The Upper Level Writing Requirement (ULWR): Publishable?

To be Novel, it must:

• Be original.
• Say something new.
• Add to the body of knowledge or legal thought.

It could be:

• A completely original claim, something no one has written on before.
• A new, original take on a previously discussed claim:
• A position that goes against or tries to refute a previous claim
• A position that examines a previous claim from a new angle
• A position that provides a new, unique justification or rationale for a previous claim
• A nuanced view, approach, or take on a previously established claim (split hairs, tweak)

Don’t just apply an old law or a previously established claim to slightly altered facts unless truly new or unique

Nuance helps make claims not only novel, but nonobvious as well

Your paper should be potentially useful to a practitioner

Tips for making your paper useful:

• “Focus on issues left open”
• “Apply your argument to other jurisdictions”
• “Incorporate prescriptive implications of your descriptive findings”
• “Consider making a more politically feasible proposal”
• “Avoid unnecessarily alienating your audience”

Eugene Volokh, Academic Legal Writing 24-26 (5th ed., 2016).

For a claim to be sound, it must be:

• Logical
• Valid
• Sensible
• Rational
• Cogent
• Well-Grounded
• Provable
• Scalable