There is lots of talk about the various implications of the agreement between the various law reviews to cease and desist with the practice of exploding offers. One interesting aspect of the commitment is that it is fairly transparent that the law reviews viewed exploding offers as a method of competing with one another, and the agreement seeks to replace that rivalry with cooperation. The letter, for example, describes the motivation for exploding offers as an attempt to “secure the best articles for our own journal,” which instead led to a “race to the bottom.” It was not too long ago that Thom posted about the antitrust risks associated with collective action aimed at pulling out of the US News rankings. As a practical matter, I don’t view this commitment as amounting to much, nor do I have a problem with exploding offers as a competitive strategy. But in the spirit of final exam season: does the agreement articulated in the Joint Letter violate Section 1 of the Sherman Act? Discuss.