University of Florida Levin College of Law

Additional Information:

Eligibility/topics. Except as provided in (6) below, applicants must be enrolled full-time or part-time in law school between August 15, 2011 and August 15, 2012 and seeking a J.D. or a graduate law degree (e.g., L.L.M. or S.J.D.). Papers must deal with employee benefits topics. As an illustrative example, a paper might address legal issues involving health benefits, pensions, 401(k) plans, severance, executive compensation, claims, appeals, current or former spouses' or domestic partners' benefits, collectively-bargained benefits, benefits in bankruptcy, ERISA litigation, fiduciary obligations or the tax treatment of benefits/contributions.

Each winner will be honored during the College’s annual black tie dinner on September 15, 2012 in Boston. They will receive a plaque and an employee benefits treatise published by BNA Books. If deemed suitable by the editors, one or more of the winning papers will be published by the BNA Pension and Benefits Reporter, the BNA Tax Management Compensation Planning Journal or another employee benefits publication. The winning papers will also be distributed to the Fellows of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel, who are experienced attorneys that have made significant contributions to the advancement of the employee benefits field in a wide range of practice settings including law and consulting firms, universities, labor unions, advocacy organizations and government agencies throughout the United States.
 For information concerning the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel, contact Peter Kelly a peter.kelly@bcbsa.com or consult our website at www.acebc.com.

http://www.acebc.com/ 

Additional Information:

All entries must be prepared for this contest or for academic purposes and not previously published in print or on the Internet.  All entries must include a digital photograph for use in the event the entry is selected as the contest winner. Each entrant is required to assign to FLMIC and the YLD of The Florida Bar all rights, title and interest in the essay and digital photograph submitted.  It is the policy of FLMIC and the YLD of The Florida Bar, however, to release all assigned rights in all but the winning essay and notify the author of any permissions given to third parties for reprint or otherwise publish.  The essay should be a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 10 pages, excluding citations appearing in Blue Book format and as endnotes.  Essays will be judged based on framing and analysis of the issue(s) discussed, research, solutions or practices suggestions, and writing style.  The essay should be typewritten and double spaced on 8.5 x 11 inch paper.  A cover sheet should be included that contains the entrant's name, address, telephone number, title and law school status.  No identification other than the title should appear on the essay itself.  The cover sheet will be removed before the essay is read to assure objectivity in the judging process. 

Eligibility:

The contest is open to all students enrolled in a Florida law school as of the deadline date or during the prior academic year.  Essays must be received by FLMIC by the deadline date, which is March 1, 2012 5:00 PM.

Judging:

Essays will be judged by a committee of at least three individuals including but not limited to a representative of the YLD of The Florida Bar and FLMIC, who are unrelated to the entrants. 

Awards:

The winner of the essay contest will receive 1) a $500 award, 2) recognition by FLMIC and the YLD at the Annual Florida Bar Convention in June 2012, 3) free admission to the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists Annual Conference to be held on April 2-4, 2012 at the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood (including two nights of accommodations at the Westin Diplomat), and 4) the winning entry will be submitted for publication consideration to The Florida Bar Journal by the YLD.  The student awarded an Honorable Mention prize will receive a $250 cash award and recognition by FLMIC and the YLD at the Annual Florida Bar Convention in June 2012. 

Entry:

Entries should be mailed to Nancy Stuparich, Risk Manager, Florida Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company, 541 E. Mitchell Hammock Rd., Oviedo, Florida 32765 or submitted by email to nancys@flmic.com before the contest deadline. 

http://www.flmic.com/lawstudentessaycontest

Additional Information:

1. TOPIC: The Entertainment Law Initiative Writing Competition invites law students to write a 3,000-word paper on a compelling legal topic facing the music industry today. The contest culminates with the winning student authors presenting their essays at the prestigious ELI luncheon.
2. Awards will be distributed as follows: $5,000 for first place and $1,500 for each of four runners-up. All five finalists receive one GRAMMY Awards ticket, hotel accommodations, round trip airfare, hotel accommodations, and one ticket to MusiCares® Person of the Year dinner.

For more information, e-mail eli@grammy.com

Additional Information:

Every year, the American College of Legal Medicine (ACLM) presents an award for the outstanding original paper on legal medicine. All students studying law, dentistry, podiatry, nursing, pharmacy, health science, healthcare administration or public health are encouraged to compete. The first place paper will be named the Hirsh Award Winner. In addition, the ACLM will pay the Hirsh Award Winner's costs of travel & lodging to present his or her paper at the ACLM 2012 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA. For information regarding the judging criteria and submission, please refer to the following link: http://www.aclm.org/resources/swc/pdfs/swc%202012.pdf

Additional Information:

Topic: Judges will consider papers on any topic relating to the law governing the workplace, such as employment law, labor law, employee benefits, or employment discrimination.

Submission: The deadline for submission is Tuesday, January 17, 2012. Entries received after the deadline will not be considered. Entries should be mailed to:

Louis Jackson Writing Competition
c/o Institute for Law and the Workplace
Chicago-Kent College of Law
Illinois Institute of Technology
565 West Adams Street
Chicago, IL 60661-3691

Contact: Questions may be directed to Professor Martin H. Malin by e-mail to mmalin@kentlaw.edu.

Additional Information:

Each year, Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems, in conjunction with the University of Iowa College of Law International and Comparative Law Program, conducts an annual world affairs student writing competition. The competition is open to law students and to graduate students in all disciplines from any institution in the world are eligible. For more information and contest rules, please see: http://www.uiowa.edu/~tlcp/html/trandafir_competition.html.

All mail entries must be postmarked no later than February 1, 2012. Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems must receive all electronically submitted essays by no later than 5:00 p.m. U.S. Central Standard Time on February 1, 2012.

Additional Information:

The 2012 Contest Essay Hypothetical involves an international law firm and ethics questions concerning how the firm handles engagement letters, office restructuring, and taking on new matters in a cross-jurisdictional scenario.

Essay Requirements

Entries should be written as scholarly essays. All entries must be prepared for this contest and not previously published. Each entrant is required to assign to the ABA all rights, title and interest in the essay submitted. It is the policy of the ABA, however, to release all assigned rights in all but the winning essay.

Essays should not exceed 3,000 words, including quoted matter and citations. Footnotes are not permitted and citations should be incorporated into the main text.

For complete Contest Information and Rules, please visit the website.

Co-sponsored by:
The Environmental Law Institute
The American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources
The National Association of Environmental Law Societies

The U.S. Constitution has long been interpreted by the courts and understood by most Americans to support comprehensive environmental protections. However, arguments questioning the constitutional legitimacy of environmental law have continued to gain traction in the federal courts. In response to this trend, ELI, ABA SEER's Constitutional Law Committee, and NAELS invite law students to submit papers exploring current issues of constitutional environmental law.

AWARD: $2000 cash prize, an offer of publication in the Environmental Law Reporter, and a one-year individual membership to ELI.

TOPIC: Any topic addressing recent developments or trends in U.S. environmental law that have a significant constitutional or "federalism" component. (See sample topics below.)

ELIGIBILITY: Students currently enrolled in law school (in the U.S. or abroad) are eligible, including students who will graduate in the spring or summer of 2012. Any relevant article, case comment, note, or essay may be submitted, including writing submitted for academic credit. Jointly authored pieces are eligible only if all authors are students and consent to submit. Previously published pieces, or pieces that are already slated for publication, are ineligible.

DEADLINE: Entries must be received no later than 5:00 PM ET on Friday, April 13, 2012. Email entries (and any questions) to Cory Connolly at connolly@eli.org. You will receive a confirmation by email.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:
Cover page. This separate page must include the following information:

• Title;
• Author's name, year in law school, and expected graduation date (to facilitate impartial judging, the author's name and law school must NOT appear anywhere in the essay, other than on this cover page);
• Law school name and address;
• Author's permanent and school mailing addresses, email address, and phone number (IMPORTANT: indicate effective dates for any contact information subject to change);
• Abstract (limited to 100 words) describing the piece;
• Certification that the article has not been published and is not slated for future publication (while authors may submit their articles to other competitions, acceptance for publication elsewhere will disqualify an entry from further consideration); and
• Statement as to where the author(s) learned about this competition.

Additional Information:

1. Entries may address any aspect of public or private sector labor and/or employment law relevant to the American labor and employment bar. Students are encouraged to discuss a public policy issue, practical implications of a leading case or doctrine, a statute or the need for statutory modification, or a common law doctrine.
2. The competition is open to articles written while the author is a student at an accredited law school in the United States. Authors may not have graduated from law school prior to December 1, 2011.
3. Entries will be evaluated on topic selection, analysis, quality of research, grammar, spelling, usage and syntax, clarity, structure, and overall appearance.
4. Articles must be submitted by 6 p.m. EST on May 15, 2012, to swan@laborandemploymentcollege.org using the subject line “Writing Competition.” Submit the manuscript and a cover page as an e-mail attachment. The author’s name shall appear only on a cover page also including the author’s law school, graduation date, e-mail and street address, and telephone number. The cover page will be removed prior to the evaluation process.
5. The attached manuscript and cover page may be either a Microsoft Word or PDF document using 12-point Times New Roman font. The text should be double-spaced and the footnotes single-spaced with double-spacing between footnotes on 8 ½ x 11 inch paper with one-inch margins on all sides. The manuscript, exclusive of the cover page, may not exceed twenty pages. Do not submit endnotes, a table of contents or table of cases.
6. All citations should conform to The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (19th Edition).
7. Manuscripts must be the original work of a single author, may not have been written for paid employment, and may not have been submitted for publication elsewhere.
8. No person may submit more than one entry.
9. The judges reserve the right not to award any prizes and to reject any or all submissions.

Additional Information:

1. Eligibility: The International Association of Defense Counsel 2010 Legal Writing Contest is open to students who, at the time of submission of their entries, are enrolled as J.D. candidates in accredited law schools.
2. Subject Matter: Entries must be submitted in the English language on a subject of practical concern to lawyers engaged in the defense or management of the defense of civil litigation, such as relevant aspects of tort law, insurance law, civil procedure, evidence, damages, alternative dispute resolution procedures, and professional ethics.
3. Authorship and Publication: Entries must be certified by the entrant on the IADC entry form to be the original and sole work of the entrant. At the time of submission, the entry must not have been published or accepted for publication, and the author must be free to execute the assignment of copyright to IADC referred to in Rule 7.
4. Judging: The contest will be judged by a committee of the IADC, whose decisions will be final. In addition to the monetary award winners, the judges may designate entries worthy of honorable mention.
5. Judging Standards: Articles will be judged on the following factors: (1) the choice of subject matter, as measured by its significance, international or national relevance, and timeliness; (2) the amount of work and effort, as measured by the entry's comprehensiveness and analysis; (3) the quality of the legal analysis, as measured by its objectivity and balance; and (4) the writing quality, as measured by clarity of expression, brevity, and literary construction. Entrants also should consider the points made in the contest guidelines.
6. Entries must be submitted via e-mail in English in Microsoft Word format to Mary Dannevik at mdannevik@iadclaw.org. Footnotes should appear on the page referenced in the text. Avoid excessive footnotes. Use The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (19th edition) for style.

Additional Information:

The following rules and regulations apply:

1. Any student regularly enrolled in and attending classes at an accredited law school in the United States or Canada is eligible to enter. Submission of a paper, with one cover page and the completed entry form constitutes entry. Essays submitted for the 2011 competition MUST be under the topic of “Is it constitutional for a legislative body to require a DNA test for all persons arrested and charged with a felony?” Essays determined not to meet this qualification will be not evaluated.
2. The cover page of the paper must be submitted in a separate document and shall include the title and the author’s name, current mailing and e-mail addresses, and telephone number. The author’s name should appear only on the cover page and the entry form. The title and page number must appear at the top of each page of the paper.
3. All papers shall be the original, unpublished work of an individual student, but may have been prepared as a course assignment. Normal guidance of law school faculty is permitted.
4. Entry grants AJA the right of first publication of the paper and is agreement to hold AJA and its members harmless from, and to indemnify them for, any and all damages and costs relating to copyright infringement or plagiarism.
5. Papers become the property of the American Judges Association and may be published in the Court Review.
6. Papers should double-spaced and 10-25 pages in length. Extensive footnoting or end noting is discouraged and is included in the paper’s length. Citations, footnotes, and endnotes should be in accord with the current edition of A Uniform System of Citation.
7. Papers will be evaluated considering: writing quality and clarity; the interest of the topic and content to a broad segment of the judiciary; analysis and reasoning; timeliness, originality, and creativity; quality and use of research; and compliance with these rules.
8. Papers will be evaluated, and prizes awarded, at the sole discretion of a panel of AJA members who will have no knowledge of the author’s name or law school.
9. Winners will be publicly announced at the Association’s 2012 Annual Educational Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, September 30-October 5, and thereafter notified by mail. All law schools and authors will also be notified by mail.

Entries must be e-mailed or postmarked no later than June 1, 2012, and sent to aja@ncsc.org

Additional Information:

John B.  Doolin was appointed to the Oklahoma Supreme Court in 1972, and he served as Chief Justice from 1987-1988.  He loved to read and write, collect Indian art, and buy Navajo rugs.  He recognized the need for a forum to address Native American issues as a result of his service on the Indian Affairs Committee at the National Chief Justices’ Conference.  He authorized the formation of the Sovereignty Symposium in 1988.

The Supreme Court of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission, the Sovereignty Symposium, Inc., and the Oklahoma Arts Council are sponsoring a law student writing competition open to all students enrolled in an accredited law school in the United States, its territories and Canada.

In conjunction with Sovereignty Symposium XXIII, which will be held June 2 and June 3, 1020 at the Skirvin Hilton Hotel, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, a scholarly collecting of legal and historical writings will be presented to all participants.  Legal libraries all over the United States regularly solicit copies of the publications for their collection.  The subject matter of the paper may be on any area of the law relation to Native Americans or other indigenous peoples.  The winning entry will also be published in the 2010 Symposium compendium of materials.  Entries must be received no later than March 31, 2010.  Publication releases will be required prior to payment of prize money.

The entries in the writing competition must be single-spaced and between 30-50 pages in length.  The paper shall be 8 ½ x 11 in size and white in color.  The title of the paper, the name of the author and a current mailing address and telephone number must be placed on a cover page.  Only the title of the paper should appear on the cover page only.  Papers must be submitted in Word or Word Perfect format.  Use a 12-point font in Times New Roman format.  Again, the document should be single spaced.  The left and right margins must be 2”; the top and bottom margins must be 1.5”.

Papers will be evaluated using the following criteria: Timelines of Subject; Originality; Legal Analysis; Use of Authority (both Extent of Authority and the Correct Citation in Text); Creativity of Arguments; Strength and Logic of Conclusions; Grammar; Punctuation and Writing Style. Each of the criteria listed above will be evaluated on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the highest mark.

Papers must be submitted to:
The Sovereignty Symposium
Oklahoma State Capitol,
Room 208
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105
or e-mail kyle.shifflet@oscn.net.

Additional Information:

Named for the late Tax Court Judge Theodore Tannenwald, Jr., and designed to perpetuate his dedication to legal scholarship of the highest quality, the Tannenwald Writing Competition is open to all full- or part-time law students, undergraduate or graduate.  Papers on any federal or state tax-related topic may be submitted in accordance with the Competition Rules found at www.tannenward.org

The deadline for submitting papers is 9 p.m. EST, July 3, 2012.  Papers should be mailed to Tannenwald Foundation, Ste. 200, 1275 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC  20004, attn:  Melanie Moore.

For additional information, please contact Nancy Abramowitz at 202-274-4164 or nabramo@wcl.american.edu.