The Evolution of WCL’s Only Criminal Law Publication: Introducing the Criminal Law Practitioner

On behalf of the 2013-2014 Executive Board, we are pleased to formally announce our publication’s transition from the Criminal Law Brief to the Criminal Law Practitioner.  Building on the strong foundation from our many publications as the Criminal Law Brief, which identified key issues and recent developments in the criminal law field, our journal now seeks to take our articles one step further by discussing the practical application of prevalent and controversial issues in criminal law.  This is something many other criminal law journals and publications have yet to delve into and we are very excited to initiate what we hope will be an enduring trend.  To reflect the new mission of our publication, we implemented the name change from the Criminal Law Brief to the Criminal Law Practitioner.

We are currently accepting article submissions from practitioners all over the country.  For specific requirements, please visit our website where you will find the Style Guide and Topic Proposal form.  This new format caters to the life of a busy criminal law practitioner: the articles will be shorter, timely, and practical.   Furthermore, to ensure a comprehensive publication that identifies a variety of facets in the criminal law field, the Criminal Law Practitioner, published biannually, will promote the scholarship of not only practitioners, but also current American University, Washington College of Law students.  For more information on our new publication, please visit our website. 

Former Editor-in-Chief, Monica Trigoso, kicked off our blog in 2011; since her creation of the blog, we have had an outlet for providing quick and detailed analyses of current contested issues in criminal law.  Such issues range anywhere from discussing a recent court decision, providing a review of a new book in the field of criminal law, or analyzing the effect of newly implemented legislation or policies.  We welcome guest blog submissions throughout the year, which can be sent to crimlawpractitionerblog@gmail.com.  To eliminate any confusion, our web address will soon be changed from the Criminal Law Brief Blog to the Criminal Law Practitioner Blog.

In an effort to promote our newly transformed publication so it finds its way to the best readers and writers, we can now be found on a variety of social media, including Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.  Please “like” us, “connect” with us, or “follow” us, to stay up-to-date! 

Thank you for bearing with us as we make this exciting transition.  With this new direction, it is our hope that judges, prosecutors, public defenders, and other practicing criminal lawyers can use both our publication and our blog as an insightful reference.  We look forward to publishing a great issue this Fall and encourage our readers to consider submitting either an article or guest blog post for publication.

Megan Petry

Editor-in-Chief, Criminal Law Practitioner