Above The Law Is Looking For New Columnists And Interns

Above the Law continues to expand, and we welcome new voices in our pages.

As regular readers of Above the Law have noticed, ATL continues on its path of expansion. We now have five full-time writer-editors — David Lat, Elie Mystal, Staci Zaretsky, Joe Patrice, Kathryn Rubino — and dozens of outside columnists, generally practicing lawyers in different sectors of the profession.

We often receive inquiries from readers interested in contributing to our pages or working with us in other ways. This post will explain what we are looking for in terms of (1) outside columnists and (2) New York-based interns.

ABOVE THE LAW — INFORMATION FOR COLUMNIST APPLICATIONS

We have a sizable roster of contributors, but we are always open to pitches for new columns. (We are not really open to one-off guest posts, since we don’t have an op-ed page here at ATL, so publish your piece elsewhere on the web and then send us the link for possible linkage or tweeting.)

Why would you want to write a column for Above the Law? If you know any of our current and former columnists, ask them about the experience. We expect they’ll tell you about how enjoyable and gratifying it is to share their insights with thousands of readers; how they’ve developed new personal and professional relationships, sometimes including client relationships, through their ATL writing; and how fun it is to be a celebrity of sorts in legal circles.

(They probably won’t mention the pay, which is modest — if you care about the pay, this probably isn’t the right job for you — or our commenters, who admittedly can be a tough crowd. But remember that writers have the ability to turn off comments, on individual stories or on all stories, if they want to.)

UPDATE (4/12/2016): Above the Law no longer hosts reader comments. To learn why, please see A Farewell To Comments.

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Here are the general columnist guidelines:

  • We are looking for columnists (generally practicing lawyers or law students) to write once a week, on a mutually agreed upon day of the week. We have some contributors who write for us less frequently or on a case-by-case basis, but we’ve found that columnists work best with weekly deadlines.
  • You can write under a pseudonym or your real name. We prefer that writers use their real names — it’s easier to do reporting or interview people when you’re not working behind a pseudonym — but we recognize that sometimes pseudonyms are necessary.
  • You should write about a particular subject matter or area — e.g., the in-house world, small firms, legal technology, contract attorneys — or from a particular perspective. We aren’t looking for columnists to offer their random thoughts about the legal world at large (Mark Herrmann, who has been writing for us for years, has been grandfathered in and is the exception to this rule).

Speaking of beats, here are some possible columns or subject matters that we’re looking to staff. We might even add multiple columnists in a given space, depending on the number and quality of responses we receive.

1. Biglaw partnership: One of our favorite columnists is managing partner Bruce Stachenfeld. We’re always interested in more writers like Bruce who can speak to the partnership segment of our readership. With Anonymous Partner no longer around, we’d love to have a current partner at a large law firm — think Am Law 200 or NLJ 250 — back in our pages.

2. Supreme Court: We’re good at being armchair pundits from ATL’s home base in New York, but we’d be interested in a D.C.-based correspondent who can cover key Supreme Court arguments in person. It would be helpful for this person to be a member of the Supreme Court bar, which would facilitate getting access to the arguments. (As Mike Sacks has explained, it’s a pain in the neck for mere members of the public to get in to watch SCOTUS proceedings.)

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3. Small law firms / Plaintiffs’ firms: The world of small firms is one of our most popular segments right now. And we are also interested in finding a successor to Jed Cain, who previously covered the plaintiffs’ bar for us.

4. In-house counsel: What do corporate counsel look for when hiring outside counsel? How can lawyers at firms land coveted in-house gigs? We are always eager for more in-house voices who can answer questions like these.

5. Overseas markets: We’ve covered foreign legal markets before — e.g., Letter From London — and we now have Dan Harris covering China and Steve Dykstra covering Canada. We remain open to column pitches from lawyers working abroad (e.g. Europe, Asia, or the Country of Africa).

6. Legal technology, including eDiscovery: As you may have noticed, we are building out our legal tech coverage. We have multiple writers covering legal technology and startups — Jeff Bennion, Niki Black, Joe Borstein, Sean Doherty, Ed Sohn — and we welcome even more.

(Note: If you work for a legal technology vendor or any other company selling services to the legal community, your submissions will be considered for use as either a native column or sponsored content. Please feel free to email advertising@breakingmedia.com for information about rates and availability.)

If you’d like to apply for any of these opportunities — or pitch a column concept of your own — please apply by emailing tips@abovethelaw.com (subject line: “Columnist Application”), sending us the following items:

1. A current résumé or bio (a link to an online bio like a firm website profile is fine).

2. A short description of your proposed column, ranging from a paragraph to a page, setting forth your editorial ideas or vision.

3. A sample post or column, ideally from 600 to 1000 words in length, showing us what you’d like to write for us. Please note that this sample post should be new and should be a sample of your proposed ATL column; do not send us previously published work or legal briefs or memos. (Requiring you to write something new is our way of testing your interest level.)

We accept columnist applications on a rolling basis and are always interested in compelling new voices, so there is no deadline. Please note that we don’t send emails confirming receipt of applications, and we don’t send rejection emails. If you haven’t heard from us within one month of submitting your application, you can assume we’ve gone in a different direction.

ABOVE THE LAW — INFORMATION FOR INTERNSHIP APPLICATIONS

1. We are seeking interns to work with us here in our New York office (specific days and hours to be determined). Our internships are educational experiences and would be excellent for journalism students who are interested in digital media or legal journalism, or for law students who are interested in writing, editing, and alternative careers.

2. The internship may involve research, writing, editing, social media, and database work — and, to be honest, some of this work will be less than thrilling (i.e., administrative or menial in nature). But there could be byline opportunities for aspiring writers.

3. The position is paid, albeit modestly (think minimum wage). We are looking for no more than 20 hours per week (i.e., this is not a full-time position, and it does not come with benefits).

4. If you’re interested, please email tips@abovethelaw.com, subject line “Internship Application.” Please include (a) a short explanation of your interest in the position, (b) a current résumé, and (c) some clips or writing samples, if available (as either links or attachments).

5. Please apply no later than Sunday, October 25, at 11:59 PM Eastern time.

UPDATE (4/12/2016): There is no longer a deadline. We’re always willing to consider internship applications.

As noted above regarding columnist applications, please note that we don’t send emails confirming receipt of applications, and we don’t send rejection emails. If you haven’t heard from us within one month of submitting your application, you can assume we’ve gone in a different direction. Thank you for your interest; we look forward to hearing from you!