Screens legal-scholarship ideas for fit with The Yale Law Journal: tests generalist significance, timeliness, and novelty potential, and recommends Article vs. Essay vs. Forum vs. Note/Comment track.
How this skill is triggered — by the user, by Claude, or both
Slash command
/yale-law-journal-skills:ylj-topic-selectionThe summary Claude sees in its skill listing — used to decide when to auto-load this skill
YLJ is the **generalist flagship** of American legal scholarship — read across the whole discipline by
YLJ is the generalist flagship of American legal scholarship — read across the whole discipline by
academics, judges, and practitioners. A topic earns a slot only if its claim matters beyond a single
doctrinal niche. This skill screens the idea before you invest in a full draft; it does not yet build
the claim (ylj-thesis-and-contribution) or prove novelty (ylj-preemption-check).
ylj-preemption-check.| Rung | Example framing | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Doctrinal fix in one circuit | "The Ninth Circuit misreads § X" | Specialty review, not YLJ |
| Doctrine-wide problem | "Courts across circuits misframe X" | Borderline — needs a theory |
| Doctrine ↔ theory | "X reveals a flaw in how we think about Y" | YLJ Essay candidate |
| New framework for an institution | "A new account of how Y should work" | YLJ Article candidate |
ylj-placement-strategy.ylj-student-editor-review for the Notes
Development process and the first-time word caps.【Topic】one line
【Generalist stakes】who outside the subfield cares, and why
【Track】Article / Essay / Feature / Note / Comment / Forum (length realistic? Y/N)
【Novelty headroom】initial read (formal check pending)
【Next】ylj-thesis-and-contribution to sharpen the claim
../../resources/exemplars/library.md — landmark YLJ pieces by type, for calibrating ambition../../resources/official-source-map.md — official YLJ track/length factsnpx claudepluginhub brycewang-stanford/awesome-journal-skills --plugin yale-law-journal-skillsRoutes YLJ submissions to the correct sub-skill based on track (Article, Essay, Feature, Note, Comment, Forum) and lifecycle stage. Dispatches; does not draft.
Guides topic selection for Harvard Law Review articles, essays, and book reviews, assessing fit, timeliness, and generalist appeal for the student-edited law-review market.
Helps decide if an empirical law-and-economics manuscript fits the Journal of Law and Economics, with framing, method bar, and desk-reject heuristics.