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Practitioner Book Proposals

Submitting a practitioner law book proposal

For projects that have practising lawyers as their sole or principal target audience, what follows should provide some guidance as to what is needed by way of proposal paper-work, and as to the assessment and approval processes that apply, as well as basic contact details for submitting a practitioner law proposal.

The Assessment Process

When an enquiry or proposal is received, the relevant Practitioner Law Editor will respond immediately to let the putative author or editor know whether their proposal might in principle be suitable for publication by OUP. If so, the Editor will discuss with the author how best to refine the proposal and put together the relevant papers (see Basic Constituents of the Proposal below). All publishing proposals must pass successfully through a peer-review process (the papers are sent in confidence to expert practitioners and academics for their advice on its suitability for publication by OUP). If the peer-reviewers are supportive of publication, the proposal must then be formally approved by the OUP Board of Delegates before a publishing contract can be offered. The author will be asked to respond to any questions or comments made by peer-reviewers before the papers are put to the Delegates for approval.

Basic Constituents of the Proposal

A successful proposal for a practitioner law book will usually comprise the following, in terms of supporting paperwork:

A synopsis – setting out the purpose and approach of the proposed book, and supported by a draft table of contents with at least a few lines to describe the content of each chapter, and an indication of the likely length of each chapter (and of any appendices); in the case of a book to be written by a team, an indication also of who will be writing which chapters;

A covering letter or note – setting out details of: the author’s suitability and motivation for pursuing the project; the proposed readership; the ways in which the proposed book fits in with and/or improves upon the existing books and information resources on the market; the manner in which the writing would be approached; any special points of style, structure or presentation; the proposed writing timetable and completion date; any plans for keeping the book up to date after publication; in the case of a book to be written by a team, an indication of the way in which the writing process will be managed to ensure a consistent and coherent outcome in terms of the finished book;

A curriculum vitae – including details of any relevant professional experience and a list of any previous publications (books and/or articles); in the case of a writing team, similar details for each contributor;

Other supporting materials – this is not always essential, but if there are other materials that can be put forward to illustrate the proposed approach or demonstrate the author’s previous writing experience, they can be helpful (e.g. draft chapters of the proposed book; articles written by the author on the same or a similar topic).

Who to Contact

Proposals or expressions of interest in writing or contributing to practitioner law works can be sent to the commissioning editor for that area:

Criminal Law and Blackstone's Guides Series
Jane Kavanagh - Editor in Chief
Phone: +44 (0)1865 353948

Police and Law Enforcement
Peter Daniell - Commissioning Editor
Phone: +44 (0)1865 353279

Private Client, Local Government, Public Law, Human Rights, Employment Law, and Construction Law
Roxanne Selby - Commissioning Editor
Phone: +44 (0)1865 353046

Intellectual Property Law (general and applied to specific technologies); Information Technology, communications and data protection law; Entertainment, media and sport law; Competition/Antitrust Law; Private International Law
Luke Adams - Senior Commissioning Editor
Phone: +44 (0)1865 353165

Banking and Financial Law, Corporate, General Contract and Commercial Law
Rachel Mullaly - Senior Commissioning Editor
Phone: +44 (0)1865 354840

Arbitration and Legal Practice Management
Catherine Redmond - Senior Commissioning Editor
Phone: +44 (0)20 7616 5908

Civil Litigation, Tribunals,Tort, Personal Injury and Medical Law
Sophie Baird - Commissioning Editor
Phone: +44 (0)20 7616 5907

The editors are always more than happy to have a preliminary discussion about a possible proposal and its suitability for OUP, and will be glad to advise on any queries.

To request a style guide for practitioner law books, please contact:

Geraldine Mangley - Production Manager
Academic, Practitioner and Police Law
Phone: +44 (0)1865 353427

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