When, in 1972, the Gazette began publishing four issues a month instead of one, an editorial portentously remarked: ‘Change is taking place more quickly today than at any other period of history. Information about something as fundamental as the law should be disseminated as quickly as possible.'
Over the last decade in particular, the Gazette has stayed true to its word. Even hebdomadal publication now seems positively quaint. Every working day readers can choose to receive an email update featuring all the latest breaking legal news and opinion. Most days there is something for everyone – from the sole practitioner to the magic circle partner, from the trainee to the FTSE general counsel.
One news item alone posted to lawgazette.co.uk last week was viewed by more than 100,000 people*. That’s a lot. As recently as 2010 our online readership was practically nil, the Law Society in those days being rather slow to realise the potential of web publishing.
I do want to stress, however, that our flagship remains the weekly magazine. And – as you might have inferred from today’s cover – this issue marks both an end and a new beginning. After 118 years and more than 3,000 editions, this is the last weekly Gazette magazine that will appear in print. Our next weekly magazine, on 7 January, will be published in digital format only.
The digital Gazette will come with added benefits, in addition to the long-form staples you have come to expect. First, you’ll receive it by email much sooner than the print issue – on a Friday, the morning after we go to press, rather than Monday. Second, there will be more in-depth analysis by the Gazette’s team of writers and columnists that you won’t be able to read anywhere else. And third, it will be free.
If you currently subscribe to our Daily Update, you will get the weekly magazine automatically each week. If you don’t receive the daily but want the weekly, click here to sign up.
Merry Christmas.
*A bottle of champagne for the first reader to guess which story (clue: it was not about a solicitor): email paul.rogerson@lawsociety.org.uk
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