Bar Journals: State and Local Bar Association Publications
Practical magazines published by state and local bar associations to keep working lawyers current — how they differ from law reviews, and where to find your state's.
What Bar Journals Publish
A bar journal is the flagship magazine of a bar association — usually a state bar, sometimes a county or city bar. Unlike a law review, its audience is practicing lawyers, so its content is practical and current: plain-language explainers of recent statutes and appellate decisions, practice-management and ethics guidance, columns from bar leadership, notices of rule changes, member news, and continuing-legal-education announcements. Many run peer-reviewed feature articles alongside the news, but the center of gravity is current awareness rather than long-form scholarship.
Flagships: Georgia Bar Journal, CBA Record, Boston Bar Journal
Most state bars publish a flagship periodical. The Georgia Bar Journal is the State Bar of Georgia’s publication; the CBA Record is the magazine of the Chicago Bar Association; and the Boston Bar Journal is published by the Boston Bar Association. Titles like these are typical of the genre — a mix of practice-focused articles, association news, and CLE listings. Because bar associations publish these themselves, the reliable way to reach the current issue is through the association’s own website.
Directory by State
Rather than reproduce a list of magazine titles that change names and formats, we point you to the source: the bar association in each state. Our state bar associations directory links to the official site of every state bar and the DC Bar, and each association’s publications section is where its journal — and its archive — lives. That keeps you on verified, official pages instead of relying on third-party copies.
Bar Journals vs Law Reviews
The two are easy to confuse and serve very different readers. A law review is student-edited, scholarly, and written largely for academics, judges, and other lawyers building legal arguments; a bar journal is association-published, practical, and written for lawyers who need to keep up with day-to-day developments in their state. Law reviews chase original doctrinal analysis; bar journals chase usefulness. Both belong in a complete picture of legal periodicals — browse the rest in our legal journals directory.
We are not affiliated with any bar association or its publications. Journal names and access policies vary by association and change over time; confirm details on the bar’s official site. Nothing here is legal advice.