Named the Columbia Survey of Human Rights Law for its first three volumes, the journal is produced and edited by students of Columbia Law School and is "dedicated to the analysis and discussion of human rights, civil rights, and civil liberties under both domestic and international law.

"[1] In 2016, the journal launched HRLR Online (now HRLR Forum), an online publication featuring shorter, cutting-edge pieces focusing on human rights.

[2] The journal has published Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Amal Clooney, Judge Morris Lasker, Vernon Jordan, Michael Posner, Vilma Martínez, Jack Greenberg, Marian Wright Edelman, Justice Albie Sachs, Eben Moglen, Louis Henkin, Gerald Neuman, Jeremy Waldron, James Liebman, Harold Hongju Koh, Mary Robinson, Aaron Edward Brown, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Sarah Cleveland, and Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson, among others.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Louis Henkin also served as faculty advisors for the journal.

[3][4] Since 2006, it has been the most cited human rights law journal in the world.