request for papers for the
56th Annual Administrative Law Symposium
March 2026
The Duke Law Journal’s 55th Annual Administrative Law Symposium will be held March 20–21, 2025 at Duke University School of Law in Durham. Learn more here.
Volume 75 is now accepting submissions for the 56th Annual Administrative Law Symposium, to be held in spring 2026. Papers can be submitted through Duke Law Journal’s Scholastica portal and will be considered on a rolling basis. We are considering all pieces in the field of administrative law. This year, we are especially interested in pieces relating to presidential administration, the unitary executive theory, and the presidential removal and appointment powers.
How to Submit a Paper
Please submit your paper on Scholastica as soon as possible. Inquiries via Scholastica should be directed to Duke Law Journal Volume 75’s Editor-in-Chief, Claudia Modarelli and Special Projects Editor, Avery Allen.
What to Include in Your Submission
Manuscripts should be Word or PDF documents that include a proposed title, an abstract, and an article of between 15,000–25,000 words in length. The article should meet all of Duke Law Journal’s specified article guidelines. While we will review and consider all administrative law submissions, we emphasize that articles in their full form and that adhere to our guidelines will be considered more favorably in our review process.
Paper Selection Criteria
The Duke Law Journal Article Selection Committee will review each paper based on:
- Definition and focus of the topic
- Timeliness and importance of the topic
- Experience and expertise of the author(s)
- Overall paper quality
Travel Support
We plan to hold the symposium in person, and all authors should plan to attend in person. The Duke Law Journal will provide transportation, lodging, and meals for symposium participants.
Thank you and we look forward to reviewing your paper proposal!
53rd Annual Administrative Symposium
Speakers include: Professor Cass Sunstein (Harvard Law School), Professor Avishalom Tor (Notre Dame Law School), Professor Jeffrey Rachlinski (Cornell Law School), Professor Stephanie Bornstein (University of Florida Levin College of Law), Professor Jed Stiglitz (Cornell Law School), Professor Gabriel Scheffler (University of Miami School of Law), Professor Daniel Walters (Texas A&M Law School), & Professor Emily Murphy (UC Hastings Law School).
About the Administrative Law Symposium
History of the Administrative Law Symposium
In 1969-70, Randolph May helped initiate an ambitious new project for the Duke Law Journal: an annual review of administrative procedure. He and other Journal members, along with a few professors and practitioners, wrote pieces on the year’s developments in administrative law.
With this issue the Journal initiates a major project designed to produce an annual commentary on each year’s major developments in the field of federal administrative law. . . . We hope by our project to report and analyze those developments which are of general significance, presenting in one volume a discussion of current controversial issues which should be of interest both to the infrequent agency practitioner and to the attorney or agency member who desires a cross-agency perspective on those issues. Because of both space and knowledge limitations, we do not propose to report every important decision, rule, and enactment; rather, we shall undertake to give detailed attention to those issues which appear to be of greatest general interest.
– Project: Federal Administrative Law Developments—1969, 1970 DUKE L.J. 67.
The Journal’s administrative law issue retained this format for several years until it switched to the symposium format common among law reviews today.