Category: Writing Competition

The Eleventh Annual Law Student Writing Competition

The Eleventh Annual Law Student Writing Competition

Law students are invited to submit articles addressing domestic violence and the law from a national or international perspective.

Awards
1st Place:
Publication in the American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law
Resolution from the ABA Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence and honorarium

2nd Place:
Resolution from the ABA Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence and national publicity

3rd Place:
Resolution from the ABA Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence and national publicity

All past and present winners’ names and papers appear on the ABA Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence website at www.americanbar.org/cdsv

Deadline

Deadline for submissions is May 30, 2014 5:00 p.m. EST.
Send as a Microsoft Word document to
dvwriting@americanbar.org
No exceptions. Winners will be notified in August 2014.

Guidelines
• Submissions must further the legal needs of victims of domestic violence or domestic violence victims and their children, or advance efforts to address the incidence, causes and effects of intimate partner violence.
• Submissions may be no longer than 7500 words (typically 20-25 pages), including footnotes and other text but excluding author identifying information, and must be double-spaced with one-inch margins. Any paper exceeding the 7500 word limit WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED. Students are free to submit papers of shorter length as we are most concerned with quality and originality.
• Authors must be enrolled in an ABA-accredited law school at the date of their submission or may have graduated in December 2013 or May 2014.
• Submissions may not have been previously accepted for publication and, if they have been submitted elsewhere for publication, the first place winner must certify that the first publication of the article will be in the Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law.
• The ABA Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence reserves the right not to name a winner of the competition if it determines that none of the submissions are of appropriate quality.

Legal Ethics Forum is Sponsoring a Law Student Writing Competition

Legal Ethics Forum is sponsoring a law student writing competition with prizes totaling $1,500.  The competition is described at http://www.legalethicsforum.com/blog/2013/09/legal-ethics-blogging-competition-for-law-students.html.  The competition is open to students enrolled at any law school in the world as of September 1, 2013.  Submissions cannot be longer than 1,250 words and each submission must address a topic of interest related to legal ethics.  Examples of eligible topics include (but are not limited to): 1) alternative law practice structures; how to comply with new ABA Model Rule 1.6(b)(c); and the identification of skills that competent lawyers must have today that were unnecessary twenty years ago.  Each student can submit as many as three entries, though no student will be eligible to win more than one prize.  Multiple submissions from the same author, however, may be eligible for publication on the blog.  The winner of the competition will receive at least $500.  The second place entry will receive at least $300, and the third place entry will receive at least $200.  As many as five submissions will receive an honorable mention with a cash prize of at least $100.  The total prize money available is approximately $1,500.  All of the winning entries will be published on the blog.  All submissions must be received by January 5, 2014 and should be sent to this email address lefcompetition@andrewperlman.com as attachments.  Submissions should be in a commonly used word processing format, such as Word, that allows for automated word counts.  Winners will be notified by February 28, 2014.

The Public Justice Foundation is holding its annual Hogan/Smoger Access to Justice contest.  This year’s topic is:

“Is Democracy for Sale? Have Citizens United’s holdings run amok? Legal challenges left to Super Pacs? Can funding disclosure be required?”

The winner of the essay contest will receive $5,000, a free 2013 Public Justice Foundation Student Membership, and their essay will be featured on the Public Justice website and in the nationally disseminated Public Justice newsletter.  The contest is open to all law students that are currently enrolled in a U.S. accredited law school.  The intent to enter deadline is January 31, 2013, and the essay submission deadline is March 31, 2013.  Click here for the intent to enter form, contest rules, and judging criteria.

If you have any questions about the essay contest, please feel free to contact Outreach Coordinator, Cassandra Goings, at cgoings@publicjustice.net or at (202) 797-8600.

Part-time students wishing to compete in the Law Review’s August Write-On Competition

The 2012 Write-On Competition for part-time students will begin Monday, 8/13/2012, at 8 AM.  Instructions for the Write-On Competition and a hypothetical will be available for you to pick up at that time on TWEN.  This competition is open only to those part-time students who completed their first-year program during this summer. You will have until Monday, 8/20/2012, at 8 AM to submit your response.  Late submissions will not be graded or considered for a position on the Law Review. 

 To participate in the Write-On Competition, you will need to have extended your Westlaw password for the summer session in order to have TWEN access.  To access the Write-On Competition course, you will need only to add a course to your TWEN page the same way in which you do for your regular classes.  This course is currently activated on TWEN should you wish to join now, but the competition’s hypothetical and instructions will not appear until Monday at 8 AM.  If you have not extended your Westlaw password for the summer, please email me at RyanDoringo@yahoo.com, and I can coordinate a way to email the instructions and the hypothetical to you on the day the Write-On Competition begins. 

Please remember that the Write-On Competition is open only to those law students who have attained at least a 2.6 cumulative grade point average and have completed at least the first-year program as defined by the administration of the School of Law.

Students wishing to join the Law Review who rank in the top fifteen (15) percent of their class after completing the first-year program will be automatically invited to join the Law Review.  As such, those students ranking in the top fifteen percent of their class are not required to compete in the Write-On Competition in order to receive an invitation.

If you have any questions regarding the Write-On Competition, please email me at RyanDoringo@yahoo.com. 

Thank you,

Ryan Doringo

Executive Editor, 2012-13 Akron Law Review