ylj-workflow

YLJ Workflow Router (ylj-workflow)

The orchestrator for a Yale Law Journal submission. YLJ is a student-edited, generalist law review at Yale Law School — not peer-reviewed. Figure out the track and the stage, then send the user to the matching skill. Unlike a peer-reviewed journal, the piece must already read as a near-final, heavily-footnoted, Bluebook-compliant article when it is submitted, because student editors evaluate a finished manuscript and then cite-check every footnote.

When to trigger

• Starting a new piece for YLJ and unsure where to begin
• Mid-draft and unsure which skill applies next
• Deciding which track fits (Article / Essay / Feature / Note / Comment / Forum)
• Holding an offer from another review and weighing an expedite (route to ylj-placement-strategy)
• An offer landed and student editing is starting (route to ylj-student-editor-review)

First question: which track?

Situation	Track	Route to
Full original scholarship by a professional author	Article (encourage < 25,000 words incl. footnotes)	normal pipeline below
Shorter, more pointed professional piece	Essay (encourage < 15,000 words incl. footnotes)	normal pipeline, tighter scope
Curated multi-piece collection / symposium contribution	Feature	ylj-thesis-and-contribution + ylj-placement-strategy
Student-authored long-form scholarship (Yale Law student)	Note (first-time cap ~20,000 words)	ylj-student-editor-review (Notes Development) early
Student-authored short piece (Yale Law student)	Comment (first-time cap ~7,000 words)	ylj-student-editor-review early
Short, timely online response or essay	YLJ Forum (encourage < 10,000 words)	ylj-revision-and-editing (Forum path)

Caps are the figures YLJ "strongly encourages"; over-length weighs against acceptance (检索于 2026-06；以官网为准). Notes/Comments are written by Yale Law students; outside authors use Article/Essay/Feature/Forum.

Routing map (stage → skill)

Is the topic YLJ-worthy?         → ylj-topic-selection
What exactly is the claim?       → ylj-thesis-and-contribution
Has anyone said this already?    → ylj-preemption-check
Does the argument hold?          → ylj-argument-structure
Are the cites pinpointed/Bluebook?→ ylj-sources-and-bluebook
Does the prose read like YLJ?    → ylj-writing-style
Where + when to submit/expedite? → ylj-placement-strategy
Working with student editors?    → ylj-student-editor-review
Ready to upload?                 → ylj-submission
In the edit cycle / Forum?       → ylj-revision-and-editing
Final footnote + cite-check?     → ylj-footnotes-and-cite-check

Default order

topic-selection → thesis-and-contribution → preemption-check → argument-structure → sources-and-bluebook → writing-style → placement-strategy → submission → student-editor-review → revision-and-editing → footnotes-and-cite-check

Iterate: most pieces loop thesis ↔ preemption ↔ argument several times before the prose polish. The footnote apparatus is built throughout, not bolted on at the end — ylj-footnotes-and-cite-check runs both before submission and again during the editorial source-pull.

Generalist fit check (run before routing onward)

Check	Pass condition	Route if weak
Audience	A generalist legal reader (not just your subfield) can state why the claim matters.	ylj-topic-selection
Novelty	The thesis is not preempted by an existing article, student note, or working paper.	ylj-preemption-check
Apparatus	Every assertion of law or fact is footnoted with a pinpoint Bluebook cite.	ylj-sources-and-bluebook
Posture	The piece is near-final — not a draft you plan to finish after acceptance.	ylj-writing-style

Anti-patterns

• Treating YLJ like a peer-reviewed journal that will co-develop a rough draft — student editors evaluate a finished article
• Submitting before the footnote apparatus is complete and Bluebook-conforming
• Forgetting YLJ uses its own online submission system (not Scholastica/ExpressO) — see ylj-submission
• Assuming an expedite buys priority — at YLJ expedite gives no competitive advantage (see ylj-placement-strategy)
• Pitching a narrow doctrinal note as a generalist Article without a claim that travels

Output format

【Stage】topic / thesis / preemption / argument / cites / prose / placement / submit / editing / forum / cite-check
【Track】Article / Essay / Feature / Note / Comment / Forum
【Route to】ylj-<skill>
【Why】one line
【Then】the next skill after that

Supplementary resources

• ../../resources/external_tools.md — legal research databases + citation/Bluebook tooling
• ../../resources/official-source-map.md — official YLJ URLs behind every fact in this pack