Contribute - Per Incuriam | Cambridge University Law Society (CULS)

Contribute

Thank you for your interest in contributing to Per Incuriam. This writer’s guide outlines the application process, the editing process and the difference between Blog and Print articles. If you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out to us at per-inc@culs.org.uk.

Who Can Contribute?
Per Incuriam welcomes submissions from all current undergraduate students from all universities and irrespective of degree. While Per Incuriam will not generally accept submissions from graduate students, the editorial team retains the right to accept particularly meritorious submissions written by such students.

Accepted Areas of Law
Submissions must be primarily focused on law, but submissions touching on other disciplines (such as economics, history or politics) are welcomed and encouraged. Submissions need not be focused on English or UK law but can also pertain to EU law, international law or law in foreign jurisdictions. This broad scope of accepted areas of law helps to ensure that Per Incuriam publishes on a diverse range of legal issues.

Application Process
The application process for Blog and Print articles is very similar. Contributors should send a short pitch for their article in the Microsoft Word file format (.doc or .docx) to per-inc@culs.org.uk. This pitch should be less than one page and include the following information:
‍
● The publication to which the article is being submitted (Per Incuriam Blog or Per Incuriam Print)
● The main subject-matter of the article;
● The jurisdiction(s) on which the article will focus;
● The category of law into which the article falls (e.g. Public Law, Private Law, International Law, etc.);
● The main argument(s) your article will be making and/or the new contribution(s) your article will be making to the academic literature in the area;

Bullet-point format is acceptable to address all of the above points. For individual Blogs posts (rather than a proposed series), this information can usually be conveyed in under 200 words. A slightly more thorough pitch is expected for submissions to the Print edition.

Per Incuriam accepts Blog posts year round; if accepted, Blog posts will be published online once the editing process is complete. Writers who want their submissions to be considered for the Print edition must submit their pitch before the magazine’s call for submissions (always announced a few weeks in advance on Facebook).

The Differences between Blog and Print Articles

‍
‍

Blog

Print

Introduction

The Per Incuriam Blog, to be found on the CULS website, is our more frequent publication. The Blog can cover a variety of different subjects and styles, with less restrictions on content or length. Blog pieces are a great way to get involved in Per Incuriam.

‍

Each edition of the Per Incuriam magazine (published four times a term) contains two legal articles from student contributors. These are generally based around a theme set by the editors, with a call for submissions released ahead of the magazine’s publication. The standard of these articles is generally stricter, as is the style — more like a journal article, and limited strictly to legal analysis. Magazine contributors are paid — and publication is a really exciting way to get involved in Legal Academia while in Cambridge.

Subject

Blog pieces can be on “anything” — mostly. Generally, we’ll ask for a legal themed piece, but, under that umbrella, anything which interests you is good for the Blog, and it need not be set to a theme. As long as you’re passionate, and the editors think the topic is interesting and appropriate, we’d love to publish it. Previous examples of Blog Subjects have been a 4-part series on the jurisprudence of video games, diversity in the judiciary, an interview with Judge Rinder, Lululemon and national security, Cambodian human rights law, and an in-depth explainer of the law surrounding the operation of SPACs.

Magazine pieces are more limited. Generally, they will be based around a theme, set for the edition. Consequently, the subject of the piece will not be so free, and will rather be necessarily limited by the theme, although this theme will be set rather broadly.

‍

Style

Blog Pieces have no set style — as long as the writing is good and the subject interesting, anything is entertained. In-depth articles, introductions to legal topics, case notes, comments on legal news, and literature reviews are all examples of styles which we have seen in the past, and we would love to see again. Unlike the magazine, Blog Articles do not need to be deep analytical legal pieces (although they are very much encouraged).

Magazine pieces are supposed to be similar to the kind of pieces seen in legal journals. Consequently, the style is limited to a formal legal academic style — and anything short of that will not really be accepted.

‍

Length

The length of a Blog article is not set at all. It is generally encouraged to be between 700 and 2000 words, with longer pieces generally split into multi-partners (such as our Six-Part SPACs series).

A Magazine Article will typically be between 1500-2000 words — the limitation being necessarily set by the amount of space within the edition we can give any one article.
‍

The Editing Process
All writers whose submission is accepted will be assigned an editor from the Per Incuriam editorial team to help the article rise to publishable quality. If there are no major changes being proposed to the core subject-matter or argument of the piece, we aim to always return edits to you in under a week. Writers are given slightly more time to make the necessary changes, but we ask that all writers return subsequent drafts as soon as possible and to let the editorial team know if they expect that they will require more than one week to make edits.

Typically, this timeline allows Blog posts to be published within three weeks of the pitch being approved, although there is no fixed deadline. The editing process for Print articles can take slightly longer, but the article must always be ready for publication by the print edition deadline.

Other Per Incuriam Opportunities
Aside from these primary outlets for our writers, Per Incuriam also offers other writing opportunities. Primarily, these are with our international collaborator, Columbia University in New York City. The requirements for these are set out in the posts announcing these opportunities, although they will generally be more similar to the Print edition, rather than the Blog.

Exemplar Articles
Below are a set of articles that we think exemplify the different forms of writing we expect from writers.

Blog Post (Legal Analysis, short-form — Clodagh Kelsh on French Surrogacy Laws):
https://www.culs.org.uk/per-incuriam/female-empowerment-in-french-bioethics-law-the-impact-of-2020s-proposed-reform

Blog Post (Legal Analysis, serial — Alec Thompson on the Jurisprudence of Video Games):
https://www.culs.org.uk/per-incuriam/gaius-in-cyberspace-the-law-which-evolves-inside-video-games-part-i

Blog Post (Commercial Guide — Elliot Wright on the Lloyds Open Forum):
https://www.culs.org.uk/per-incuriam/the-ever-given-a-lens-for-lloyds-open-form-salvage

Blog Post (Casenote — Dom Bielby on R(Dunn)):
https://www.culs.org.uk/per-incuriam/r-dunn-v-secretary-of-state-for-foreign-and-commonwealth-affairs-immunity-by-accidentMagazine

Article (Either Dr Elaine Freer’s article on the Criminal Justice System in the Pandemic, or Natasha Godsiff’s article on Domestic Violence law):
https://issuu.com/perincuriam/docs/per_incuriam_mt_2020?fbclid=IwAR3kOkE2bJbtmo0Y2HadGfTJR7OvH08jIo04JlTV3qhoYy-kawTWsNprFys

Collaboration with Columbia University (Alexandra Tsalidis and Poppy Kemp on Vagrancy Law):
https://www.culawreview.org/roundtable-1/roundtable-discussion-the-criminalization-of-homelessness-in-the-united-states-and-the-united-kingdom

‍
Thank you all very much for reading, and we're looking forward to reading your contributions,

The Per Incuriam Team