Welcome, From the Editor-in-Chief
A warm welcome to the users of this blog.
The New York State Bar Association Journal is among the premier benefits of being a member of our Association, and we continually strive to improve the appeal of the Journal to both current and prospective members. This blog was created with several purposes in mind; it is a forum in which NYSBA members can publicly comment, applaud, and critique items they have read, at length (many letters to the Editor cannot be published directly in the Journal), and this blog also provides an opportunity for readers to suggest improvements that might be made to the Journal.
In addition, while I daily correspond with regular and prospective authors, I hope that this blog will serve as a useful means of answering common questions about writing for the Journal. Eventually, readers may see similar queries to their own, with my responses and advice on getting published in the Journal. I encourage you to review the posts to this blog first and look for similar queries to your own, and also to carefully review the Journal's Submission Guidelines, which are available at the NYSBA's web site (www.nysba.org) along with other useful information. View the following Article Submission guidelines here.
I have found that, in reviewing an article, I generally know whether a submission is publishable by the end of the first manuscript page (and sometimes by the end of the first sentence). I have a number of pet peeves and editorial preferences (such as when to capitalize the first letter of the word "court" and when not to), and will be happy to share them in this blog; many a promising article falls short of publication for reasons that could have easily been corrected before submission.
Over the course of the last several years I have been pleased to hear many favorable reactions to the improvements we have made in the Journal's look and content. This is very much a team effort, and I strongly encourage you to review the Journal's masthead to learn who comprises our prestigious Editorial Board as well as our Production and Graphics staff, who are responsible for making the Journal a consistent success, month after month. I am also ever grateful to Patricia Bucklin, our Publisher and the Executive Director of the NYSBA, and also to President-Elect Kathryn Grant Madigan, who has served a pivotal role in supporting and advancing the Journal, as well as all of the men and women who ably lead our Association.
I will make every effort to respond to posts to this blog. I will also leave it to the individual authors to respond, if they wish, to reader comments that relate to the substance of an article that appeared in the Journal. If you post a query for me and do not see a timely response, first, please be patient (I manage a busy law practice by day and the Journal by night, and occasionally my family appreciates an appearance), but, eventually, feel free to send a direct email to me as well.
With best regards,
David C. Wilkes
Editor-in-Chief
New York State Bar Association Journal