Following this course, you will be able to:
• Utilize your legal experiences and cases to write legal non-fiction
• Pick a legal subject and turn it into a book
• Understand the non-fiction publishing business
• Choose timely topics
• Develop story ideas for non-fiction articles
• Get paid for writing non-fiction
• Turn your book idea into a successful non-fiction book
• Write a successful non-fiction book proposal
• Find the right agent for you
• Write compelling non-fiction
• Understand what it takes to write non-fiction books
• Understand and use the submission process to your advantage
• Make the perfect pitch of your work
• Motivate yourself to write
• Research and write works of non-fiction
• Find time to write
• Use the correct writing style for your piece of non-fiction

Steven Babitsky, Esquire is the President of SEAK, Inc., a publishing and seminar company. He received his BA from the City University of New York and his JD from Boston College Law School. Attorney Babitsky has written for Matthew Bender as a contributing author of the Social Security Practice Guide, Understanding the AMA Guides in Workers’ Compensation Cases (co-author), Wiley Law Publications, as well as the co-author of eight texts published and marketed through SEAK, Inc. Attorney Babitsky was the long time Editor of Workers’ Compensation Monthly and Occupational Medical Digest. Attorney Babitsky has 25 years of experience in the writing, marketing, selling, and publishing of legal non-fiction.

Laura Leedy Gansler is the co-author of Class Action: The Story of Lois Jensen and the Landmark Case That Changed Sexual Harassment Law. Laura is a lawyer specializing in alternative dispute resolution and securities law. She is a former adjunct law professor at American University. After graduating from Harvard University, Gansler received a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1989.

Robert Miller, Esquire graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School where he served as Senior Editor of the Law Review. He is presently with the firm of Sheehan, Phinney, Bass & Green in Manchester, New Hampshire, where he has a busy practice in federal courts litigation. He is the author of Law School Confidential (which spent several weeks in 2003 in the Amazon Top 500 sellers list) and the co-author of Business School Confidential and Med School Confidential. He is represented by the New York Literary Agency of Wieser & Elwell. He is currently at work on his first novel and a fourth non-fiction project.

Katharine Sands is a literary agent with the Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency in New York City. She represents a wide range of authors in a broad range of categories including legal non-fiction, literary fiction, and dysfiction. She has represented the literary estate of Norman Wexler, Academy Award-nominated for Saturday Night Fever, XTC: SongStories, and Under the Hula Moon by Jocelyn Fuji (as co-agent). Katharine has been a guest speaker on writing and publishing topics for lawyers and other writers, The American Society of Journalists and Authors, New York University and the New York State Council on Arts. Her books have appeared in Publishers Weekly and the New York Times Book Review.

Schedule

8:00 - 8:15 Introduction
Why write legal non-fiction - A discussion of individual goals and how to achieve them.

8:15 - 10:00 Writing About the Big Case
Faculty will discuss selecting cases with the most dramatic and market potential, finding your voice, organization, research, use of transcripts and other documents, attorney-client privilege, libel, slander, other legal pitfalls, creating and maintaining reader interest, staying true to the story, and positioning the book in the marketplace.

10:15 - 11:00 Writing the Superior Non-Fiction Query Letter
Attendees’ query letters will be reviewed by faculty.

11:00 - 12:00 Locating, obtaining and working with your first agent for your non-fiction project
How to use your legal background to hook your first agent.

1:00 - 2:00 Drafting Non-fiction Book Proposals that Sell
Development to conclusion.

2:30 - 3:30 Perfecting the 30 Second Pitch
How to make the most out of your opportunity.

3:15 - 4:00 Working with Publishers
Initial meetings, pitches, platforms, and making them work with you before and after publication.

4:00 - 4:30 The Business Aspects of Legal Non-fiction
Contracts, royalties, promotion, payments and financial viability of writing legal nonfiction.

Here's what last years' attendees had to say:
"Very Informative"
"Helpful in de-mystifying the process"
"Practical info"
"Great!"
"Well planned & utilized an experienced, well qualified faculty"
"Provocative & enlightening"
"Agent tips [very helpful]"
"High level throughout - Everything fit in with overall
objective - Outstanding Organization"
"Robert Miller was great"
"Excellent bonding with members of group"
"Good Job!"
"All faculty members were excellent"