How to Submit an Article to the Tennessee Bar Journal

The Tennessee Bar Journal is accepting immediate submissions for publication, including articles (up to about 3,500 words), as well as specific subject-area, column-length (1,200 words) pieces. Writers with diverse backgrounds and experience levels are especially encouraged to submit. Articles submitted to the Journal are reviewed by a seven-member editorial board, and should be of interest to Tennessee lawyers. Authors are not required to be lawyers, but articles that have any commercial aspect to them (i.e., if the article advocates using a particular person or company for any services) will not be considered.

The Tennessee Bar Journal is distributed to the approximately 13,000 members of the Tennessee Bar Association.

Format and Procedures
Electronic submissions are preferred in a Word document or PDF. The Journal does not usually publish reprinted articles, but will consider it if the readership of the original publication does not overlap much with the Journal’s readership, and if permission is available. Please indicate information regarding previous publication in your cover letter.

Preferred length of submissions is 3,500 words, including endnotes. Please put any notes at the end and not at the bottom of each page. Do not footnote your name, but include a biographical sketch (two to three sentences) separately.

Please do not submit your article simultaneously to another publication. If you have already done so, please indicate that in your cover letter.

Time Frame
If an article is accepted, we will notify you and determine at that time which issue it will likely be in. At that time you will be asked to sign an agreement letter, giving the Tennessee Bar Association rights to the article, along with permission to use it on our web site, and for WestLaw, LexisNexis and EBSCO to use it if they so choose. The review process can take up to two months.

CLE Credit
Supreme Court Rule 21 Section 4.08(b) allows you to apply for CLE credit for your published writing. For details on claiming the credit, check with the Tennessee Commission on Continuing Legal Education

Supreme Court Rule 21 4.08
The Commission may, in its discretion, award:

(b) Up to one-half of the annual requirement (six (6) General credits and one and one-half (1.5) EP credits) for published writings concerning substantive law, the practice of law, or the ethical and professional responsibilities of attorneys if the writing is published in approved publications intended primarily for attorneys. Credit shall be awarded in the amount of one (1) hour for every 1,000 words, not including footnotes, endnotes or citations of authority. Credit shall not be awarded to a named author when the actual principal author was another person acting under the direction or supervision of the named author. In requesting credit under this subsection, the attorney shall provide the Commission with an affidavit stating the facts of authorship.

Email your submission to editor@tnbar.org.

Thank you for your interest in the Journal!