schools&communityeducationservice

the verdict magazine is a unique publication offering legal news to the Queensland community. it is not an academic journal. the magazine provides up-to-date information on legislative developments, case law, discussion topics and general legal news.The Verdict is a popular part f the Queensland Law Society’s Schools and Community Education Service. It was Queensland’s first online legal magazine - now also available in hard copy - addressing the information needs of students, legal educators and the wider community.

linking you with the law...

The VerdicT

The Verdict informs and entertains its readers.

It informs its readers with articles on current legal topics and on people working within the many areas of the law, providing a clearer point of view of the functioning of the law in Queensland.

It entertains its readers with legal tidbits, puzzles, cartoons, resource reviews, and competitions and events.

Further, it is something to look forward to, and is responsible for promoting the law and those who work in the law, to the wider Queensland community.

Published three times each year, The Verdict is a bright, full-colour magazine presenting the law in an easy-to-understand format, with a range of informative articles and commentaries written by legal professionals. In recent times, contributing authors have included members of parliament, judges, barristers, solicitors, university lecturers and community legal groups.

contributionsContributions to The Verdict are always welcome and may cover a wide range of legal topics. All contributions, aside from those regular features, are reviewed by The Verdict working party.

Articles are selected for publication based on topicality and their relevance to the community. Articles are accompanied by photographs (jpeg, tif, eps are all accepted), and biographical information about the contributing author.

The following guidelines should be followed for all contributions.

While there is no formal limit on contribution 1. length, The Verdict rarely has articles of more than 5000 words. Case notes should not exceed 1000 words.

Plain English style is required. The Verdict 2. officially refers to the News Limited publication ‘Style: a guide for journalists and professional writers’, 2003 edition. The Macquarie Dictionary is the reference book for spelling and word usage.

All legal articles should be of benefit to students, 3. legal educators and the wider community, and

should relate to a topical subject, a new law (proposed or passed), or legal issue.

Each contribution should 4. be in Word document format and

accompanied by a synopsis of 100 words or less, a print-quality image of the author,

a brief (no more than 25 words) biography about the author, and contact details for the

author (not for publication).

conTribuTing To

schools&communityeducationservice

the verdict magazine is a unique publication offering legal news to the Queensland community. it is not an academic journal. the magazine provides up-to-date information on legislative developments, case law, discussion topics and general legal news.The Verdict is a popular part f the Queensland Law Society’s Schools and Community Education Service. It was Queensland’s first online legal magazine - now also available in hard copy - addressing the information needs of students, legal educators and the wider community.

linking you with the law...

The VerdicTconTribuTing To

Articles should be submitted to schools@qls.5. com.au and a confirmation of receipt email will be sent to the author within a couple of days.

Contributions may be accepted or declined. The 6. Verdict working party reserves the right to suggest amendments to any contribution. Where two articles are received on the same topic, the working party will select the article it feels best meets the information needs of the target audience.

Style Pointersnumbers:*

Write out one to nine. Use figures for 10 to 9999, and use a comma from 10,000 on.

Exceptions: ages, but only when they follow a name (Henrietta Seed, 4, but the boy, two) and it is a two-year-old boy;days of the month;figures containing decimals (3.4 litres);

measures that involve abbreviations (7km), but three litres, two metres, two million people, not 2 million or 2,000,000;numbers that are part of titles (Article 6, section 5);percentages, always use figures (3 percent);times of day;words that contain numbers (a hundredfold);fractions. As a rule, spell out: half a day, two-thirds of an apple, but broken numbers are given in figures 31/2

* based on ‘Style’, 2003 edition, News Limited, p124.

dates:Write: Wednesday, 3 October, 2008

Acts:The names of Acts (but not the year) are always italicised, for example the Legal Profession Act 2007.

citation:Nine Films & Television Pty Ltd v Ninox Television Ltd [2006] FCA 1046 at [5].Note that case names are always italicised.

quotations:Use double (“) opening and closing (“)

quotation marks to indicate quotations (rather than italics or indents).

footnotes:Endnote, not footnotes, and in plain numerical

style - 1,2,3,4,5, etc.