LawTalk, the fortnightly New Zealand Law Society magazine, hits a milestone today by celebrating its 900th issue.
The magazine for the legal profession first went to print in 1974 and has a circulation of over 13,000, going to New Zealand-based lawyers, judges, legal executives, members of Parliament and others involved in the legal system.
LawTalk began as a monthly newsletter and quickly moved to fortnightly publication to become established as the leading source of news on the legal profession and changing law in days when print was the leading means of communication.
Its objectives were stated in the first issue: to provide lawyers with news about law and lawyers, practice and practitioners, and the Law Society. These remain today, with the magazine focusing on everything related to being a lawyer in 21st century New Zealand.
The rise of the internet and email have meant that the Law Society has developed other means of communicating with the legal profession, such as its weekly e-newsletters LawPoints and NZLS Weekly and through its website. An online version of LawTalk is now available, but the hardcopy magazine continues to be mailed out to all New Zealand lawyers and surveys have shown high levels of reader satisfaction.
New Zealand Law Society Communications Manager Geoff Adlam says the changing communication preferences of lawyers have meant some major changes are planned for LawTalk in 2017. The magazine will move to monthly publication and there will be a new design and focus.
“Apart from the English Law Society which has the weekly Law Society Gazette, no other lawyers’ organisation that we know publishes a fortnightly hardcopy magazine,” he says.
“We’re very proud that we’ve managed to produce a magazine which is usually 48 or more pages every fortnight, but we also recognise the huge amount of information lawyers now have to absorb. The monthly LawTalk will have a greater focus on lawyer lifestyle, developments in technology, new directions in legal practice and the interests of an increasingly diverse legal profession.”
Along with movements and issues in the legal sector and trends both national and international, the 900th edition of LawTalk 900 features an in-depth article on how many lawyers enter political life and rise to the position of Members of Parliament.
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