Precedent Magazine pivots to a digital-only model

Toronto, ON: Today, Law and Style Media Inc. announced that Precedent Magazine will discontinue its print edition and transition to a digital-only model.

In 2007, lawyer and entrepreneur Melissa Kluger launched Precedent as a career and lifestyle magazine for lawyers. For nearly two decades, the high-quality print publication has been distributed for free to more than 15,000 lawyers on a quarterly basis. The magazine also published its content—which frequently won recognition in the broader media industry, including at the National Magazine Awards—online at PrecedentMagazine.com.

In recent years, Precedent, like many publications, has been hit with both rising print costs and a growing number of challenges with distribution. Looking ahead to the shifting media landscape, those difficulties will only become more acute, making the print version of the magazine unsustainable.

At the same time, an increasing portion of the Precedent audience primarily consumes the magazine’s journalism online. Those readers, already familiar with the publication’s web products, will benefit from a digital-first editorial calendar. Precedent will now have the resources to publish content in a timelier manner and to experiment with new ways to tell stories online. Importantly, the magazine’s work will continue to be available for free to all readers.

“I have always loved making the print edition of Precedent,” says Kluger, the CEO of Law and Style Media. “But there are so many exciting ways for Precedent to serve its audience in a digital-only format. In addition to expanding our websites and email newsletters, we also look forward to developing other new products in the near future.”

Precedent’s editor, Daniel Fish, will lead the publication’s digital strategy. “No matter the format, we plan to continue our investment in well-researched, in-depth content that our audience can’t get anywhere else,” he says. “That remains our top priority.”