The Urban Lawyer is a quarterly peer-reviewed law journal and the official publication of the American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of State and Local Government Law. Published in cooperation with the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law,49 i (2017). The Urban Lawyer has the largest circulation of any government law journal in the world.Michael M. Berger, The Basics of Inverse Condemnation, , SU010 ALI-CLE 25 (2012).
Overview The Urban Lawyer publishes articles, essays, letters, case studies, and book reviews relating to urban legal issues.Alexandra Frank, Hidden Gems of the JSTOR Archive: The Urban Lawyer, . Frequent topics include land use law, government operations, environmental law, public education, public finance, public transportation, ethics, and international law. The journal also hosts symposia on topics relating to urban law and policy.See, e.g., Symposium of Fair Housing Testing, 41 iii (2009). Recent symposia topics have included "Education Reform and Governance,"Education Law Symposium, 45 v (2013). "A 2020 View of Urban Infrastructure,"A 2020 View of Urban Infrastructure: A Festschrift Symposium in Honor of Julian Conrad Juergensmeyer on the Occasion of His 45th Year of Teaching Law, 43 v (2010–2011). and a "Symposium on Fair Housing Testing."Symposium on Fair Housing Testing, 41 iii (2009).
Each year, at least one issue of the journal includes an "Annual Review of the Law," which discusses recent developments in litigation involving urban legal issues.Lelia B. Helms, Litigation and Postsecondary Education, 195 443 (2005). Recent reviews have included, among other subjects, a summary of developments in urban planning law and a summary of developments in education law.Edward J. Sullivan, Recent Developments in Comprehensive Planning Law, 43 823 (2011); James C. Hanks, Recent Developments in Education Law: Regulating Student Speech in Cyberspace, 43 723 (2011). The journal also publishes committee reports written by the American Bar Association Section of State and Local Government Law.JoAnne L. Dunec, At the Cutting Edge: 2008 Land Use Law from The Urban Lawyer, 24-FALL 59 (2009). Additionally, the journal publishes "case notes" that summarize recent significant court decisions pertaining to urban law as well as book reviews of recently published books about urban legal issues.Jane Francis, Thomas v. City of Blanchard, 42 480 (2010); Robert H. Freilich & Neil M. Popowitz, Reviewed Work: Emerald Cities: Urban Sustainability and Economic Development by Joan Fitzgerald, 42 759 (2010).
History In 1968, the American Bar Association's Section of State and Local Government Law decided to replace the Local Government Law Section Newsletter with a full-scale, peer-reviewed law journalDavid W. Bushek & Jennifer H. Geary, Introduction: Celebrating The Urban Lawyer's Silver Anniversary, 26 3 (1994). to serve as a scholarly forum for "urban legal problem solving."Robert H. Freilich, Editor's Comments, 1 vii (1969). The first volume of the journal was published in 1969, in the wake of what the editors described as "the urban crisis." The founding editors planned for the journal to address "substantive problems common to all local governments such as condemnation, local finance and revenues, special assessments and taxing, planning and zoning."Claud O. Boothman, Introduction to The Urban Lawyer, 1 v (1969). The Section of State and Local Government Law decided to name the journal "The Urban Lawyer" to reflect the fact that "the rapidly increasing shift of our population to urban centers indicates that local governments of the present and future are and will be essentially urban governments."
Impact With nearly 6,000 hard-copy subscribers and nearly 3,000 online subscribers,, Journals: The Urban Lawyer (citing circulation totals). the journal is "the largest circulating government law journal in the world." Articles in it have been cited by the Supreme Court of the United States,McDonald v. City of Chicago, Ill., ; Lambert v. City and County of San Francisco, . as well as the Second,Terebesi v. Torreso, 764 F.3d 217 (2d Cir. 2014); Incorporated Village of Rockville Centre v. Town of Hempstead, 196 F.3d 395 (2d Cir. 1999). Third,R & J Holding Co. v. Redevelopment Authority of County of Montgomery, 670 F.3d 420 (3d Cir. 2011). Fourth,Henry v. Jefferson County Planning Com'n, 34 Fed.Appx. 92 (4th Cir. 2002); Lewis v. Alamance County, N.C., 99 F.3d 600 (4th Cir. 1996). Sixth,Bennett v. CMH Homes, Inc., 770 F.3d 511 (6th Cir. 2014). Seventh,River of Life Kingdom Ministries v. Village of Hazel Crest, Ill., 611 F.3d 367 (7th Cir. 2010). Ninth,Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, 216 F.3d 764 (9th Cir. 2000). Tenth,Jennings v. City of Stillwater, 383 F.3d 1199 (10th Cir. 2004). and the Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals.Palm Beach Isles Associates v. U.S., 231 F.3d 1365 (Fed. Cir. 2000). The journal has also been cited by many state supreme courts.See, e.g., Reading Area Water Authority v. Schuylkill River Greenway Ass'n, 100 A.3d 572 (Penn. 2014); Merry v. Williams, State, 642 S.E.2d 46 (Ga. 2007); Dept. of Health and Social Services, Div. of Family and Youth Services v. Native Village of Curyung, 151 P.3d 388 (Alaska 2006); Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. v. City of Billings, 80 P.3d 1247 (Mont. 2003); Galland v. City of Clovis, 16 P.3d 130 (Cal. 2001); Board of County Com'rs of Douglas County, Colo. v. Bainbridge, Inc., 929 P.2d 691 (Colo. 1996). Articles appear in many legal treatises, including American Jurisprudence,Paul M. Coltoff, et al., Zoning and Planning, 83 § 222. American Law Institute,Michael M. Berger, Property Rights and Takings Law: Y2K and Beyond, , SE45 ALI-ABA 445 (2000). and Westlaw practice guides.See, e.g., Deanna Lee Westfall & Britney Beall-Eder, Municipal Bankruptcies, 10 § 10:2.
Washington and Lee University's Law Journal Rankings place The Urban Lawyer among the top ten peer-edited law journals most cited by other journals."Law Journals: Submission and Ranking, 2008-2015," Washington & Lee University (Accessed: September 25, 2016). Washington and Lee University's rankings also place the journal among the top fifteen peer-edited law journals by combined score. The journal is also the second-highest rated peer-edited law journal that publishes articles relating to public policy, politics, and the law. In 2014, the journal was called a "hidden gem" of the JSTOR archive.
Abstracting and indexing The Urban Lawyer is abstracted or indexed in Academic Search (EbscoHost), HeinOnline, LexisNexis, Westlaw,Washington and Lee University Law Library, Journal Finder: The Urban Lawyer. and the University of Washington's Current Index to Legal Periodicals., Periodicals Indexed in CLIP. Tables of contents are also available through Infotrieve and Ingenta. The American Bar Association also publishes recent articles from the journal on the Section of State and Local Government Law's website.See, e.g., , Abstracts of Articles Appearing in Recent Issues of The Urban Lawyer: Vol. 41, No. 2, Spring 2009.
At the Cutting Edge: Land Use Law from The Urban Lawyer The American Bar Association's Section of State and Local Government Law also publishes a compendium of section committee reports in book form, titled At the Cutting Edge: Land Use Law from The Urban Lawyer., Online Catalogue, The Urban Lawyer: Notes; , Description: At the Cutting Edge 2012: Land Use Law from The Urban Lawyer; see also , At the Cutting Edge 2014: Product Description. This compendium reprints reports on the subject of land use law that were originally published in The Urban Lawyer. The idea for a compendium originated from a 2008 meeting of leaders of the Section of State and Local Government Law, where leaders discussed ways in which scholarship published in The Urban Lawyer could reach a wider audience.Dwight H. Merriam (Ed.), , Forward xv (2010). To accomplish this goal, section leaders decided to publish a collection of committee reports in book form, and the first edition of At the Cutting Edge was released in 2009. The American Bar Association publishes an updated collection of reports on an annual basis., Online Catalogue, The Urban Lawyer: Notes.
Most cited articles According to Westlaw Legal Research Services, the following three articles have been cited most often:, Most Cited Articles in "The Urban Lawyer" (last visited July 4, 2014). Daniel R. Mandelker & A. Dan Tarlock, Shifting the Presumption of Constitutionality in Land-Use Law, 24 1 (1992) Daniel R. Mandelker, Investment Backed Expectations in Taking Law, 27 215 (1995) John J. Delaney & Duane J. Desiderio, Who Will Clean Up the "Ripeness Mess"? A Call for Reform So Takings Plaintiffs Can Enter the Federal Courthouse, 31 195 (1999)
See also Urbanism Law review List of law journals
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