The Cornell Law Review made a splash this weekend when it elected an all-female executive board—believed to be a first for a flagship journal at a top law school.

Like most other areas of the legal profession, men have long dominated law review participation and the leadership of those journals—which are key stepping-stones to judicial clerkships, prestigious law firms jobs and powerful government positions. A 2010 survey of law review participation found that women made up 44 percent of law review staffers and 33 percent of those in leadership roles.