Liptak has written for The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, The New York Observer, Business Week and other publications.

[1] He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism in 2009 for a series of articles that examined ways in which the American legal system differs from those of other developed nations.

[3] In addition to clerical work and fetching coffee, he assisted the reporter M. A. Farber in covering the trial of a libel suit brought by General William Westmoreland against CBS.

During law school, Liptak worked as a summer clerk in The New York Times Company's legal department.

After graduating, he spent four years at Cahill Gordon & Reindel, a New York City law firm, as a litigation associate specializing in First Amendment matters.

He covered the Supreme Court nominations of John Roberts and Samuel Alito; the investigation into the disclosure of the identity of Valerie Plame, an undercover Central Intelligence Agency operative; the trial of John Lee Malvo, one of the Washington-area snipers; judicial ethics; and various aspects of the criminal justice system,[4] including capital punishment.

[11] Liptak's work has appeared in The New Yorker,[12] Vanity Fair,[1] Rolling Stone,[1] The New York Observer,[13] Business Week, and The American Lawyer.