La Jolla Country Day School students launch law review

After launching the Torrey Law Review, two La Jolla Country Day School students want to ensure the publication’s long-term success.

Law reviews, which analyze different legal issues and are typically produced by law schools, did not really have high school versions.

Ricardo Cervera

(Courtesy)

“I just asked myself, ‘Why doesn’t a simplified version of this exist at the high school level?” said Encinitas resident Ricardo Cervera, a junior and one of the founders, describing the concept for the publication.

Terry Tran

(Courtesy)

They got to work in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, and eventually started accepting submissions from their school community. Earlier this month, when the first volume was published, the school said it became just the second high school law review in the country.

“We were very happy to receive over 25 submissions on our first edition, which was very encouraging for a first volume,” Ricardo said. “After that, we reviewed them. We choose the best six, because that’s the way we structured it.”

He added that “it’s been a phenomenal experience to work with everybody,” and to create an opportunity for his classmates to participate.

The Torrey Law Review also has a professional board that includes a University of Chicago Law School student who graduated from La Jolla Country Day School, a constitutional historian and others in the legal profession.

“I think for me the future goal is if I’m able to some day come back as an attorney or a law student or whatever it might be and serve on the professional board, then we would have achieved the goals with the Torrey Law Review,” Ricardo said.

Terry Tran, a junior and co-founder, added that “everything’s pretty tentative right now.”

“Even though we’ve been lucky enough to get our first publication out, everything’s still in planning,” said Tran, who lives in Chula Vista.

To keep the Torrey Law Review going in the years ahead, Ricardo and Terry said they want to find students who are as passionate about the law as they are. They also said they hope more high schools start their own law reviews.

“This entire experience has been eye-opening for me It’s been a lot of work along the way but I don’t regret a single second of it,” Terry said.

Jonathan Shulman, a history teacher at La Jolla Country Day School, said the two students came to him last spring with the idea for a high school law review.

“My feeling on it was if anybody could pull it off, they most certainly could,” he said.

For more information, visit torreylawreview.com.