A Brief History of Praxis

 

The Malaysian Bar publication started off as Infoline in 1986, and was revamped as Praxis in December 2006. It was then changed into an online publication in 2008, as it became more expensive to publish and distribute Praxis in printed form, due to an increase in the number of Members and law firms.

 

In continued effort to ensure Praxis would be available to Members, we collaborated with LexisNexis in 2011 in order to publish and distribute the publication in the form of a printed quarterly periodical.

 

Unfortunately, the costs of publication and distribution finally took its toll, with the last printed copy of Praxis being published in July 2017, which specifically featured the current challenges faced by the Malaysian Bar.

 

In the interim, between September 2016 and September 2017, the Continuing Professional Development Department shouldered the task to provide Members with regular access to a Malaysian Bar publication, and developed Legal Craft and Such—a magazine with free subscription available through Thomson Reuters’s online publishing and repository platform known as ProView.

 

The response to Legal Craft and Such has been positive with more than 1,500 subscribers and 7,000 views of the publication so far.

 

In June 2017, the Bar Council decided to revive Praxis, as it has a longstanding history and it is the only publication that defines the identity of the Malaysia Bar. It aims to highlight its achievements and challenges, and provide valuable insights—through a distinctive journal—on contemporary issues that influence the practice of law in Malaysia. It also maintains as an important platform for our 17,000 lawyers to keep abreast with events and developments related to the legal profession. Praxis will be hosted on ProView as part of the Bar Council’s initiative on content digitalisation.

 

Submission Guidelines

 

(1) Title of the article
(2) Word count: Between 1,500 to 3,000 words
(3) Referencing style appropriate to your discipline (eg, footnotes, bibliography, or references)
(4) Author’s name, designation, and organisation
(5) Organisation logo

 

Notes for Consideration

 

(1) The copyright of the article remains with the author at all times. The author may reproduce and submit the article to other publications and/or platforms of their choice.

 

(2) Each issue of Praxis will be uploaded on a Thomson Reuters’ application known as ProView. It could be viewed online or downloaded into mobile devices, and registration is free for lawyers and authors. You may click here for more information. Please note that the latest issue will only be available on ProView. However, all the past issues are accessible on the CPD website for public viewing.

 

(3) Articles that involve collaboration between authors from different institutions and/or exceptional student essays may be submitted for our consideration.

 

(4) The editorial process is as follows:

 

(a) Call for Submission

 

We will call for submission on a quarterly or yearly basis, depending on need for content. We will ask for the number of articles that the authors and/or organisations are able to commit for publication for each year. When the authors have undertaken the obligation to write the articles, they are typically expected to submit the first draft by the 15th of each month.

 

(b) Draft and Substance Edit

 

Once the first drafts have been received, our editorial staff will assess the content and make appropriate modifications in terms of stylistic (eg: grammatical errors, typos, formatting) and structural (eg: section headings, order of paragraphs, new language to improve the flow of article) requirements. The revised drafts, where the amendments are substantive, will be returned to the authors who are required to address these suggestions. This will usually take about one to two weeks of communication between the authors and editorial staff before a final draft is submitted.

 

(c) Final Approval and Publication

 

Once the final draft of an article has been edited and proofread, it will be sent to our design team. This will take place one to two weeks after the deadline for the final draft.

 

While we will make every effort to publish the articles that we have received, the final decision will rest with the management of the Bar Council.

 

Expression of Interest

 

If this is something that you would consider, we would be most appreciative if you could kindly indicate your interest by email at cpd@malaysianbar.org.my. Should you have any questions or suggestions, please don’t feel hesitate to contact us.