BYU management and law students have teamed to produce their first interdisciplinary journal. The new International Law and Management Review combines legal and business interests, giving students in both areas opportunities to participate on the journal’s editorial board.
“Very few models of this interdisciplinary student publishing have ever been done,” says James Backman, a law school professor and review adviser. “If it can be done, BYU ought to be able to accomplish it because of our international skills, background and interest—and because of the very fine graduate programs here. We have all the right ingredients.”
Although the new journal—scheduled to be published this spring—will be formatted like a traditional law review, the content will be tailored to practitioners rather than academics. This practical approach to international issues as well as the chance for law and business students to collaborate in an academic setting makes the journal unique.
“Aside from the reality of having to work together, each school is giving their students a framework from which to approach problems,” says Kalani Morse, a third year JD/MPA student and review board member. “Each of those frameworks is very different. Getting them in the same room together talking about the same issues is going to broaden their horizons.”
BYU is the first university to produce a journal jointly between its law and management schools, but the review’s subject matter is not entirely new. The law school at Northwestern University produces its own journal of international law and management and many other law schools have recognized the natural crossover between law and business.
“I have felt strongly that BYU should take advantage of the opportunity to show our strengths in the international area,” Backman says. “This is one more way we can fly the flag and show our special skills and abilities.”
The Marriott School and law school have shown support for the student-edited publication by providing faculty advisers: Ervin Black, associate professor of accounting at the Marriott School, and Backman at the law school. Each school has also supplied a part-time research assistant to help with the journal.
“We tend to work in our own little niche or silo,” Black says. “This journal benefits students and gives them exposure to what is done in the legal world as well as the business world. They’re learning and appreciating both disciplines and thought processes.”
Although the first printed issue is still several months away, the ILMR has been around for a while as an online journal. It took years of planning and persistence for the university to formally recognize the project. In an effort to gain academic support, student editors created a detailed business plan that was approved by faculty and administrators at both schools.
Since the ILMR is still widely unknown, student editors face the challenge of procuring articles from practitioners, professors and students. The board welcomes entries from alumni with legal or business backgrounds. To encourage student entries, the review is sponsoring an annual writing competition. Winners will not only be published but also receive a cash prize.
For more information about the review or to enter the student writing competition, go to www.ilmreview.org.
The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, public management, information systems, organizational behavior and entrepreneurship. The school’s mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,000 students are enrolled in the Marriott School’s graduate and undergraduate programs.
Writer: Sarah Chamberlin (801) 422-1152
