Editorial Submission Guidelines
Specifications and guidelines for submission of In Practice and Viewpoint articles to The Recorder
GENERAL GUIDELINES
• All articles are submitted on speculation. We do not guarantee publication and also reserve the right to publish the article in an issue other than the one for which it was submitted.
• All articles must be original. We will generally not publish an article that has appeared elsewhere.
• When published, the article will appear under the author’s byline. Together with your article, please provide a brief biographical sketch, including name, firm, location, practice area and a means to reach you. Please avoid long lists of accomplishments or associations. For In Practice articles, please forward your headshot together with the article.
• Articles should not deal primarily with a matter that the author or the author’s firm handled. Any involvement in the case should be disclosed to the editor at the time the article is submitted. However, we do accept and sometimes even encourage amicus curiae brief writers to write on the subject of their case.
• Articles may have more than one author.
LENGTH AND FORMAT
• In Practice articles should be between 1,200 and 1,500 words. Viewpoint articles should be between 1,000 and 1,500 words.
• Do not include footnotes or endnotes in your article and limit case citations to a minimum. Citations are helpful when discussing a specific case or statute, but citing case law for background information and using string citations should be avoided (no need for Id. cites).
• The editor will create a headline for the article, and subheads if necessary. Feel free to provide your own headline and subheads — we often use them in whole or in part — but we reserve the right to change them due to print space and/or style.
• The audience for the column is the legal community in California, which should guide the tone. At the same time, if a very complex legal issue is being discussed, it should be written about in a way that will be understood by the specialists in the area, but also will not completely go over the heads of practitioners in other fields.
FORM OF SUBMISSION
• The articles must be submitted in electronic form, preferably in Microsoft Word. This should not be a draft, but your final article.
EDITING
• The editor will make no substantive changes to the article without consulting the author. However, copyediting and stylistic alterations may be made without prior notice. Time constraints prevent us from providing proofs for the author's review.
TOPICS
• In Practice articles should be keyed to a recent development, such as an important case, a new statute or regulation or a new trend in the law. Articles may evaluate a series of such developments and offer an analysis of the direction of the law in that particular area. Other articles may provide practical lawyering advice — practice tips. Yet another set of articles may address firm management.
• It is acceptable for the author of the article to take a position in the matter; however, the goal should always be to present the law in an objective way.
DEADLINES
• Once the author commits to a deadline, we expect him or her to meet it. We allocate print space, sometimes move other articles to different dates and plan some of our publications far in advance. If a deadline is missed, there is a chance that there will be a void we will not be able to fill, so please check your calendars carefully before you commit to a date and do everything you can to get the article to us in a timely fashion.
• If you foresee that your article will be late, please give us as much notice as possible.
REPRINTS
• If you would like a customized reprint of your article after it publishes, please contact Syndia Torres at storres@alm.com.
FAQ
Q: Whom do I contact if I want to submit an article?
A: For submissions to In Practice and Viewpoint, you may contact our substantive law editor, Vitaly Gashpar, via email, at vgashpar@alm.com or by phone at 415-490-1062. Vitaly is also the person to contact with any questions you may have with regard to the In Practice and Viewpoint columns and/or the submission process.
Q: When and where will my article be published?
A: Your In Practice articles will always be published online at www.therecorder.com. In addition, some articles will be published in print in our weekly Monday paper. Those articles will be chosen from the ones published online in the prior week. You article may also be published in our monthly print collections, depending on the subject matter. Additionally, your article may be picked up by any of our sibling publications, but that is beyond our control. Viewpoint articles will always be published online and in the weekly Monday paper.
Q: What do you mean by "copyediting" and "stylistic changes"?
A: The Recorder complies with the Associated Press Stylebook, which is somewhat different from the way attorneys are used to writing briefs and other court documents. Most usually capitalized words (board, commission, act, plaintiff, defendant, etc.) will be made lowercase, the "%" sign will be spelled out, there will be only one space between sentences, etc. We may break sentences or paragraphs and adjust punctuation and word choice. All of this will be done without notice to the author. However, we will not reorganize paragraphs, or do anything that changes the meaning of a paragraph/sentence or the like without notifying the author. The author will be notified via email of the proposed substantive change; the proposed substantive change will be discussed solely via email/telephone — we will not accept any subsequent new drafts of the same article.
Q: My article is under/over your word count limit, but I don't feel there is anything I can add/remove; can it still be published?
A: If you foresee in advance that your article will exceed 1,500 words, please let us know as far in advance as you can. We plan for print space and it is very difficult to fit an 1,800-word article in a space allocated for a 1,500-word article. In most cases, we will be able to accommodate a slightly shorter/longer article, but please make a strong effort to fall within the 1200-1500-word limit. In the event your article is excessively long, and there is no way to avoid it being that long, we may be able to publish it in two installments; however, this is a rare exception and not the rule. It is imperative that you speak with the editor ahead of time.
Q: I'm an out-of-state attorney; can I still submit my article to The Recorder?
A: Yes. However, your article must be relevant to California practitioners. It is best to discuss your topic in detail with the editor before you begin drafting.
Q: I really enjoy writing; can I be a regular contributor to The Recorder?
A: Absolutely! We actively look for strong writers to become regular contributors to our In Practice column. If you wish to become a regular contributor, please contact us and we can discuss the frequency and deadlines.
Q: Six of my associates helped me draft this article — can they all be in the byline?
A: We do our best to acknowledge each attorney who has done work on the article. However, we have print space constraints and are limited to the number of headshots we can publish online and in print. If someone actually "put pen to paper" and helped you draft the article, we will absolutely put their name in the byline. But if the level of assistance stopped at merely researching the relevant law, it is best to acknowledge the associate(s) in your bio line at the end of the article. We will leave this to your better judgment.
To submit articles for In Practice and Viewpoint, please contact Vitaly Gashpar.
For Calendar and On the Move submissions, please contact Sheela Kamath.
Contact us
The Recorder
1035 Market Street
Suite 500
San Francisco, CA 94103
415.490.9990
Customer Service: for questions about subscriptions and customer service inquiries, please call 877.256.2472.
