Become an Author

Write an eLangdell® casebook or chapter

This is your chance to be recognized as a pioneer of the open, digital casebook.  eLangdell® Press publishes open casebooks, casebook chapters, and supplements for law schools to adopt and use in their classes. After review and editing by our Editorial Committee and CALI staff, casebooks are given a Creative Commons license that allows them to be remixed and reused by law professors and students without fear of copyright violations. The books are then published DRM-free in a variety of digital formats (compatible with almost every reader) on the CALI eLangdell® Press website and available for download at absolutely no cost to students or professors. In most cases, they even come in print! 

See what is in progress.

 

More Details on Proposals and Publishing:

  • Proposals are subject to review and approval by an editorial committee. Potential authors also have a conversation with committee members so we can better understand your vision for your book and you can better understand our process. 
  • A casebook or chapters previously self-published (e.g., via SSRN) will be considered.
  • Authors must be faculty at a CALI member law school. (Currently, CALI focuses on resources for US law schools.)
  • Compensation for individual stand-alone chapters will be $500 per chapter. 
  • CALI will negotiate with the author for the compensation of an entire casebook. Payment is one lump sum upon completing the book and teacher's manual. 
  • Your finalized chapter or book should include end-of-chapter/section note cases, comments, and questions. CALI encourages authors to include interactive questions using h5p that appear in the web-based version of the book. Examples can be viewed at lawbooks.cali.org (look at the books by Professors Alice Ristroph, Ruthann Robson, and Zahr K. Said). CALI will assist in adding h5p questions. A manual about the types of questions is here
  • Additionally, the project requires a Teacher's Manual to assist other professors in adopting your material. The Teacher's Manual is available only to faculty at CALI member law schools or institutions with an affiliate membership with CALI. Students do not have access to the Teacher's Manual.  
  • All completed first drafts or already published materials go through a peer-review process. CALI anticipates that authors will make revisions based on these peer reviews before publication. 
  • CALI Publication includes your copyright assignment in the material to CALI; CALI distributes the completed material with a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license.
  • Authors must secure permission to use third-party materials (images, law review articles, or newspaper articles, for example) and permit distribution with a Creative Commons license.

 

  • Your proposal must include:
    • Professor’s current CV.
    • For a book proposal, we require a sample chapter AND a proposed table of contents or an outline for the entire book. We prefer to NOT receive a law review article as a writing sample.
    • For a chapter proposal, we require a draft version of the full chapter. The chapter should include edited cases, ideas for h5p questions, and notes & questions.  
    • A brief statement detailing why you have chosen eLangdell® Press as your publisher.
    • Please indicate if the chapter or book is already completed and in use, in progress, or in the idea stage.

 

  • Deadlines for submission of proposals for either chapters or casebooks are as follows:
    • Next Deadline: November 1, 2024

 

  • You may sign up here for updates on eLangdell Press, including notices for acceptance for new proposals.
  • Send proposals & questions about eLangdell Press to Sara Smith, CALI Assistant Director of Curriculum Development: email: ssmith at cali.org.

Revised 02/20/2024