chevron-down Created with Sketch Beta.

1. Length

Unless otherwise provided in the confirmation letter, writers should write as much as they need to make their points, but should also try to keep their articles under 2,800 words. This allows for about four magazine pages. On the other hand, shorter articles -- 750 words to 1,500 words -- are also welcome, and can be very effective. If you are uncertain about the length your piece should be, do not hesitate to contact the Editor, Lianne Pinchuk or Section Director, Jennifer Michel, for more details. 

2. Audience

The ABA Section of Dispute Resolution's membership constitutes our primary audience, and includes people from across the ADR spectrum, including practicing lawyers, judges, law professors, and law students. The lawyers who are part of our audience represent parties in ADR proceedings, serve as ADR neutrals themselves, or are just interested in keeping up with the field. Most law student readers intend to practice as lawyers. We strongly encourage you to write your article in a way that is relevant to these readers, and to write at a level that recognizes that they may be more sophisticated than most about ADR, but still do not share your expertise about your topic. One way to do this is to frequently ask yourself the following questions: 

  • Why should lawyers care about reading my article?
  • How can they use it to inform their representation and counseling of clients or their contributions to rulemaking or policymaking bodies?
  • Will my article help lawyers see how their perspectives fit into a larger issue or policy debate? 

3.  Magazine distribution

The magazine is distributed in digital version to all members of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, approximately 10,000 recipients. The magazine is also distributed in print to all lawyer and affiliated professional members with addresses in the United States, approximately 4000 recipients. . International members may opt-in to receive a print copy of the magazine. The digital version of an issue is available soon after the issue is printed. The ABA editorial staff use social media postings and other electronic outlets to increase the reach of each issue. The magazine is available to non-members as a subscription service.

11. Formatting Guidelines

  • a. Provide a suggested title and a byline (“By Jane Doe”) 
  • b. Only one space between sentences. Submissions with two spaces between sentences will be sent back to the author for removal of the second space. 
  • c. 11 point font, Times New Roman. 
  • d. Left justified 
  • e. Endnotes, not footnotes

12. Author copies of the magazine

Each author will receive two copies of the magazine when it is printed as well as a PDF of the article as printed.

13. Copyright

All authors of articles to be published in Dispute Resolution Magazine will sign a publication agreement with the ABA. The agreement provides the ABA with the right of first publication of the article and is “nonexclusive,” which means that, after the article is published in Dispute Resolution Magazine, the author may republish it elsewhere. The author retains the rights to the original text of the article—the text the author supplied the ABA in the original Word document. Authors not need request the ABA’s permission to use the original text in other publications or media after its first publication by the ABA. However, if authors do republish the original work, we request that you credit the ABA for first publication. Authors may use the PDF of the article provided to them after publication for their own CLE presentations, law school classes, or other personal uses. For additional information on ABA Reprints and Permissions, please see the reprint policy.

Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions. We look forward to working with you.

Jennifer Michel
Director, ABA Section of Dispute Resolution
[email protected]

Lianne Pinchuk
Editor, Dispute Resolution Magazine
[email protected]