The National Black Law Journal at UCLA School of Law is now accepting submissions for Volume 31.
Guided by the principle Fiat Justitia Ruat Caelum — Let justice be done, though the heavens fall — this volume will center legal scholarship that affirms constitutional and civil rights while explicitly engaging with the lived realities and legal struggles of Black people in the United States.
We welcome submissions that:
Expose or critique contemporary attacks on civil liberties
Confront the legal system’s role in maintaining racial subordination
Propose transformative legal frameworks grounded in Black liberation
Examine how the law shapes, reinforces, or resists anti-Blackness
Note: Submissions must explicitly address race in the context of Black experiences and cannot treat race as a general or abstract category.
Submission Guidelines:
Maximum: 12,500 words (approx. 25 pages single-spaced)
Submissions may be single- or double-spaced
Format: .docx only
- Submission Deadline: September 12, 2025
- Author Name
- Title and Affiliation
- Title of Paper
- Abstract
Volume 31 seeks to publish work that refuses neutrality in the face of injustice and uses the law as a tool of resistance, critique, and imagination. We invite scholars, practitioners, and students to submit work that contributes to this urgent and ongoing project.