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:
April-May 2025, June-July 2025 and August-September 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 an association 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” reflect our commitment to serving our primary audience – legal professionals. We also recognize that the term “legal professionals” represents a broad range of people – lawyers, judges, policy makers, law students, law professors, paralegals and more. That’s why each of these issues present a blend of stories that address legal affairs, controversial issues of law and practical articles to help professionals develop and enhance their careers.

Among the stories we published in these three issues were profiles of students with unusual paths to law school, including an Olympic athlete, flight attendant, actor, priest and chimpanzee handler. We also looked at how lawyers facing serious illness should manage their practices and how lawyers can embrace sustainability. We put a spotlight on bullying in the profession, the challenges women still face in a male dominated field and tips from judges on how to handle a court appearance. Our magazine also recognizes the challenges – if not personal demons – lawyers face, such as problem gambling , loneliness and the need for therapy – including a story about therapy dogs in the office.

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.”

The ABA Journal has a strong connection with readers, offering an opportunity for them to publish their own stories in a regular column called “Your Voice.” Our “Letters from Our Readers” section continues to offer readers a forum to share different points of view about our content.

Despite the loss of several employees and a reduction in the number of issues we publish due to budget cuts, the Journal continues to be the premier publication for the legal profession, offering its readers important, timely, entertaining and useful content in each issue.