The NIU Law School received a $5,000 grant from the Illinois Bar Foundation in Springfield to finance the publication of a special issue of the Law Review.

The Law Review is a student-edited publication run by the law school. Editor in Chief Steven Brody said every law school publishes a law review journal for legal education.

Associate Professor of Law Mark Cordes said the articles in the Law Review discuss in-depth issues “on the cutting edge of the law.”

Brody said the special issue of the review is vital because it will examine issues which might be discussed at a possible Illinois State Convention in 1990.

“The journal is the only document that people will be able to look back on in 1990 to see what was going on in law in 1988,” he said. The information could influence future decisions, he said.

Brody said top-of-the-class law students generally are selected to be on the Law Review Board. The students also are chosen by a writing competition.

Some of the articles now being considered for the review discuss topics such as the death penalty and software copywriting laws, Brody said.

Professors sometimes are asked to write articles for the Review, but most articles are unsolicited. “We get a lot of articles from law professors because they must publish for their tenure,” he said.

“We also receive a lot of articles from prominent people in law such as judges and lawyers through the mail,” Brody said. “Publishing in the Law Review brings a sense of prestige.”

David Anderson, director of public affairs at the Illinois Bar Center in Springfield, said the Illinois Bar Foundation (IBF) exists to “enhance knowledge about law and legal services.”

e said the members of the IBF meet four times a year to discuss grants. “We will give support to those projects that are within the purposes of the foundation.” Research grants are standard recipients of IBF funds, and all other projects must be applied for by the college, Anderson said.