Editorial standards

We report from the primary record. A judgment, an order, a notification, a filing or a transcript is the source for anything we say a court or a lawmaker did.

• We read the document before we report it. Where a ruling is reported from the bench before the written judgment is released, we say so and we update the story when the text is out.
• We state the holding before the history. The first paragraph of a court story says what was decided and for whom.
• Numbers are checked against the source and the arithmetic is checked by a second person. Where a figure is an estimate, we say whose.
• We link to the primary document wherever it is public. Where it is not, we say how we obtained it.
• We do not publish a claim about a named person without giving them a fair opportunity to respond, and we report that we asked.

The JusticeInside is not affiliated with any law firm, bar association, court, political party or government, and no one outside the newsroom decides what we cover or what we say. We do not accept payment, gifts, travel or hospitality for coverage. We do not charge anyone to be ranked, listed, covered or quoted. We do not carry advertising at present; when we do, it will be sold by people with no say over editorial content, labelled as advertising, and never presented as news.

News stories do not take positions. Opinion is signed, carries the label Column, and represents the author's view, not ours. Editorials carry the label Editorial, state the view of the editorial board, and are written and edited separately from the newsroom; reporters who cover a subject do not write editorials about it. Know Your Rights guides explain the law as it is, including where it is contested, and do not advocate.

• We name our sources unless there is a good reason not to, and the reader is told why a source is not named.
• A promise of confidentiality, once given by a journalist and approved by an editor, is kept. We do not reveal a confidential source to anyone outside the newsroom, and we take the steps available to us to resist compelled disclosure.
• We do not pay for information.
• Documents provided to us are verified before use, and we consider whether publication could identify a source who has asked not to be identified.
• We do not report what is said in a courtroom in a way the court has prohibited, and we respect anonymity orders and in-camera proceedings.

We correct errors of fact promptly, in the story itself, with a note at the end saying what was wrong and when it was fixed. Every correction is also recorded on our corrections page. We do not quietly rewrite. A story that is fundamentally wrong is withdrawn and replaced with a note explaining why, not deleted. Requests for correction go to contact@justiceinside.com with the subject line Correction.

• Journalists do not report on cases in which they, their family or their former firm are involved, and they declare such connections to their editor.
• Journalists do not hold a financial interest in a company they cover, and do not trade on information obtained in the course of their work.
• Journalists do not practise law, take briefs or give legal advice while employed by us.
• Guest writers declare any interest in the subject of their piece, and we publish the declaration with the piece.
• Staff who have a financial or family connection to a school, firm or chambers do not work on a ranking in which it appears.

We cover the use of AI in law, and we hold ourselves to the standard we report on. AI tools may be used in our newsroom for transcription, translation, searching large document sets and checking drafts. They are not used to write stories, to generate quotations, or to produce legal analysis that is published as ours. Every citation to a case, statute or rule in our work is checked by a person against the source before publication, whatever tool found it. Images are not generated by AI. Where an AI tool has materially assisted a piece of work in a way the reader should know about, we say so.

Photographs are credited to the photographer or agency. We do not use images of people without consent except in public places, in public proceedings, or where the person is a public figure acting in a public capacity. We do not manipulate photographs beyond cropping and colour correction. Illustrations are labelled as illustrations. We do not publish photographs of children without the consent of a parent or guardian, and we do not identify minors involved in legal proceedings.

Nothing we publish is legal advice, and nothing we publish creates a lawyer–client relationship. Our Know Your Rights guides explain the general law; they cannot tell you how it applies to your facts, and laws differ between jurisdictions and change over time. For advice on your own situation, consult a lawyer licensed where you live. We can help you find one.

If you believe something we have published breaches these standards, write to contact@justiceinside.com with the subject line Complaint, the address of the page and what you say is wrong. We acknowledge complaints within two working days and reply substantively within ten. Complaints are considered by an editor who was not involved in the piece. If we uphold a complaint, we correct the piece, record the correction, and tell you what we did. If we do not, we tell you why. We publish the number of complaints received and upheld each year on this page.