Opening Statement: Litigation Revisioned

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It is with great pride that I introduce you to the redesigned Litigation. After 38 years, the publication that many people most closely associate with their membership in the Section of Litigation has been updated. Along with the great authors, timely topics, practical insights from the courtroom, and provocative interviews, readers will find several new columns, innovations such as a judge’s response to one of our features, and a refreshed design. Additionally, in the near future, our members will be able to digitally access and search past issues of journal content. Best of all, you will soon be able to access new issues of Litigation on tablet computers such as an iPad through the Litigation Journal Application.

Litigation is one of the most iconic sights in trial lawyers’ offices throughout the country, and I believe its updated look and content will bring it even more attention. I am confident that this revised publication will excite our readers—both newer ones and those who have been enjoying the magazine for many years—and provide a platform for the delivery of the most relevant, innovative, and substantive information available to trial lawyers in any format, anywhere.

This redesign had many parents. First and foremost in driving the engine of transformation were Editor-in-Chief Maria Rodriguez and Executive Editor Robin Page West. Rounding out the effort of the Redesign Subcommittee was Mark Neubauer, himself a former editor-in-chief of the journal. Working with them throughout the process was a committee of the editorial board of Litigation. The committee conferred, in turn, with the entire editorial board, together creating a group that I am comfortable represented the many diverse views of our membership about how this revered publication might be updated. The group comprised Kevin Abel, William Garcia, Stephanie Kane, Steve Miller, Martin Siegel, Rob Shapiro, Lee Stapleton, and Chuck Tobin.

Working tirelessly in heading the effort was Monica Buckley, director of Section of Litigation Periodicals, assisted by managing editors Kevin Bailey and Lindsay Cummings. Monica and her group were asked to conquer multiple challenges this year—any one of which would have been significant enough to keep the staff occupied for the entire year: digitize more than 40 of the Section’s committee newsletters; come up with a digital version of Litigation; and, in their spare time, redesign this magazine, the look of which had come to represent, more than anything else, one’s membership in the Section. Monica and her staff were asked to accomplish all this while continuing to produce the substantive content of four editions
of Litigation and four editions of Litigation News, and overseeing the content and production of the Section’s committee newsletters. Monica and her team, with the strong support, counsel, and assistance of Section Executive Director Jeanne Nowaczewski, accomplished everything we asked of them without a hitch and with exemplary results. There is no question in my mind that we never would have accomplished all this without someone of Monica’s superior talents, and for that, the Section is truly blessed.

By the time you read this article, I will have passed the Section of Litigation chair’s gavel to my able successor, Ron Marmer. Of all the things that my team of leaders and I set out to accomplish during my year as chair, I have little doubt that the one likely to have the longest-lasting significance is the redesign of Litigation. I suspect that it will not take another 38 years for a future Section chair to decide that it is again time to update this publication—and that, too, will be a good thing when it comes.    

Please share your thoughts on our redesign or this issue’s content by emailing us at Litigation.Journal@americanbar.org.