ALM Names Executive Editor of The American Lawyer

The American Lawyer has a new top editor.

Longtime Philadelphia business of law journalist Gina Passarella has been appointed to Executive Editor of The American Lawyer, it was announced on Monday internally and shared with Big Law Business Friday.

The appointment comes after the position of Kim Kleman, editor in chief of The American Lawyer, was eliminated as part of company-wide layoffs last week , a round that also took the jobs of top editors for Corporate Counsel and other publications.

Passarella, 34, has been covering the business of law for 10 years from Philadelphia, and was last year appointed as a co-editor of business of law coverage across ALM publications.

“I’m inheriting a stellar publication that has been made that way through extremely talented editors and journalists and they are going to continue to do really great work,” said Passarella.

“The magazine is not going away,” she added, but noted: “I’d like to see online presence be more robust — more breaking news and online content and the use of data to back up stories we are reporting.”

Molly Miller, chief content officer of ALM, said that the executive editor role is different from the previous editor in chief role occupied by Kleman, and that Passarella will be tasked with a variety of responsibilities: reporting, editing, creating video, data stories, podcasts and developing events.

“Gina’s role is not exactly the same, but frankly, I don’t think any editor in chief roles are the same anymore,” said Miller. “She is the lead editor of the brand.”

Miller said that Passarella was well-suited for the job because she is steeped in regional coverage, as are many ALM journalists scattered across the globe. “They need to know they are viewed as important voices, market by market,” said Miller.

Miller said despite the layoffs last week, which claimed at least 15 editorial and business positions, the changes create opportunities for journalists. According to a memo circulated on Monday, Miller told staff that there is an open position as Executive Editor of Corporate Counsel and Inside Counsel.

“You don’t eliminate positions and just sit there,” said Miller. “You essentially re-structure so that you have more opportunity.”

Miller said that ALM would unveil a whole new strategy in the coming weeks, which could present further opportunities.

She also stressed the company’s commitment to journalism, although acknowledged that coverage would change in the evolving media landscape.

“This is not about creating a content mill or a streamlined organization, it’s about having people who both understand the [subject matter] and the business of law and how it can address the readers of each of our regions,” she said. “It’s not necessarily thinking about print first, but audience first, and what the audience needs from a mobile perspective, a print perspective, and when do they want to read that long-form piece late at night, and when do they need just a blurb and insight about what is the most important thing they want to read in the morning?”

And more contributed content?

“Our [tests] with our readers certainly tell us that is what in-house wants. They want to hear from peers who are getting it right. They also want to hear from peers who have had challenges and have had to pick themselves up.”

ALM’s legal publications are go-to destinations for law firms and in-house counsel to share news about their businesses and read about competitors. The publications’ alumni include a who’s who of some of the country’s most successful business journalists, including Stephen J. Adler, editor in chief of Reuters News, Jim Cramer, the TV personality of CNBC’s Mad Money and Jill Abramson, former New York Times editor in chief.

Miller said that ALM “should be a training ground for building great journalists and helping people come up, but also cultivating those who are providing it today.”

Over the past week, Big Law Business readers have been curious about the new editorial structure at ALM. We may have more on the changes, as ALM rolls out its new strategy. Write to us with comments at BigLawBusiness@bna.com .

[Image “blb newsletter” (src=https://bol.bna.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/blb-newsletter.jpg)]