Editorial Submission Guidelines

California Lawyer is a monthly magazine about legal affairs, with related looks at business and politics. It is distributed to more than 130,000 California lawyers, plus 10,000 subscribers nationwide. We are interested in concise, well-researched articles on news and trends in the legal profession, legal aspects of current events, and general interest articles of benefit or interest to attorneys.

In an average month, we assign three feature articles. In addition, we publish columns on technology and business strategies of law firms and sole practitioners.

In our ESQ section, we publish four to six news stories on current case law, state and national politics, and shifts in the legal marketplace. In our Technicalities section, we assign case studies, reviews, and news articles on how software, hardware, and the Internet affect the practice of law. In our In Pro Per section we publish first-person essays of brushes with the law or lawyers’ personal experiences.

Our editors will review unsolicited manuscripts, but we always prefer that contributors send query letters describing proposed articles. Letters should include a brief outline of the story and the intended approach. Please enclose copies of previously published work.

Payment for feature articles of 2,000 to 4,000 words is $500 to $3,000, depending on the nature of the assignment and the writer’s experience. Payment for columns of 1,000 to 1,500 words is $250. Payment for news articles and shorter technology pieces is $500 to $450.