Some Announcements About Original Jurisdiction

Audience metrics on this third anniversary, a rate increase for new subscribers (but not current ones!), a reader poll on fonts, and more.

Welcome to Original Jurisdiction, the latest legal publication by me, David Lat. You can learn more about Original Jurisdiction by reading its About page, and you can email me at davidlat@substack.com. This is a reader-supported publication; you can subscribe by clicking here. Thanks!

Thank you, readers and subscribers of Original Jurisdiction. This month marks the third anniversary of this fine legal newsletter, and reaching this milestone would not have been possible without your support.

I’m pleased to report that I have almost 15,000 total subscribers, both free and paid. According to Substack, it’s good to have a free-to-paid “conversion rate” of at least 10 percent, and I’m well above that. So I’m in the fortunate position of being able to earn a living from doing what I love, and I owe it all to you.

As a newsletter publisher, I’m both a content creator and a businessperson. I prefer to focus on creating content, which is what I enjoy the most—and I’ve always believed that if you produce quality content, everything else will work out.

But one of my New Year’s resolutions for 2024 is to pay more attention to the business and administrative aspects of Original Jurisdiction, and I figure I might as well start now. So here goes.

1. A rate increase. Since the inception of Original Jurisdiction, I have charged the lowest subscription rate permitted on the Substack platform, $5 a month or $50 a year—and I have never raised it, despite significant inflation over the past three years. If you look at the top paid newsletters in the Business category, you’ll see that OJ is the only one in the top 20 that charges $5 a month. Two charge $8 a month, and the remaining 17 charge $10 or more per month (including one that charges $420/month—and no, I don’t think that’s a cannabis joke).

Effective January 1, 2024, I’m raising the OJ subscription rate to $6 a month or $60 a year. But please note that the new rate will apply only to new subscribers—if you like your $5 rate, you can keep your $5 rate (as long as you don’t cancel and resubscribe).

So what does that mean? If you’re a free subscriber who has been thinking about upgrading to a paid subscription, now is the time to act. You’ll lock in the $5/$50 rate in perpetuity, unless and until Substack changes its policy on this.

If you’d like to upgrade to a paid subscription, can’t afford it right now, but know someone who can afford it, I have a suggestion: ask that person to buy you a gift subscription. Or if you (like me) are not yet done with your holiday shopping—and are now panicking, having discovered that many gifts ordered online won’t arrive in time for Christmas—give Original Jurisdiction as a gift to the lawyer, law student, or law-curious person in your life. No delivery required!

2. Font choice. Lawyers are passionate about… fonts! So which font do you prefer, Serif (on the left) or Sans Serif (on the right)?

I personally think the tradeoff is between elegance (Serif) and readability (Sans Serif), but I don’t have a strong preference myself. Can you help me out? Please compare the samples below, then vote in this poll.

Which font do you prefer, Serif (left) or Sans Serif (right)?

3. Testimonials and referrals. Those of you who work in law firms know that success isn’t just about doing good work, which you’ll often hear referred to as mere “table stakes”; you also need to let people know that you do good work. So I’ve decided I should rustle up some testimonials, i.e., people saying nice things about Original Jurisdiction, which I can use for promotional purposes.

Two caveats. First, while I’m grateful for testimonials, I do not want them to affect my coverage. So if you’re a prominent person in the legal profession (as many of my readers are) and later find yourself involved in a scandal or controversy of some sort, please don’t be upset or surprised if I write about your scandal or controversy, possibly in a way that is unflattering toward you.

Second, you can retract your testimonial at any time and for any reason. Simply email me at davidlat@substack.com, subject line “Testimonial Retraction,” and provide me with enough information to identify your testimonial. I will then cease and desist from further use of your testimonial from that point forward.

If you might be willing to submit a short testimonial, please fill out this form. Thank you in advance for your kind words.

[UPDATE (3:32 p.m.): I should have mentioned that you can make the testimonial under your own name or anonymously, e.g., “Managing Partner, Am Law 100 Firm.” I ask for names in the form so I can be sure the testimonials are legit (and honor retraction requests), but the names don’t have to be included when the testimonials are made public.]

In addition to the positive word of mouth reflected in testimonials, reader referrals help drive audience growth here at Original Jurisdiction. You can access your unique referral code here, then earn rewards for successful referrals.

4. Social media. Another way to spread the word about Original Jurisdiction is through social media. Please “follow” or “like” OJ on LinkedIn or Facebook, please subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts (and consider leaving a positive rating or review), and please share this newsletter on your social-media platform of choice.

And you can connect with me on social media in my personal capacity as well. I’m on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Substack Notes, or X fka Twitter (from which I’ve been on hiatus, but I might return in the new year).

5. Sponsorship. I’m pleased and proud to work with some wonderful sponsors, including Lateral Link, NexFirm, and ShareFile. If you’d like to explore the possibility of sponsoring Original Jurisdiction, please email me at davidlat@substack.com, subject line “Sponsorship.”

A caveat: I’m selective about my sponsors, and I have declined to work with brands where I felt there was a lack of fit. I seek to work with brands that have positive reputations, so I vet potential sponsors before deciding to work with them, and I prefer to work with brands that focus on the legal world, since these sponsors add the most value to my readers. So don’t expect to see sponsorship from denture-cream companies (unless Fixodent is willing to pay me on the Cravath scale).

6. Dead or duplicative email accounts. This is a very minor housekeeping matter, so please feel free to skip ahead to the next item unless you’re interested in the ins and outs of the newsletter business.

For newsletters, an important metric is “open rate,” the percentage of sent emails that are actually opened by recipients. OJ has a high open rate—well over the industry benchmark of 50 percent—and I keep it high by conducting occasional purges of subscribers who haven’t opened emails in a long time. (I’d be over 15,000 total subscribers if not for a recent purge of 500 or so.)

Open rates get dragged down when emails go to accounts that are dead, most commonly because it’s a work account and the person left that job, or duplicative (e.g., you receive this newsletter in both your work and personal accounts, but you really check it only in one). If you’re aware of a dead or duplicative account, perhaps because you left a job but never canceled the OJ subscription connected to that work account, please email me, subject line “Dead Account,” and let me know so I can delete that account. This will keep my open rate high, helping me to attract and retain sponsors.

7. Other ways we can work together. Publishing Original Jurisdiction is my primary source of income—and thanks to you, it’s a living. But I engage in other activities as well, such as paid speaking and freelance writing. Over at my personal website, you can see some of the publications I’ve written for and organizations I’ve addressed, including law firms and in-house legal departments. If you’d like to learn more about my speaking and writing, please email me.

8. Reduced publication schedule. My general goal is to publish two posts during the week and a Judicial Notice news roundup over the weekend. I feel that three posts a week delivers value to my audience without burdening folks with too many emails.¹ But in light of the holidays and upcoming family travel, I might be less prolific than usual between now and January 3, when we get back from our trip.

If you’ve read all the way to the end, congratulations! But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised: if anyone can read through lots of boring text and remain focused, it’s lawyers.

Thank you for your attention, your readership, and your support, which have made for a great three years. I wish you and your families the happiest of holidays, and I look forward to continuing to write and podcast for you in the coming year.

---

Thanks for reading Original Jurisdiction, and thanks to my paid subscribers for making this publication possible. Subscribers get (1) access to Judicial Notice, my time-saving weekly roundup of the most notable news in the legal world; (2) additional stories reserved for paid subscribers; and (3) the ability to comment on posts. You can email me at davidlat@substack.com with questions or comments, and you can share this post or subscribe using the buttons below.

1. Please note that if you don’t want emails at all (or want fewer emails), preferring to read Original Jurisdiction on the web or through the Substack app, simply go into “Manage your subscription” and turn off (or adjust) your email notifications.