The Columbia Journal of Transnational Law is a law review

Law review

A law review is a scholarly journal focusing on legal issues, normally published by an organization of students at a law school or through a bar association...

 established in 1961 focusing on issues of international law

International law

Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...

. It is produced by students at Columbia University School of Law.

History

The Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, originally named the Bulletin of the Columbia Society of International Law, was created by Wolfgang G. Friedmann and a group of Columbia law students belonging to the Columbia Society of International Law. The first volume, containing two issues, was a forum for the informal discussion of international legal questions; the second volume, published in 1963 under the title International Law Bulletin, aspired to the tradition of the scholarly law review.

During its second decade, the journal expanded publication to three issues per year, experimented with theme issues and published some of the early proceedings of the Friedmann Conference held annually at Columbia Law School. By the beginning of its third decade, the journal’s theme issues—entire issues dedicated to the examination of current international law problems—had become regular publications. These topical issues have examined international taxation, international trade embargoes and boycotts, China’s legal development, sovereign debt rescheduling, socialist law and international satellite communications.

Organizational structure and staff

The Columbia Journal of Transnational Law is published by The Columbia Journal of Transnational Law Association, Inc., a New York corporation since 1969. The corporation is overseen by a board of directors

Board of directors

A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...

 of 18 members. The journal is further assisted by a board of advisors consisting of 11 members. The 2011 editorial staff consists of 26 student editors and 50 staff members.

Citations

The journal has been cited by the Supreme Court of the United States

Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...

 and numerous federal appellate and trials courts.

Wolfgang Friedmann Memorial Award

The Wolfgang Friedmann Memorial Award is presented annually to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the field of international law. The award is given in memory of the journal’s founder. Past recipients of the award include Senators George J. Mitchell

George J. Mitchell

George John Mitchell, Jr., is the former U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace under the Obama administration. A Democrat, Mitchell was a United States Senator who served as the Senate Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995...

 and Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Daniel Patrick "Pat" Moynihan was an American politician and sociologist. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected to the United States Senate for New York in 1976, and was re-elected three times . He declined to run for re-election in 2000...

, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor

Sandra Day O'Connor

Sandra Day O'Connor is an American jurist who was the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States. She served as an Associate Justice from 1981 until her retirement from the Court in 2006. O'Connor was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981...

, Giuliano Amato

Giuliano Amato

Giuliano Amato is an Italian politician. He was Prime Minister of Italy twice, first from 1992 to 1993 and then from 2000 to 2001. He was more recently Vice President of the Convention on the Future of Europe that drafted the new European Constitution and headed the Amato Group. He is commonly...

, Louis Henkin

Louis Henkin

Louis Henkin , widely considered one of the most influential contemporary scholars of international law and the foreign policy of the United States, was a former president of the American Society of International Law and of the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy and University...

, Hans Blix

Hans Blix

is a Swedish diplomat and politician for the Liberal People's Party. He was Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs . Blix was also the head of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission from March 2000 to June 2003, when he was succeeded by Dimitris Perrikos...

, and Boutros Boutros-Ghali

Boutros Boutros-Ghali

Boutros Boutros-Ghali is an Egyptian politician and diplomat who was the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1992 to December 1996...

.