The NYSBA Journal encourages article submissions on topics of interest in the law and to lawyers, especially those that pertain to New York State’s laws and legal system. Articles should be well written, readable and interesting to broad categories of membership. We look especially for articles on topics of broad interest that are newsworthy and describe important developments in areas of the law. For an article to be accepted by the Journal, it must be primarily an analysis of a current legal issue. Submissions that simply detail what’s in a new law or what a court ruled will be rejected. Journal authors should be NYSBA members, although exceptions are possible. Please keep in mind that our audience is mainly attorneys in New York State and we generally give preference to submissions from members. Please also note the following:
- Articles should not be overly self-promotional or one-sided; avoid any articles that seem to be personal gripes about a particular person, office, or organization. This includes articles that take the side of the plaintiff or the defense or look at an issue from only one perspective.
- Articles cannot promote any one company, brand, product or organization.
- We generally will not consider for publication material that has been published or is pending for publication in other media. If your piece is time-sensitive or you have inquiries from other publications, please note that in your submission. We discourage submissions of chapters from books. While simultaneous submissions are acceptable, if we accept the article for publication, we expect you to withdraw it from consideration elsewhere. For questions about the status of your article’s review, please email journal@nysba.org.
- The Journal does not accept book reviews but will on occasion, at the discretion of the editor, publish a staff-written story about a book of interest to the legal community.
- The Journal does not publish news about specific law firms or obituaries.
Journal articles appear in print and also electronically on the NYSBA website (the News Center), and are available to NYSBA members as well as the general public. In some cases, an article may be available electronically before it appears in print. Not all News Center articles appear in the print Journal. Journal contributors do not receive financial remuneration.
You are strongly encouraged to review our issues and articles to get a sense of the type of content we publish. If you’re proposing an article on a topic already covered, be sure to explain how you are adding to and providing an update of the content.Back issues (to 2000) of the NYSBA Journal (for members only) can be viewed here. Current articles can be found in the latest issue and on the News Center area of the website.
Send all article materials and other communications via email, with attachments as needed, to the editors at journal@nysba.org. Submissions will be reviewed in as timely a manner as possible, and contributors will be notified by email if submissions are accepted for publication.
Once a submission is accepted, we consider it final subject to copy editing and factual review as appropriate, and NYSBA reserves the right to publish without further approval from the author. If we believe that substantive changes are necessary, we will review them with contributors. We do not as a matter of course share galleys with authors.
Articles that are not suitable for the Journal can be submitted for consideration to any of our section publications. Please go to the appropriate section (find the list of sections here) and click on the “Publications” tab for the editor’s information. You may also email us at journal@nysba.org and we will provide you with that information. Note: We occasionally also consider articles in the section publications for the Journal/News Center when we believe they might be a good fit.
Technical and Practical Guidelines.
- Whenever possible and appropriate, articles should be written in a style geared toward a general audience. When included, legal terms should be defined, as necessary and appropriate. In article text, avoid references to the structure or content of the article such as “In this article….” or ‘The section will review…” We generally try to avoid articles about highly specialized, technical legal topics or procedures that most attorneys would not find useful.
- All articles for the Journal and News Center will be copyedited to conform to our preferred style, AP style. (For references, we use Bluebook, except for a few specific items where we differ.)
- Articles of up to 4,000 words, including endnotes, will be considered, but shorter pieces of 500 to 1,500 words are preferred.
- All articles must be submitted electronically as Microsoft Word files. Please label the file with the title and author name. Please do not submit PDFs.
- Do not underline any text; use italics instead.
- Legal citations and endnotes should be used when necessary and appropriate, but are not required. Citations and endnotes should be included only as legal references, and may not under any circumstances be used for factual asides or personal observations. Authors are responsible for the accuracy and format presentation of related citations. In general, follow the Bluebook. Avoid the extensive use of notes that might be more appropriate for a law review format. Copyeditors will ensure endnotes follow our house style.
- Please use the Endnote formatting option in Word for endnotes; any article that does not do so will be returned to the author.
- We generally include a photo and capsule biography of each contributor. Contributors should submit by email a high-resolution (min of 300dpi) headshot and biographical info along with article submission. Please only include acknowledgments of anyone who actually contributed to researching or writing the article. As most authors have their writing reviewed by others, we ask that you refrain from thanking any readers who may have helped. Editors reserve the right to edit bios to conform to our style and for space. We take out any language that is overly self-promotional.
The Journal is published six times per year (see below) and mailed to all NYSBA members as well as available online. Journal content may be used in the NYSBA Weekly content email blast to members, on the NYSBA website, and in other settings. Submissions and queries are welcome at any time at journal@nysba.org. The submission dates below are the dates we would like to receive content in order to review material; this is not the final copy deadline. In the event we decide to publish your article, we will advise you of the final copy deadline, if edits are required. Content received after these dates will be considered for the next issue; note that articles may be published online at any time.
Submission Dates for Upcoming Publications
This is the latest date content should be sent for consideration. We consider submissions on a rolling basis for the News Center.
March/April 2023: 1/27/23
May/June 2023: 3/17/23
July/August 2023: 5/16/23
Sept/Oct 2023: 7/14/23
Nov/Dec 2023: 9/15/23
Jan/Feb 2024: 11/17/23
Copyright and Reprint Policies
IMPORTANT UPDATE: Our copyright agreement has recently been updated and includes changes to our reprinting and republication policies. See the form at the above link for complete details. Changes are outlined below.
For copyright purposes, submitted material becomes the property of the New York State Bar Association. When submitting work to NYSBA, upon acceptance for publication, you agree to grant non-exclusive rights to NYSBA to publish your content both online and in print in any of our publications. Members and others are allowed to reprint material in accordance with the following guidelines.
Use by Author: Authors will have the right to a perpetual, royalty free, worldwide license to use the work for their own personal use and to promote their employer, law firm, or law practice. This use includes permission to make and distribute print or digital copies of the work to friends, colleagues, clients, or on an employer or law firm website or social media promoting the law practice without further notice to or approval from NYSBA, provided that the copy contains the following notice “Reprinted with permission from the New York State Bar Association © 2023 [OR APPROPRIATE PUBLICATION YEAR].” Authors may contact reprint@nysba.org for assistance in creating a PDF of their article with the above notice included, if needed.
Republication: If authors seek to have the Work republished in another publication they may do so upon prior written notice and approval from NYSBA. Such approval shall not be unreasonably withheld when republication is more than 90 days after the original publication date. Request for approval of republication earlier than 90 days may be requested at any time. It is recommended that any request for approval be submitted at least 5 business days prior to any republication submission date. All notices and requests for republication approval must be sent to:
New York State Bar Association
Republications
One Elk Street
Albany, NY 12207
reprint@nysba.org
For further information on NYSBA policies, you may also contact the Journal Production Editors Alyssa Colton (acolton@nysba.org) or David Alexander (dalexander@nysba.org).
MCLE Credit
MCLE credit may be earned for legal-based writing directed to an attorney audience upon application to the CLE Board. Guidelines for Obtaining MCLE Credit for Writing as well as a Publication Credit Application are available. Journal contributors who wish to obtain MCLE credit are wholly responsible for completing the process to obtain the credit.
For more information, or to submit an article, please contact: journal@nysba.org.