Yale Law Journal Skills

An opinionated agent skill stack for legal scholarship aimed at The Yale Law Journal (YLJ), the student-edited flagship law review at Yale Law School. Twelve skills cover the law-review lifecycle: thesis and contribution, preemption checking, doctrine-to-normative argument structure, Bluebook footnote apparatus, multi-submission placement and expedite strategy, the student-editor review and source

by @brycewang-stanford 12 skills

Install

npx skillmds@latest add plugin:brycewang-stanford/yale-law-journal-skills

One command, no setup. In Claude Code it lands as a managed plugin you can enable, disable or remove with /plugin. On any other agent it installs the 12 skills into that agent's own folder.

Or inside Claude Code

In the Plugins tab, add this marketplace:

skillmds/skillmd
/plugin install brycewang-stanford-yale-law-journal-skills@skillmd

Adds the marketplace once; later plugins need the second line only.

Or install by hand

Download the plugin and unzip its skills/ folder into your agent's skills directory. Works with every agent, no CLI needed.

Download plugin Paths per agent

Just the markdown? SKILL.md files only.

This plugin

skills: 12
authors: 1

Published by a registry member. Review its skills before installing.

Skills in this plugin

▌
Ylj Workflow · brycewang-stanford
Use as the entry point for any The Yale Law Journal (YLJ) piece. Routes to the right YLJ sub-skill based on lifecycle stage and which track (Article, Essay, Feature, student Note/Comment, or Forum) fits. It dispatches; it does not draft content.

1k repo stars
▌
Ylj Submission · brycewang-stanford bundle
Use when running the final pre-submission preflight for The Yale Law Journal (YLJ) via its own online author portal — track selection, anonymization, word/length caps, Bluebook readiness, and required materials. Final checks; it does not draft content.

1k repo stars
▌
Ylj Writing Style · brycewang-stanford
Use when revising prose to match The Yale Law Journal (YLJ) house style — clear, generalist-legible legal writing with a disciplined footnote-to-text balance. It governs voice and readability; it does not format citations (ylj-sources-and-bluebook) or sequence the argument (ylj-argument-structure).

1k repo stars
▌
Ylj Topic Selection · brycewang-stanford
Use when deciding whether a legal-scholarship idea is a fit for The Yale Law Journal (YLJ) and which track it belongs in. It tests generalist significance, timeliness, and novelty potential; it does not draft the thesis or run the formal preemption search.

1k repo stars
▌
Ylj Preemption Check · brycewang-stanford
Use when verifying that a The Yale Law Journal (YLJ) claim is genuinely novel and not preempted by prior scholarship. It runs the systematic SSRN/Westlaw/HeinOnline search and writes the "what's new" paragraph; it does not draft the thesis (use ylj-thesis-and-contribution).

1k repo stars
▌
Ylj Argument Structure · brycewang-stanford
Use when organizing the Parts of a The Yale Law Journal (YLJ) article into a doctrine→theory→normative arc. It sequences the argument and pressure-tests counterarguments; it does not polish prose (use ylj-writing-style) or format citations (use ylj-sources-and-bluebook).

1k repo stars
▌
Ylj Placement Strategy · brycewang-stanford
Use when planning where and when to submit a law-review piece and how to handle an expedite, with The Yale Law Journal (YLJ) as a target. It covers multi-submission timing, season strategy, and YLJ's specific expedite rules; it does not run the final upload preflight (ylj-submission).

1k repo stars
▌
Ylj Revision And Editing · brycewang-stanford
Use when working through The Yale Law Journal (YLJ) post-acceptance editing cycle and answering author queries, or when preparing a shorter YLJ Forum piece. It covers the intensive student edit + the online companion path; it does not run the final cite verification (ylj-footnotes-and-cite-check).

1k repo stars
▌
Ylj Sources And Bluebook · brycewang-stanford
Use when building and formatting the citation apparatus for a The Yale Law Journal (YLJ) piece — pinpoint cites, Bluebook form, and source support for every assertion. It governs cite construction; the final editorial cite-check and source-pull is ylj-footnotes-and-cite-check.

1k repo stars
▌
Ylj Student Editor Review · brycewang-stanford
Use when working with The Yale Law Journal (YLJ) student editors during evaluation and acceptance — the Articles & Essays Committee read, the Notes Development process for student authors, and the source-pull. It explains how the student-edited model works; it does not run the intensive line-edit cycle (ylj-revision-and-editing).

1k repo stars
▌
Ylj Thesis And Contribution · brycewang-stanford
Use when sharpening the central legal-scholarly claim and contribution for a The Yale Law Journal (YLJ) piece. It forces a falsifiable, generalist thesis and names the contribution type; it does not search prior literature (use ylj-preemption-check) or build the argument (use ylj-argument-structure).

1k repo stars
▌
Ylj Footnotes And Cite Check · brycewang-stanford
Use when running the final footnote-apparatus audit of a The Yale Law Journal (YLJ) piece — verifying every cite exists, is pinpointed, is correct Bluebook form, and actually supports its sentence, in preparation for (or during) the student source-pull. It verifies; it does not construct new cites (ylj-sources-and-bluebook).

1k repo stars