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    Finding & Contacting Authors

    Finding authors can be one of the most daunting parts of the editor’s role. Keep diversity in mind. Solicit articles from minorities, women, young lawyers, law students, lawyers from outside your geographical area, and new members. Potential writers include partners, associates, judges, colleagues, law school friends, your opponents in the courtroom, clients/in-house counsel, committee leaders, committee members, practice area experts, law school professors, Law Student Division members, Young Lawyer Division members, other ABA section/committee members, and authors who have written for other publications and websites.

    FINDING POTENTIAL AUTHORS

    • Check law school expert directories or websites. Academics in a particular subject area are often required to write, and many can find time, especially in the summer months. They can be especially valuable when you need analysis or historical perspective.
    • Browse legal blogs and websites. There are numerous legal blogs for every practice area, trend, or area of interest. Browse these sites to find authors to write about a particular topic of interest to your committee. Most bloggers are well versed and knowledgeable in their practice areas and may be willing to submit short articles or Practice Points regularly.
    • Network at seminars and workshops. Speakers have already done the research and are often willing to craft their presentations into articles.
    • Ask your committee cochairs to get involved. They may be willing to charge each subcommittee chair with writing or obtaining one or two articles per year; some cochairs may even be willing to author an article.
    • Use the current listing of Section YLLP participants. Contact a representative of the Litigation Section’s Young Lawyer Leadership Program (YLLP). Contact the staff committees manager, Heather Nichols, at [email protected], for a current listing of YLLP participants.
    • Explore social media. Use X, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook, and search by topic. Look for potential authors who can write on specific topics.
    • Offer an associate or a law student the opportunity to write. New lawyers are often looking for opportunities to develop expertise and gain exposure.
    • Offer an author another chance for publication. If you are happy with an author’s work, ask them to write a column or regular feature.

    CALLING ON POTENTIAL AUTHORS
    Remember that lawyers use published articles for marketing purposes and for their résumés, and academics must publish to get tenure and maintain stature. Many authors enjoy sharing their experience or write from a love of the law or of writing itself. Knowing what motivates a potential author can help you make the first contact.

    • Discuss the article idea. Email can be a successful way to solicit, but a phone call is often better. When you contact the author, have an article idea in mind unless you’re calling an expert in a specific area to inquire what the most current issues are. Discuss the idea in detail. Send the author your guidelines and discuss appropriate length and tone.
    • Don’t promise publication. Make clear when you solicit that the submission will be considered by the editors.
    • Allow long deadlines. Give an author an appropriate amount of time to write an article. Authors often request additional time as deadlines approach. Consider giving flexible deadlines to authors, not your true drop-dead deadlines. Remain open to extending an author’s deadline to a later date than planned.
    • Follow up with an email. Your follow-up email should include topic and angle, word length, deadline, format (e.g., sending Word document by email), and a reiteration that the submission is not guaranteed acceptance.
    • Send or attach the following to your email: