The mission of The Public Lawyer is to provide timely, practical information useful to all public lawyers regardless of practice setting. We publish articles covering topics that are of universal interest to a diverse audience of public lawyers, such as public law office management, dealing with the media, politically motivated personnel decisions, etc.
Length and Sidebars
Feature articles run between 2,000 and 5,000 words. Articles stand a better chance of acceptance if they include one or more sidebars (very short related pieces accompanying the main article). Examples of sidebars include pieces explaining how government and public sector lawyers could use suggestions from the main article in their own practice, checklists, or other reference sources.
Submitting Articles
Whenever possible, please submit via email to [email protected].
All manuscripts must be original. You will be asked to sign a copyright release to the ABA if we accept a manuscript for publication. When submitting an article, authors represent that they have included no material that is in violation of the rights of any other person or entity. When an article is printed, you will receive complimentary copies of the magazine.
Style
Articles should generally be national in scope (rather than state or office specific) and should contain quotes and information from a variety of public lawyer sources (i.e., quotes from assistant AGs in your jurisdiction only are not ideal, authors should strive to obtain other sources such as city attorneys, JAGs, legal aid lawyers, public defenders, or DAs, in other jurisdictions.) The Division can assist you in locating sources.
Endnotes are preferred rather than footnotes. The tone is conversational (less formal than law review articles). Please use gender-neutral language and active voice.
Please supply a title, but note that the final title will be determined by the editors. Also provide a short bioline (two or three sentences at the end of the article) that informs readers of your position and background.