Author Guidelines

GPSolo magazine is published six times a year by the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division and is distributed to Division members and subscribers.

The format and content of GPSolo have been designed to appeal to a diverse readership. As GPSolo magazine is not a law journal, articles are generally written in an informal and conversational style. Submitted works are edited as needed for style, content, and length, and some articles are sent to the magazine’s editorial board for review. Authors are expected to sign a Publication Agreement granting the ABA the right of first publication.

Below are the GPSolo guidelines for all feature articles, including featured technology articles.

Feature Articles

A successful feature article is one that provides practical, hands-on solutions to a problem or problems most solos, small firm lawyers, or general practitioners face. Practical information is valued over theoretical ideas. Feature articles cover a broad range of substantive areas as well as issues related to practice management, professional responsibility, quality of life, and technology. Technology articles are geared both to lawyers who are just entering the world of technology as well as those who are already familiar with what technology can do for them but want to learn more.

Style

GPSolo is not a law journal, so articles shouldn’t be written in an abstract, legalistic way. Express your ideas informally and conversationally.

• If at all possible, avoid legal citations.
• Steer clear of trite metaphors and clichés.
• Favor short words over long ones.
• Write in an active, rather than a passive, voice (e.g., “Congress passed the law” instead of “The law was passed by Congress”).
• Don’t use legal jargon if there is a clear, conversational equivalent.
• If it seems appropriate, use anecdotes and/or humor to make your points.
• Please remember that the language should be gender-neutral.

Format

Generally, feature articles should be 2,000 to 2,300 words, excluding the author’s biography; this is equivalent to roughly seven to eight double-spaced pages. Either the editorial board’s issue editor or the ABA staff managing editor will tell you if your article is an exception. Please submit your article as an MS Word file or an RTF file via an e-mail attachment.

Author Photo and Biography

Author bylines, bios, and photos for all articles in GPSolo periodicals are now pulled directly from each author’s ABA ID/Profile. You do not need to become an ABA member to get an ABA ID/Profile, and they are free to create. However, every author must have an ID/Profile; otherwise, the author’s byline, bio, and photo will be missing or incomplete.

To create your free ABA ID/Profile or to edit your existing profile, select the link below and follow the online prompts.

Full instructions for creating or editing your profile can be found here.

Your profile should contain, at a minimum, your biography, your photo, and your company name/address.

At the end of your article, please also supply an abbreviated, 65-word biography for the PDF version.

Editing

Your article will be edited as needed for style, content, and length. When you submit your article, it will be sent to the magazine’s editorial board for review. The magazine editors, including the staff editor, will incorporate the board members’ queries and suggestions during the editing process. When they are finished with your manuscript, you will have an opportunity to review it for errors. Please note that because of deadline pressures, you will not see the typeset pages until the article is published.

Copyright

Authors are expected to sign a Publication Agreement granting the ABA the right of first publication. The ABA Publication Agreement also warrants that the work is original and its publication by the ABA will not infringe on others. As the ABA Publication Agreement is non-exclusive, authors retain the rights to the text and do not need to request the ABA’s permission to use the text in other publications or media at a future date. The ABA asks only that authors fully cite the publication in which the article first appeared. (Further details about citation requirements will accompany the Publication Agreement.) Although the author retains the rights to the text, the ABA holds the copyright in the publication. Therefore, the author does not have the right to freely photocopy or otherwise directly reproduce the actual pages on which the article appears or photocopy or otherwise directly reproduce the periodical in part or in its entirety. Should any photographs, illustrations, cartoons, advertisements, etc., appear on a page with the author’s text, those portions should be blocked out before reproduction, as well as text from other articles. The reproduction of the ABA logo, covers, and mastheads of ABA publications is strictly prohibited.

ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division Editorial Policy for Authors

By submitting a work for publication, all authors acknowledge they have reviewed the ABA Business Conduct Standards (BCS) and agree to comply with all applicable provisions.

Authors must agree not to submit any content that infringes upon or violates the copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property rights of any person or organization.

The Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division will not publish any content or material that is defamatory or violates the law.

The Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division reserves the right to reject any submission and to retract or reject any publication at any point in the publication process if there are any concerns with its content, including any content that is inconsistent with the ABA’s goals and policies. The Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division does not guarantee publication of any submission.

Authors have an obligation to correct mistakes if they discover a significant error or inaccuracy in their publication. Upon discovering such an error, the author must contact the Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division and identify the error. A decision on how to correct the publication will be made by the Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division depending on the nature of the error.

If the submission has been previously published or is scheduled to be published elsewhere, the Author must communicate that fact to the Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division.

The Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division grants its authors a wide latitude of expression and encourages thoughtful presentation of a wide variety of viewpoints but reserves the right to edit and, if necessary, revise any submission before publication to conform to the ABA’s editorial requirements and procedures, including ABA standards of style, editing, and format, and the Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division’s policies and procedures.