Trial Magazine

Publications Information

General Information

Subscribe to Trial

A subscription to Trial—including 12 print issues and 24 e-newsletters per year—is included with AAJ membership. Nonmembers can subscribe to the 12 print issues per year for:

  • 1 Year — $119
  • 2 Year — $213
  • 3 Year — $296

Contact us at 800-424-2725 or trial@justice.org to inquire.

Subscribe to Products Liability and/or Professional Negligence Law Reporters

Subscriptions to Products Liability Law Reporter (PLLR) or Professional Negligence Law Reporter (PNLR)—including the 6 print issues and the 12 e-newsletters per year—are included in the price of AAJ section membership. Nonmembers can subscribe to the 6 print issues per year for:

  • 1 Year — $195
  • 2 Year — $360
  • 3 Year — $550

Contact us at 800-424-2725 or trial@justice.org with inquiries.

Digital Edition

Available only to AAJ members, the digital edition of Trial is identical to the print version—complete with graphics, art, and advertising—with several special electronic features, including:

  • Live links to URLs and email addresses in ads and editorial text, including article footnotes.
  • Digital archive from August 2016.
  • Keyword search capability in single issue or across all digital issues in the archive.
  • Easy mouse-click navigation.
  • AAJ members should login to access digital Trial from their Dashboard.

2024 Trial Themes

2024

January
Protecting Workers
Submissions due: 8/1/2023

February
Transportation
Submissions due: 9/8/2023

March
The Business of Law
Submissions due: 10/2/2023

April
Pre-Trial Prep/Discovery
Submissions due: 10/27/2023

May
Consumer Protection
Submissions due: 11/20/2023

June
Artificial Intelligence
Submissions due: 1/22/2024

July
Drugs & Devices
Submissions due: 2/2/2024

August
Trial Skills/Persuasion
Submissions due: 3/1/2024

September
Civil Rights
Submissions due: 4/3/2024

October
Professional Negligence (Med Neg & Nursing Homes)
Submissions due: 5/3/2024

November
Products Liability
Submissions due: 6/3/2024

December
Holding Corporations Accountable
Submissions due: 6/28/2024

2025

January
Protecting Children
Submissions due: 8/2/2024

Permission to Reprint, Post, or Distribute Articles

AAJ holds copyright on articles published in Trial unless otherwise indicated in the author's biography. To obtain permission to reprint, post online, or distribute paper or electronic copies of an AAJ-copyrighted article, call 800-424-2725 (selection option 8) or email trial@justice.org. Provide the article title, author, and date of issue, and explain how you intend to use the article. If the author holds copyright, we will provide contact information on request. If another publisher holds copyright, contact the publisher.

Ordering Copies of Articles and Back Issues

To order copies of articles that have appeared in Trial, call 800-424-2725 (selection option 8), and give the issue, article title, and author. You can also make your request by email at trial@justice.org. A limited number of current and past issues are available online to association members.

To order a back issue, call 800-424-2725. Back issues are $30 for each issue. You can also place your back-issues order by email at trial@justice.org.

Contact Information

Mailing Address

Trial and Law Reporters
777 6th St., N.W., Suite 200
Washington, D.C. 20001-3703

Phone

Phone: 800-424-2725

Email

Trial: trial@justice.org
Products Liability Law Reporterlaw.reporter@justice.org
Professional Negligence Law Reporter: law.reporter@justice.org

Staff

Jennifer Adams, Editor in Chief, 202-944-2813, jennifer.adams@justice.org
Christine Mollenauer, Managing Editor, Law Reporters, 202-965-3509, christine.mollenauer@justice.org
Kate Halloran, Managing Editor of Trial, Departments & Production, 202-965-3504, kate.halloran@justice.org
Jennifer Linney, Managing Editor of Trial, Features, 202-684-9514, jennifer.linney@justice.org
Christine (Tina) Lorin, Online Content and Data Manager, 202-965-3505, christine.lorin@justice.org
Liz Coffman, Editorial and Administrative Assistant, 202-684-9527, liz.coffman@justice.org

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Submission Guidelines

Submissions

Trial article

Published Trial articles must conform to article submission guidelines. Submissions should be sent to the editorial offices for consideration, or email trial@justice.org.

All submissions are acknowledged on receipt. They are reviewed by the editors and then submitted for peer review by attorneys or experts in the relevant field. The review process usually takes three to four weeks. If an article is accepted, it is typically published two to three months later.

Each month, Trial focuses on a specific theme, like products liability, medical negligence, or employment law. The themes and submission dates are listed in our current editorial calendar.

Books

Trial does not accept unsolicited book reviews. Book publishers may send press releases and review copies of new books to Trial’s editorial offices (link to Editorial Offices section above). Please send only books that have been in print less than six months and first editions. Trial does not review books by vanity presses or self-publishers.

Verdicts & Settlements

Verdicts and settlements can be submitted and evaluated for possible inclusion in Products Liability Law Reporter or Professional Negligence Law Reporter, or Trial’s Verdicts & Settlements section. By submitting your case to AAJ, you are certifying that the information provided is not subject to a secrecy order or a confidentiality agreement. Submit your case by emailing law.reporter@justice.org

Writing Style

Articles should be brief and to the point. Emphasize the practical, not the esoteric. As much as possible, keep sentences and paragraphs short and in plain English, avoiding legal, scientific, and technical jargon.

Try to express your ideas conversationally. Write in the active rather than the passive voice; avoid trite metaphors and clichés; and, when possible, write from personal experience. Use subheads where they would help organize subject matter.

Content

Trial has a national readership, and authors should tailor their articles accordingly. When possible, avoid citing authority from just one jurisdiction. Often, this can be done by noting that a legal theory or holding that you are discussing follows the majority or minority rule on a particular legal topic, citing authority from several jurisdictions to support your proposition.

Peer Review

All articles submitted to Trial are subject to peer review and must pass peer review to be cleared for editing and publication. The process typically takes between two and four weeks to complete. Neither the article’s author nor the peer reviewers know the other’s identities.

Editing

Trial aims for readability, as well as accuracy. All articles accepted for publication are checked for accuracy and edited for style and clarity. Edited drafts are sent back to authors for their approval before publication.

Length

Articles should range from 1,400 to 2,500 words (from 5 to 9 double-spaced typed pages). Sidebars or symposium pieces are shorter.

Endnotes

Please keep endnotes to a minimum—most Trial articles have around 20 endnotes. They should be compiled at the end of the article, not at the bottom of each page of text. Legal references should follow the ALWD Citation Manual (Fifth Edition), Association of Legal Writing Directors, including using authors’ first names. It is substantially similar to the Bluebook Uniform System of Citation, and more information is available at www.alwd.org. The main exception is that Trial does not use all caps for law and other scholarly journals and cites to the West reporters only. Do not include parallel citations to state reporters.

Biographical Sketch

Please submit only your name, occupation/firm position, firm name, city, state, and (if desired) an email address.

Email submissions

Authors may submit articles via email to trial@justice.org or to a Trial editor.

Submissions to Other Publications

Please do not submit any article that is under consideration by another publication or has been published previously. Content must be original.

Policy for Authors

Authors must be free from pending disciplinary action in which the public finding of probable cause, or other similar finding, has been made. Articles by authors who have been disciplined will not be selected for publication except for good cause.

Trial Online Publication

An article accepted for publication in Trial will appear in print, in the magazine’s digital edition, and on AAJ’s website, www.justice.org.