Entry Details

About the Entry

Category: 
Overall Excellence > Magazine of the Year > 11 or Fewer Issues per Year

Title of entry: 
ABA Journal

Issue or Publication date:
August-September 2024, October-November 2024, December 2024-January 2025

Publication name: 
ABA Journal

View Website home page:
abajournal.com

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Entry Essay: 
The ABA Journal is the flagship publication of the American Bar Association. Its mission is to cover legal affairs, the legal profession and to serve its members by being the premier magazine of the legal community. While the Journal is considered a business/trade publication, it strives to provide compelling, interesting and important legal stories that are of interest not only to lawyers and ABA members, but to a broad audience and anyone interested in the law.

The issues we submitted for consideration for “Magazine of the Year” show the variety and scope of what the ABA Journal brings to its readers: stories of substance that address important issues, along with practical articles to help lawyers thrive amid the many challenges they face, such as our most recent cover story about lawyers who are moms, particularly Millennials, who are demanding better work-life balance. Another was about innovative ways lawyers can market their firms.

During the past year, we also published stories that were entertaining and informative. The Journal featured stories about lawyers who inspire others through their endeavors inside and outside the courtroom and devoted many pages to stories about lawyers who represent diversity within the profession. For example, we profiled a person who overcame the challenges of living with muscular dystrophy to create a career in law. Another celebrated a Chinese-American lawyer who helps Asian immigrants. The Journal also examined the challenges facing Asian American and Pacific Islanders in joining the nation’s judiciary. And we published a story that shows how Native American law students face unique challenges and barriers in finding a path to a legal career.

The Journal also covered substantive issues in the law. For example, while high profile wrongful convictions have gotten much press, we examined a little known-problem about people wrongfully convicted of small crimes who face a litany of negative consequences. We published a story about one of the country’s most high-profile, successful and controversial attorneys, Roberta Kaplan, who won major cases including judgements against Donald Trump who was found responsible for sexual assault and defamation against E. Jean Carroll.

The Journal has continued strengthening its connection with readers by offering a column called “Your Voice” in which they can write first-person essays about legal topics. Our “Letters from Our Readers” section continues to offer readers a forum to share different points of view about our content.

Inside the magazine, our departments include stories that help lawyers improve their practice such as the Business of Law section. We cover trends and legal affairs in our National Pulse section and stories about our members and their activities in the ABA Insider department. Each issue includes columns on ethics and legal writing, and closes with a single-page historical article called “Precedents,” which looks back at a fascinating variety of legal stories.

The Journal continues to be the premier publication for the legal profession, offering its readers important, timely, entertaining and useful content in each issue.