About Us
The Berkeley Journal of International Law is edited and produced by students at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. We publish twice a year across public and private international law, and we convene the annual Stefan A. Riesenfeld Symposium.
What we publish
We publish two issues in a year, in December and May. Each carries four full-length articles and one Student Note. We accept work on public and private international law, broadly defined, including doctrinal and theoretical scholarship. Travaux, our online blog, runs shorter commentary on a rolling basis.
Our Mission
We publish scholarship that treats international law as a working body of rules rather than a set of abstractions, and we give new scholars a serious venue alongside established ones. As the center of Berkeley Law's international law community, we bring students, academics, and practitioners into the same room.
History
BJIL was founded in 1982 by students and faculty at Berkeley Law as the International Tax & Business Lawyer. The first volume appeared in 1983. The journal took its current name with Volume 14 in 1996 and has published continuously since.
Beyond the journal
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Stefan A. Riesenfeld Symposium: Each spring we convene scholars and practitioners on a pressing question in international law. The Symposium theme alternates between public and private international law.
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Travaux: Our blog publishes short-form commentary from students, scholars, and practitioners on a rolling basis.
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Travaux Podcast: Conversations with contributors, guests, and BJIL editors.
Joining BJIL
BJIL will open applications for its Spring 2027 masthead in December 2026. J.D., LL.M, J.S.P., J.S.D., and dual-degree candidates with these programs are eligible to join BJIL. Most new members start at BJIL as an Associate Editor. General Body Meetings for new and prospective members are held at the start of each semester.
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Associate Editors are placed into one of three committees—Submissions, Travaux, and Strategy (symposium or fundraising), based on preferences. In addition to Committee placements, Associate Editors work on one article packet each semester which includes three assignments—source collect, above the line edits, and below the line edits.
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Elections for BJIL's Editors-in-Chief take place in the spring semester of every academic year. All other board positions are filled by the EICs through application. All roles of the editorial board are filled for a full entire academic year. BJIL's by-laws can be found here.​
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Please direct questions about joining BJIL to the Editors-in-Chief at bjil@berkeley.edu