Skip to main content

Length of Submission

A suggested length for Journal submissions is 5 – 10 double spaced (3500-5000 word count), typed pages. However, authors should note that submissions have been published that were both shorter and longer than this guideline. The best advice is to adequately cover your topic without being overly wordy.

Unacceptable Content

We will decline articles that:

  • are political or ideological in tone or content

  • are not germane to the profession of law

  • engage in electioneering, proposing, or advocating of legislation

  • denigrate the legal profession

  • criticize sitting members of the judiciary

  • address pending litigation

  • promote a specific business, service, or product

See the Policies of the State Bar Communications Committee for additional requirements and limitations.

Publication is Discretionary

The State Bar’s Communications Committee ultimately decides which submissions to accept for publication. There is no guarantee that any submission will be published.

Policies of the State Bar Communications Committee

  1. Submissions, including letters to the editor, will be published only if they relate to a purpose of the State Bar, including the regulation of the profession and improving the quality of the legal services available to the people of North Carolina, in accordance with Keller v. State Bar of California, 496 U.S. 1 (1990). Examples include articles exploring specific issues within areas of the practice of law, examining emerging legal fields, or topics of interest to a substantial segment of lawyers.

  2. Submitted articles, including letters to the editor, should conform to commonly accepted professional standards of English composition and grammar, and be of such quality as to warrant inclusion in the Journal.

  3. No article, including a letter to the editor, shall be published that contains abusive or profane language, information that is reasonably believed or known to be untrue, personal attacks, or apparently defamatory statements.

  4. Any article submitted for publication may, in the sole discretion of the editor, be modified non-substantively to conform to these standards, to the prescribed “style” of the Journal, or to accommodate limitations relating to space. To accommodate space limitations, articles may be serialized in one or more editions of the Journal, at the discretion of the Communications Committee and the editor.

  5. Although the submission of articles or letters to the editor criticizing previously published material or offering different points of view is encouraged, all such submissions must conform to these standards, and no submitter will, by virtue of his or her disagreement with a previously published article, have a right to publication of his/her opposing point of view.

  6. Opinions in articles published in the Journal are not expressive of the official position of the Council of the North Carolina State Bar unless clearly identified as such, regardless of whether the author is or has been: employed by the State Bar; an officer or member of the council; a member of any organization associated with the State Bar or for which the State Bar has authority for making appointments; or otherwise affiliated with the agency. A statement to this effect is prominently published in each issue of the Journal.

  7. The editor shall have complete discretion, subject always to the supervening authority of the Communications Committee, to apply these standards and to determine whether any article, including a letter to the editor, will be published.