Cute as it sounds, a "note" is simply a law review article written by a law student. To be considered for publication, it will need to be scholarly, well-written, and well-edited. Coming up with a topic for your note is the first battle. This page has suggestions of places to look for inspiration.
"Blawgs" or law-related blogs are often written by scholars or practitioners in the legal field. Ordinarily covering current events and developments in law, these posts can provide inspiration for note topics. To help you find blawgs on a specific topic, consider perusing the ABA's Blawg Directory or Justia's Blawg Search.
Another place to consult for topic ideas is a database's current awareness service. Check out Michelle's guide to these services on a variety of databases:
The Bloomberg/BNA publication United States Law Week can be a helpful resource for tracking down the major legal stories of the day. Log into Bloomberg Law, scroll down the main page to Prepare to Practice, and United States Law Week is listed under Litigation Resources. What's great about this publication is that, on top of providing stories on the top legal news of the moment, each issue also lists any current circuit splits to be aware of. Circuit splits are great fodder for law review articles (see the box on the right).
If you're planning to write on a topic in Antitrust, Banking & Finance, Bankruptcy, Corporate Law, Employment Law, Health Law, IP, Securities, or Tax Law, you may also want to check Bloomberg Law's Practice Centers for these subjects, portals of information (cases, statutes, news, etc.) focused specifically in that area of law.
Note: United States Law Week is also accessible on Lexis Advance, but will be phased out by the end of the year. To use this title in Advance, click the Browse Sources tab, and Search Sources for United States Law Week. You can then Add It to the Search and conduct a keyword search within that title.
If you know what area of law you'd like to write about, you may find the Browse Topics feature in Lexis Advance helpful for narrowing down your topic.
Log into Lexis Advance, click the Browse Topics tab, and select a topic. If you don't see your topic listed, try using the provided search bar to see whether your topic is categorized as a sub-topic within this list.
Once you click on a topic, a box pops up with several options. If you click on Get Topic Document, you'll see results listed in a number of categories, including Cases, Legislation, and more. The News and Legal News categories at the right end of the list may help you identify current developments of interest for your note. Don't forget about the filtering options on the left that will allow you to search within your results, narrow your jurisdiction, and more.
Similar to Lexis Advance, Westlaw Next has a Topics tab that may be helpful if you know what area of law you'd like to write about.
Log onto Westlaw Next, and click on the Topics tab. This time, you won't be able to search within this list, so if you're area is not listed, you should either run a regular search from the main search bar at the top or try out some of the topics listed under this tab - once you click on a topic, you can search within its contents.
What is great about the Topics in Westlaw Next is the Practitioner Insights page you access by clicking on a topic. This is an information portal that allows you quick access to cases, legislation, top news, and more on your selected topic.
When federal circuits split on a legal topic, it is likely bound for the Supreme Court; so circuit splits are great fodder for law review articles. A great resource for keeping up with recent circuit splits is the Circuit Splits blog.
Of course, you can't just write about anything. Before you begin writing your note, make sure your topic hasn't been preempted. That is, make sure no one else has already written your note! There are standard ways to approach this, such as searching for your topic in law reviews listed on Westlaw Next, Lexis Advance, and Bloomberg Law. Another great place to consult is a legal periodical index, such as the Index to Legal Periodicals & Books and LegalTrac.
To check for articles that are in pre-print form, not yet published, you may want to check the Social Science Research Network.
Here are some handouts on selecting a note topic from Bloomberg Law, Westlaw, and Lexis. For more handouts from these vendors that could be helpful in other aspects of journal work, refer to the Helpful Tools tab of this guide.