Wisconsin Lawyer Writing Guidelines
About the Wisconsin Lawyer Editorial Focus
The Wisconsin Lawyer magazine (formerly the Wisconsin Bar Bulletin) has been designated by the Wisconsin Supreme Court as the official monthly publication of the State Bar of Wisconsin, carrying notices of changes in court rules, and regulatory and administrative practice and procedure matters. With a circulation of more than 20,000, the magazine reaches lawyers and judges in Wisconsin. It also reaches out-of-state members, law libraries, law schools, bar associations, and other legal professionals throughout the United States. Every State Bar member receives a copy of Wisconsin Lawyer as a membership benefit.
Wisconsin Lawyer provides State Bar members with information that directly aids and improves their law practice and the delivery of legal services to their clients. The magazine publishes articles on changes in law, explores law-related trends and developments, and provides a forum for expression of ideas, concerns, and opinions that affect the practice of law in Wisconsin. In addition, the magazine includes human-interest articles about how lawyers practice law or profiles about lawyers who are interesting beyond their practice.
Manuscripts are accepted on any subject of interest to the legal profession. How-to, practical types of articles with general appeal are preferred over theoretical articles. Articles discussing developments in Wisconsin law are preferred over articles focusing on federal law. A Wisconsin Lawyer article is not the vehicle for self-promotion, including any commercial service, product, or organization.
Wisconsin Lawyer is recognized as a professional, high-quality, peer-reviewed publication by the American Bar Association and other state bar associations. State Bar of Wisconsin members consistently rate the publication as one of the top benefits of membership. In 1990 the magazine won an Award of Publication Excellence for most-improved publication from Communications Concepts in Washington, D.C. In 1991 and 1992 Wisconsin Lawyer won the first place Award of Excellence from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) for overall quality in writing, design, and appropriateness to audience. And in 1996 Wisconsin Lawyer won two merit awards from the IABC for overall publication excellence and design.
Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome. However, it is a good idea to contact the editor to discuss the topic to avoid duplicating an article already in progress. Send written suggestions for special issue topics to the editor for consideration by the Wisconsin Lawyer editorial advisory board (see section entitled Manuscript Review/Query Letters).Manuscript Preparation
Manuscripts must be word processed in a readable standard serif typeface, such as 12 point Times Roman, and double spaced on letter-size (8½” x 11”) paper with 1” margins. Limit manuscripts to 2,500 words (about 14 pages). Number all pages. Submit the manuscript in electronic form for Editorial Board review.
Writing style – Manuscripts should be written in a clear, straightforward, expository style. Avoid legalese. Articles should be written in a narrative, not outline, form. Be concise. Be objective. Present both sides of an issue if there are two sides, or contact a coauthor to present an opposing view. Avoid lengthy editorializing. Whenever appropriate, illustrate points with hypotheticals. Avoid gender-biased language.
Appropriate attribution/copyright clearance – If material is quoted from another publication, quote exactly. Material taken from another publication must be credited to the original author, whether quoted or abstracted. Contributors are responsible for obtaining copyright clearance for such material. Authors also warrant that the article is his or her original work and does not infringe on the rights of any person or organization. In addition, authors must inform the editor if the proposed article has been published or is being considered for publication elsewhere. Wisconsin Lawyer does not review articles submitted to other publications but will, on occasion, consider reprinting an article of exceptional content.
Length – Feature articles should not exceed 2,500 words (about 14 pages, double-spaced), excluding endnotes and author’s biography. Use a standard, serif font (such as Times Roman) in 12-point type. Take only enough space to adequately cover the subject.
Endnotes – Because Wisconsin Lawyer is not a scientific/scholarly journal, lengthy citations are not required. Thus, a 1995 policy requires endnotes be used sparingly and limited to citations only. The editors likely will cut all other endnotes. If it needs to be said, it should be included in the article’s text. For further information regarding endnote guidelines and examples, refer to Wisconsin Lawyer Endnote Policy.
Place endnotes at the end of the article not at the foot of each page. Use Arabic, not Roman, numerals as cite signals. Limit endnotes to citations only. Follow the standard rules of citation as outlined in A Uniform System Citation (16th ed.). Check your citations carefully, as you are responsible for their accuracy.
Titles – The author should suggest a concise title for the submitted manuscript. The title may be reworded by the editors for design or clarity considerations. Type the name(s) of the author(s) after the title.
Introduction and conclusion – All manuscripts should include both an introduction and a conclusion. Tell readers about the article’s content early on. A conclusion should summarize the article’s main thesis and any final thoughts or concerns the author has about the subject matter.
Subheads – Use subheads in the text when appropriate to divide the article into smaller, more digestible parts. Place subheads flush left. Lowercase all words except the first word of the subhead and proper nouns.
Author’s biography/photo – Include a brief biography (in narrative form) at the end of the manuscript. Professionally taken four-color or black-and-white photos are optional and should be submitted electronically after the manuscript has been accepted for publication. Photos will be archived at the State Bar for future use. (Photo tip: A solid background, such as an empty wall, reproduces better than a busy background, such as a bookcase.) We prefer photos be a resolution of 300 dpi, 3” x 5” in size. Do not provide photos taken directly from the Web because they do not reproduce adequately in a print publication. (Hard copy photos are acceptable, but will not be returned.)
Graphics – Tables, charts, graphs, and illustrations must be pertinent to the understanding of the article. When citing graphics in the text, refer to them as figures and number them consecutively. The chart, graph, or table should include an exhibit designation and title (for example: Figure 1: Sample Fee Agreement).
Endnote Policy
Wisconsin Lawyer is a professional journal, not a law review or a court document. As such, Wisconsin Lawyer has established stylistic preferences to which authors should adhere. Note that some endnote stylistic preferences differ from the Bluebook and courts’ preferences for court documents.
Use endnotes sparingly and limit them to citations only. All other endnotes likely will be cut from the article. Include endnotes where needed to direct the reader to a primary source, but not after every sentence. For example, in an extensive discussion of a particular statute, do not include an endnote to reflect every statutory subsection referenced.
Use Arabic, not Roman, numerals for cite signals. Place endnotes at the end of the article, not at the bottom of a page. Do not include citations in the text. Include a case name in the article text only where necessary for clarity, or where the case is the topic of the article.
Limit endnotes to citations. If the material must be included, work it into the text. If it cannot be worked into the text, it probably should not be included. Or, use a sidebar: a box with related material that is run alongside the article.
Follow the standard citation rules outlined in The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, as modified by the Wisconsin Supreme Court (see below). Use correct spacing, punctuation, capitalization, and type styles (e.g., italics, Roman), except do not use all caps. Where large and small capitalization is indicated in The Bluebook, substitute regular Roman type. Check the most recent edition of The Bluebook for rule changes.
Wisconsin Supreme Court and Court of Appeals cases decided after Jan. 1, 2000, should include their public domain citation.
Neither the State Bar editorial staff nor the Editorial Board members will verify citations. You are responsible for substantive and technical accuracy, so check citations carefully.
Guidelines for Avoiding Common Citation and Style Problems
Some guidelines for avoiding common citation and style problems follow, with the appropriate Bluebook rule noted in parentheses.
- Include full name (first name, middle initial, and last name) for the author of a book or article. (Rule 15.1)
- Do not use supra or hereinafter to refer to a case, constitution, or statute, unless the name is extremely long. (Rule 4.2)
- Do not use section symbols (§) in the article text, unless you are referring to a federal statute. The format for referring to a statute in text is Wisconsin Statutes section 123.45, Wis. Stat. section 123.45, or section 123.45 of the Wisconsin Statutes. Later references may be to section 123.45. Use the section symbol only in endnotes. (Rules 3.4, 6.2(b), 12.9)
- Tab, but do not indent lengthy quotations. Use quotation marks appropriately. (Deviates from Rule 5.1)
- Spell out numbers that begin sentences. Spell out zero to nine in text and in endnotes. (Deviates from Rule 6.2)
Endnotes: General Citation Rules
Follow the general rules below for endnote citations. For a more comprehensive summary of The Bluebook’s rules, see the Wisconsin Guide to Citation, Fourth Edition (State Bar of Wisconsin 2000).
Cases (Rule 10)
General Rule for Case Cites: Generally, close up adjacent single capitals. Note that single-letter abbreviations that abbreviate an entity are set off with a space. E.g., Boston College Law Review is B.C. L. Rev. not B.C.L. Rev. (Rule 6.1(a)) Numbers such as 2d and 3d are considered single capitals, so they also are closed up if they follow another single capital. Abbreviations of two or more letters must have a space on either side (or parentheses if appropriate).
Examples:
| Wis. 2d (space) | (Ct. App. 1993) (space) |
| N.W.2d (no space) | U.S. (no space) |
| S. Ct. (space) | L. Ed. 2d (spaces) |
| F.2d (no space) | (7th Cir. 1993) (space) |
| F. Supp. (space) | (S.D.N.Y. 1987) (no spaces) |
| (D. Maine 1986) (space) | N.L.R.B. (no spaces) |
| (N.D. Ill. 1974) (no space between N.D.; space before Ill.) |
Special Notes: When the citation is to the N.L.R.B. reporter, periods are used with no space between letters: 39N.L.R.B. 1309. But when the N.L.R.B. is a party included in the case name, no periods or spaces are used between the letters: Anderson-Jones Co., Inc. v. NLRB, 956 F.2d 1234 (7th Cir. 1992).
The same principle applies whenever a party is widely known by an abbreviation (or acronym) consisting of initials: AT&T, NAACP, CBS, FBI, OSHA, DILHR. Where the abbreviation is not usually spoken as the name of the entity, such as saying New York for N.Y., the periods must be used in the citation part of the reference, but the name must be spelled out in the case name: New York Transit Authority v. Peters, 465 N.Y.2d 786, 656 N.E.2d 1234 (1978).
United States is never abbreviated in case names, but is abbreviated in the citation part: United States v. Smith, 245 U.S. 467 (1975).
Statutes (Rule 12 and Wisconsin Supreme Court Notice to Members of the Bar, 74 Wis. 2d xxxix (1976))
Wisconsin Statutes cited to Wisconsin courts: Sec. 234.56, Stats. This is the Wisconsin Lawyer stylistic preference for all citations to the Wisconsin Statutes, regardless of whether they are cited to Wisconsin or other courts.
Wisconsin Statutes cited to other courts: Wis. Stat. § 234.45 (1992).
Federal Statutes: 42 U.S.C. 2000e
Wisconsin Administrative Code (Table T.1 at
215)
Wis. Admin. Code IND 3.45 (Apr. 1992) – Note no period after the section initials. The date is found at the bottom of the page cited, and must be included in the cite.
Federal Regulations
20 C.F.R. 223.45(a) (1990).
Manuscript Review/Query Letters
The Wisconsin Lawyer editorial advisory board is composed of 12 Wisconsin lawyers with varied backgrounds and representing rural, urban, private, and government practices, and academia. Manuscripts also are reviewed by topic appropriate State Bar section representatives.
The Editorial Board reviews articles for timeliness, usefulness to readers, scholarly analysis, accuracy, and writing style.
A contributor wishing to explore the Editorial Board’s possible interest in a specific topic should submit a query letter for advance input. This may prevent someone from writing an article that the board believes is too esoteric or is not of broad interest to readers. However, the Editorial Board makes no commitment to publishing an article until it has the opportunity to review the work. A query letter (one typewritten page) should briefly describe the topic, discuss why it is of broad interest to the bar, and highlight the author’s experience with the issue.
Wisconsin Lawyer managing editor Karlé Lester is the conduit between the Editorial Board and the author and will write or call the author about the manuscript’s acceptance. Allow three to four weeks for the review. If the Editorial Board requests significant revision, the revised manuscript likely will be resubmitted for review.
Criteria the Editorial Board uses in evaluating articles
Reviewers will consider the following criteria when reviewing manuscripts:
- Will the information help Wisconsin lawyers in the practice of law?
- Is the topic timely? Will it be of broad interest to State Bar of Wisconsin members? Or, is it more appropriate for a special-interest publication, such as a section newsletter?
- Is the subject matter new, not already covered in Wisconsin Lawyer within the last12 months?
- Does the author present ideas in a balanced manner, rather than presenting one side of the issue? If not, is an opposing viewpoint appropriate?
- Is the article easy to understand? Does it avoid legalese? Does the author assume a level of understanding that may not be shared by the majority of readers?
- Does the article offer more than what you can find reading the statutes? Does it include helpful analysis? Pertinent citations of authority?
- Is the article self-promoting, including commercial services, products, or organizations?
Manuscript Deadline/After Acceptance
The Wisconsin Lawyer staff emails the editorial advisory board manuscripts and query letters on the 5th and 20th of each month. All manuscripts received after noon on those dates will be held for the following scheduled review.
The publication date depends on the timeliness of the article, the existing backlog of material, or plans for special issues or inserts. Articles will be staff edited to conform to Wisconsin Lawyer style. Authors will have an opportunity to review the edited manuscript before publication. To meet the press date, the staff requires a quick turnaround of authors’ final reviews.
Accepted manuscripts become the property of the State Bar. Rejected manuscripts will not be returned to the author. Authors should retain a copy of the submitted manuscript in case of loss during electronic transmission.
Professionally taken four-color and black-and-white photos are optional – but encouraged – and should be submitted electronically after the manuscript is accepted for publication. (See prior discussion of photos under Manuscript Preparation.)How to Submit the Final Manuscript
Below, in order of preference, are the options for submitting your final article to Wisconsin Lawyer:
1) Email the article as an attachment to managing editor Karlé Lester. Create the document with a commonly used word processing software program, such as Microsoft Word. The editor will confirm receipt.
2) Authors who do not have access to a computer simply should submit a clean, typed copy of the final article. (Please review the discussion on manuscript preparation.)
Author Recognition/CLE Credit
The State Bar of Wisconsin Communications Committee awards the annual Hon. Charles Dunn Author Award in recognition of writing excellence in Wisconsin Lawyer. A recognition plaque is presented for an article written during the previous calendar year.
Wisconsin Lawyer authors can request up to 10 complimentary issues in which their article appears, depending on availability. Additional issues are $1 per copy. Article reprints will be quoted on request.
Continuing legal education (CLE) credit may be available for substantive Wisconsin Lawyer articles, under a Supreme Court Rule that went into effect July 1, 1992. The Board of Bar Examiners (BBE) may approve credit for up to 15 hours of actual article preparation time. (However, these credits may be claimed only for the CLE reporting period during which the article was published. A lawyer may not claim more than 15 CLE credit hours for publications during a reporting period.)
To request CLE credit approval for an article, submit a completed CLE Form 4 and a copy of the published article to the Board of Bar Examiners, 110 E. Main St., Suite 715, Madison, WI 53703-3328. For further information on CLE credit, contact the BBE at (608) 266-9760, bbe@wicourts.gov, or visit www.wicourts.gov/bbe.
Copyright/Reprinting
The State Bar of Wisconsin holds the collective copyright on articles published in Wisconsin Lawyer. Authors are asked to sign a nonexclusive license allowing the State Bar of Wisconsin to publish the article in Wisconsin Lawyer and to distribute the work by other electronic means.
Permission is required before an article can be copied or reproduced in another publication. The State Bar generally grants reprint permission to nonprofit organizations and those requesting reprint permission for noncommercial, educational use. Reprints will credit the Wisconsin Lawyer in the general form “Reprinted with permission of the (month/date) Wisconsin Lawyer, official publication of the State Bar of Wisconsin, and the author”
Wisconsin Lawyer articles periodically are selected by West Publishing Co. to be included on its Westlaw database, under an agreement with the State Bar of Wisconsin. Westlaw will contact authors for permission to be included in this database.
Other Writing Opportunities
Feature articles – (2,500 words; refer to Wisconsin Lawyer writing guidelines above)
Opinion/commentary (guest editorial) – Articles endorsing political candidates or which the editors deem to be self-promotion are not accepted. (1,500 words)
Letters on any law-related issue – Endorsements of political candidates and self-promotion pieces are not accepted. Letters may be condensed for publication. Publication dependent on space availability. (500 words)
Book/video reviews – Reviewed books/videos must be related to law but can be practical, scholarly, theoretical, or entertaining; the goal is to include a variety of subjects and types of books. Lawyers are encouraged to submit brief book reviews (approximately 500 words) for publication. The Wisconsin Lawyer editors have a list of books available for review. Reviewers must complete a conflicts questionnaire before publication. (See Book Review Writing Guidelines for more information.)As a gesture of thanks, reviewers who would like to add the book/video they review to their libraries may do so if it is provided through the Wisconsin Lawyer. If you are interested in reviewing a book, please contact managing editor Karlé Lester.
Other columns – Ethics, Managing Risk, Office Management, Practice Tips, Technology, Career, Legal Writing. Contact the editors before writing to discuss and reserve your topic. (1,500 words)
All submissions should follow the guidelines outlined in “How to Submit the Final Manuscript.” Deadline for all scheduled submissions, except feature articles, is the first of the month preceding publication. The editor will determine the publication date based on timeliness, appropriateness, and space constraints. (For example, to place a letter to the editor in the December issue, it must be received by Nov. 1.) With the submission, authors should provide a brief biography (two to three sentences, including law school and graduation date).
Editorial Staff
Joyce R. Hastings, Director of Publications/Editor
Karlé Lester, Managing Editor
Jean A. Anderson, Design/Production Coordinator
Karen Richter, Advertising Manager
Peter Kraemer, Publications Assistant
Advertising Opportunities
Wisconsin Lawyer accepts classified and display ads. For ad rates and print and online placement opportunities, contact advertising manager Karen Richter, (608) 825-3902, (800) 811-2230.
Last Updated: January 2010
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