science, Vanderbilt University

Malcolm M. Feeley, Claire Sanders Clements Professor Emeritus, School of Law, University of California at Berkeley

Book Review: Reducing Gun Violence with ShotSpotter Gunshot Detection Technology and Community-Based Plans: What Works?

Harvey Gee, attorney in San Francisco. Gee previously served as an Attorney with the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Las Vegas and Pittsburgh, the Federal Defenders of the Middle District of Georgia, and the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender.

The Oregon Law Review has published more than 300 separate issues dedicated to covering topics of state, national, and international significance. To join OLR as a staff editor, first- and second-year law students are able to compete in a write-on competition each spring. The Review publishes two issues annually, a change in pace from quarterly publishing in their early years.

OLR will celebrate its anniversary on Friday, April 8, 2022, from 12:00 to 2:00 pm, in the Ford Alumni Center Ballroom for their Volume 100 Symposium and Celebration. OLR will provide a forum for authors to share their work and for students, alumni, practitioners, and community members to engage in discussion.

OLR intends to make CLE credit available for this event.