Contributors Guidelines

Guidelines for submission of articles

Please submit articles under one of the following headings:

In practice

Authors should focus on a major, current theme of interest to employment lawyers. Articles should highlight the implications of a particular development for employment law practitioners andgive both comment and practical guidance in detail. Critical comment of recent decisions is welcomed, and the best articles will highlight the arguments each way on unresolved issues. Articles should ideally be 675 words (one page with photo), and 775 words thereafter. So 1450 for a 2 page article, 2225 for a 3 page article and 3000 for a  4 page article.  The most common article length is 2 pages.

In Europe

Articles may be submitted specifically on a topic of European law – length 675, 1450 or 2225 words.

Platform

These are punchy, topical and opinionated pieces, often expressing a fairly radical or controversial view. These will normally be highlighted as the writer’s individual views and not those of his/her firm or of ELA. They should be 650 words in length.

Case reports

Short case reports of judgments that may be of interest to ELA members are welcomed. Authors should remember that internet sources now mean that case summaries can be delivered far faster than via a printed journal; we therefore seek some level of comment that adds value to the case report. A recitation of facts and conclusion, without more, is unlikely to be accepted. A case report should be ideally be one page 675 words although we will consider 1450 2 page case reports as long as there is adequate comment.

Checklists/model clauses

Authors should provide a practical checklist to aid employment practitioners with a particular transaction or some area of employment practice that commonly give rise to problems and questions, or a model clause which may assist other practitioners. This should be prefaced with a short introductory commentary. Up to 675 words in length –mbut can be considerably shorter.

Style

Please note the following:

• text should be submitted with an opening paragraph (which the editor may adapt as a standfirst) and with appropriate headings and sub-headings. There should also be a conclusion
• use bullet points, not numbered or lettered paragraphs
• do not use footnotes – ELA Briefing is not an academic publication and footnotes should not be used.

References

• references to cases should be made in the text by name only. A list of full citations should appear at the end of the article. Thus the name Harper v Virgin Net Ltd would appear in the text, while the full citation should be setout at the bottom of the article as Harper v Virgin Net Ltd [2004] IRLR 390 ( case name in italics citation in normal type).
  
• if possible, please provide a hyperlink to the case on the internet (which will be included as a link in the electronic version of ELA Briefing published on www.elaweb.org.uk)

Photos

• if your article is accepted for publication, we would like to publish your photograph. This should be provided as a computer file, jpeg or tiff, as large (ie high-resolution) as possible. Pictures need to be a minimum of 5cms at a quality of 300dpi (dots per inch). We are now printing in colour so a colour photo is best. It would help if you sent the photo at the same time as submitting the article (although this is not necessary) as it avoids delay during the very narrow window we have between accepting the article and printing the Briefing

Submission of articles

Please send material by e-mail (MS Word is preferable) to the editor at alock@beachcroft.co.uk and copy it to the ELA information services officer at cprimett@elaweb.org.uk It is a condition of publication that ELA Briefing has First British Publication Rights. Please do not submit articles that have been printed elsewhere (either in the same, or similar, form). Please also do not submit articles if you have submitted them elsewhere and are awaiting a decision from that other publication.  Please make sure any material you contribute to ELA Briefing will not expose ELA or IDS to any civil of criminal proceedings. It is always preferable to check that an article on your chosen topic has not already been commissioned before you start writing. If you have any queries or ideas for articles, please contact alock@beachcroft.co.uk and copy to cprimett@elaweb.org.uk. Note that an invitation to submit an article is not a guarantee of publication.