Since its inception in 1915 as the Iowa Law Bulletin, the Iowa Law Review has served as a scholarly legal journal, noting and analyzing developments in the law and suggesting future paths for the law to follow. Since 1935, students have edited and have managed the Law Review, which is published five times annually. The Law Review ranks high among the top "high impact" legal periodicals in the country, and its subscribers include legal practitioners and law libraries throughout the world.

For a complete history of the Iowa Law Review, see Willard Boyd & Randall P. Bezanson, Ninety Years of the Iowa Law Review, 91 IOWA L. REV. 1 (2005) [Full Article].