Article Guidelines
Submissions may be sent to Editor-in-Chief, Ashley Nagrodski at anagrodski@smithfreed.com or
Associate Editor, Kelsey Shewbert at kshewbert@hwslawgroup.com.
Format
- Articles should be 500 to 1,500 words. Articles providing a review or summary of WDTL events are typically shorter, 250-500 words.
- Articles should have a title and provide the author’s name and firm/employer at the top of the page (e.g. “By: John Smith, Attorneys LLC.”. Submitted articles should be in Times New Roman with 12 point font.
- Include a short (50-150 word) author's biography at the bottom to identify themselves. We encourage authors to include relevant involvement with WDTL in their bio.
- Please include citations and sources as appropriate.
Images
Photos and graphics are encouraged. Please provide credit to the photographer or source and obtain approval from the creator and/or photographed individuals before submitting the photo. Additionally, please provide a short one-sentence description of the photo.
Interview Submissions
For direct quotes of interviewed parties, we recommend that you obtain confirmation from the speaker before submitting.
Topics
- Article topics should be timely and of interest to readers of The Defense News.
- Content should be directed towards defense trial attorneys. However, we also encourage the submission of articles addressing unique, interesting issues or focused towards a broader audience, if appropriate.
- If possible, contact the editors before you begin your article in order to plan according to the production schedule and ensure that your article will not be duplicative of other content.
- The Defense News gives preference to articles that have not been published elsewhere.
Deadline
- Contact the editors for deadlines and proposed publishing dates. Articles are due approximately 4-5 weeks before the issue is scheduled to be published.
- The Defense News is published quarterly. If the topic is more urgent, the editors may consider an email-blast to membership.
Editorial Staff
- The Defense News is published by a volunteer group of attorneys.
- The Defense News editors provide editing assistance for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and word choice. Editors do not intend to change your words or ideas. For more in-depth edits, our editors will contact the author for approval. However, editors have the discretion to remove profanity or discriminatory content.