Competitions, Fellowships, and Scholarships
American Bar Association Section of Family Law: Howard C. Schwab Memorial Essay Contest
Deadline
Description
The ABA Section of Family Law holds the Howard C. Schwab Memorial Essay contest each year to encourage interest in the field of Family Law and provide an opportunity for recognition and publication in the scholarly journal Family Law Quarterly.
Applicants may submit an essay on any aspect of family law and entrants are encouraged to write on subjects of national interest. However, if the law in one state reflects a significant development or trend, that too could be an appropriate subject for an entry. The primary focus of each essay should be an issue of law, although some interdisciplinary material may be useful in addressing a legal issue.
Family Law includes dissolution of marriage and other intimate relationships, relationships of persons of the same sex, parentage, custody, child support, division of property, alimony (maintenance), attorney’s fees, adoption, dependency, parental rights, rights pertaining to procreation, and alternative dispute resolution of Family Law issues. Family Law generally does not include Juvenile Justice, Probate, Labor, Immigration Law, and sociology topics unless those topics are related to more traditional Family Law subjects.
The first place winner will receive a certificate of recognition, consideration of his or her essay’s publication in Family Law Quarterly, consideration of his or her essay’s publication on the ABA Section of Family Law website, a letter to his or her Law School Dean, and a one-year ABA Section of Family Law membership.
Law students interested in entering the contest must download the Schwab Entry Form and fill it out by April 12, 2013.
All entries must be postmarked on or before April 26, 2013.
For additional information on submission guidelines and contest rules, please see the ABA Section of Family Law’s website.
Chief Justice John B. Doolin Writing Competition
Deadline
Description
The Supreme Court of Oklahoma and The Sovereignty Symposium, Inc. are sponsoring a law student writing competition that is open to all students enrolled in an accredited law school in the United States, its territories, or Canada.
John B. Doolin, the namesake of this competition, was appointed to the Oklahoma Supreme Court in 1972, and he authorized the formation of The Sovereignty Symposium in 1988. The Symposium was established to provide a forum in which ideas concerning common legal issues may be exchanged in a scholarly, non-adversarial environment.
A scholarly collection of legal and historical writings presented at The Sovereignty Symposium, which will be held June 5 and 6, 2013, will be compiled as a book. Law libraries all over the United States regularly solicit copies of the publications for their collections.
The subject matter of the paper may be on any area of the law relating to Native Americans or other indigenous peoples.
First, second, and third prizes in the amounts of $750, $500, and $250 respectively will be awarded. The winning entry will be published in the 2013 Symposium compendium of materials, and the second and third place entries will be published if space permits.
Entries must be received no later than May 1, 2013.
All entries must conform to the Symposium standards, and entries that fail to do so will be disqualified. For further information, please contact Julie Rorie at 405.556.9371.
For submission requirements, please visit The Sovereignty Symposium’s website.
The Association for Conflict Resolution of Greater New York Student Writing Competition
Deadline
Description
The Association for Conflict Resolution of Greater New York (ACR-GNY), a regional chapter of The Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) which is dedicated to enhancing the practice and public understanding of effective conflict resolution, is sponsoring a student writing competition. The purpose of the competition is to increase interest in the field of conflict resolution and to enrich the alternative dispute resolution community with the energy and talent of those completing scholarly research at various academic levels.
Topic:
This year’s conference theme is “Mainstreaming Creative Conflict Resolution,” and submissions should meaningfully address the question of broadening the reach and practice of alternative dispute resolution, but this need not be the sole focal point of the paper.
Eligibility:
To be eligible for the competition, students must be enrolled in a school in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York or Pennsylvania, or have a permanent residence in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, or Pennsylvania.
Each entrant may submit only one essay, and entrants must submit their work by Sunday, May 12, 2013 to qualify for the competition.
Prizes:
A first-place prize winner may be awarded for the best paper within each category (Undergraduate, Graduate, and Law), and each winner will receive $250, free admission to the 2013 ACR-GNY Annual Conference, an invitation to present his or her work at the conference, and a one-year membership to ACR-GNY. Additional entries may also be recognized for Honorable Mention.
For more information on submission guidelines and entry procedures, please visit the ACR-GNY’s website.
International Association of Defense Counsel 2013 Legal Writing Contest
Deadline
Description
The International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC), an association of lawyers, barristers, solicitors, corporate counsel, and insurance executives, announces its 2013 Legal Writing Contest. All J.D. candidates enrolled in the 2012-2013 academic year at an accredited law school are eligible to submit articles.
Entrants must write on subjects in the fields of tort law, insurance law, civil procedure, evidence, or other areas of law of practical concern to lawyers engaged in the defense or management of the defense of civil litigation.
Prizes will be given to the authors of the top three entries (first place: $2,000 and a plaque; second place: $1,000 and a plaque; third place: $500 and a plaque). All honorable mentions will receive plaques. All winning and honorable mention entries will be considered for publication in the IADC’s quarterly academic publication Defense Counsel Journal.
For more information about the contest rules, writing guidelines, and entry forms, please visit the IADC website.
The University of Connecticut School of Law Student Legal Writing Competition
Deadline
Description
The University of Connecticut School of Law has established a Student Legal Writing Competition to encourage and reward original student writing on legal issues affecting persons struggling with homelessness, mental illness, addiction, or substance abuse.
Topic
Entrants should submit a paper on a legal issue affecting persons struggling with homelessness, mental illness, addiction, or substance abuse.
Eligibility
Papers will be accepted from any student enrolled for the 2012-13 academic year in an ABA-accredited law school in the United States or Canada. Papers must be the law student author’s own work and must not have been submitted for publication elsewhere. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a student may incorporate professorial feedback as part of a course requirement or supervised writing project. All students intending to enter the competition must register by April 15, 2013. Registration Form
Format
Papers should be a minimum of 15 pages in length and shall not exceed 30 pages, including footnotes. They must be types, double-spaced and with one-inch margins, on 8 ½ x 11 inch paper, in a 12-point font, such as Times New Roman. All citations and footnotes should conform to the current edition of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation and should also be in a 12-point font.
Judging
Papers will be judged by a panel appointed by the University of Connecticut School of Law. Judges will evaluate papers based on the substance, clarity of the proposal or thesis, logical force, support of argument, and quality of research. Grammar, syntax, and form will also be taken into consideration.
Submission
Entries must be received by 5pm on June 3, 2013. Entries must be submitted in two formats: (1) email an electronic version (in Microsoft Word or PDF format) to Karen.DeMeola@law.uconn.edu; and (2) mail, with a postmark dated by June 3, 2013, four copies of the paper to:
Student Legal Writing Competition
University of Connecticut School of Law
55 Elizabeth Street
Hartford, CT 06105
Attn: Assistant Dean Karen Lynn DeMeola
Papers are judged anonymously, and no identifying information should appear on either the original or the copies of the paper. Entrants must submit a separate cover letter listing the author’s name, address, telephone number, email address, name of law school, and year of graduation.
Awards
Three cash prizes will be awarded: $750 First Prize, $500 Second Prize, and $250 Third Prize. Winners will be notified by July 30, 2013. All decisions of the judges are final.
Winners of the 2012 University of Connecticut School of Law Student Legal Writing Competition
The University of Connecticut School of Law is pleased to announce the winners of the 2012 University of Connecticut School of Law Student Legal Writing Competition. The annual competition seeks original law student writing on legal issues affecting persons struggling with homelessness, mental illness, addition or substance abuse. Cash prizes are awarded for first, second and third-place winners. This year, we had a record number of entries, with submissions from students enrolled in law schools throughout the country. We thank all contestants and congratulate the winners. Details about next year's competition will be posted on this webpage this fall.
First Place ($750) - The Voluntary Confession that Wasn't: Overturning Colorado v. Connelly for the Mentally Ill by David Cutshall, University of Virginia School of Law '12
Second Place ($500) - Drug Abusers and Addicts and the Immigration and Nationality Act by Nikiya Natale, University of Texas School of Law '13
Third Place ($250) - Social Security Disability for the Chronically Homeless by Andrea Callow, Loyola University Chicago School of Law '12
Ninth Annual Employee Benefits Writing Competition
Deadline
Description
The American College of Employee Benefits Counsel is pleased to announce the Ninth Annual Employee Benefits Writing Competition. Any law and graduate (L.L.M. or S.J.D.) law students enrolled at a school between August 15, 2012 and August 15, 2013 are invited to submit a paper on any topic in the field of employee benefits law.
Papers should not exceed 40 pages (double-spaced, 12-point type, one-inch margins on all sides), not including footnotes. Footnotes should be single-spaced endnotes starting on a separate page. Papers must be submitted as email attachments to Peter Kelly. No information identifying the author or the author’s law school should be in the text, footnotes, or file name. That information and the author’s address, telephone number, and enrollment status should be provided in the email message.
Two prizes will be awarded: the Clarin M. Schwartz Memorial Award ($1,500 cash prize) and the Sidney M. Perlstadt Memorial Award ($1,500 cash prize). Winners will be honored during the College’s annual black tie dinner, and the authors of winning entries may have opportunities to have their works published.
Papers must be submitted by midnight Central Time on June 1, 2013.
For more information on submission guidelines and competition rules, please visit the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel’s website.
James William Moore Federal Practice Award
Deadline
Description
LexisNexis is pleased to announce the 14th Annual James William Moore Federal Practice Award which encourages and recognizes outstanding scholarship in federal civil practice and procedure.
Eligibility:
Students enrolled in law school through the end of the current (2012 – 2013) school year are eligible to participate. All papers must be the original work of an individual student, and papers must have been submitted for publication in a student publication or prepared as course work in connection with a course at law school.
Topic:
The principal subject of the submitted paper must be federal civil practice and procedure, including civil jurisdiction and venue rules of the federal courts. Submissions on topics of federal courts management, federal appellate procedure, and alternative dispute resolution are also acceptable. Papers focusing on the procedural aspects of certain types of substantive litigation are acceptable as well.
Papers on purely substantive issues that may arise in federal litigation and papers dealing primarily with criminal procedure are not acceptable.
Submission Guidelines:
- The author of a paper may directly submit his or her paper for consideration, and each law review may submit up to four papers for consideration.
- All papers should follow the citation form in the 19th edition of "A Uniform System of Citation." Papers should be double-spaced (footnotes single-spaced), presented on one side of 8.5 x 11” paper, and printed in Times New Roman, 12 pt. font.
- Submitted papers should be a minimum of 20 pages.
Papers (along with fall 2013 contact information (address, phone number, email address) for the author and the law review (including the name of the incoming editor-in-chief) should be submitted to:
Editor, Moore’s Federal Practice
Lexis Nexis Matthew Bender
201 Mission Street, 26th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105.
One electronic copy on a CD-ROM and one paper copy of each paper should be submitted.
Prizes:
One paper will be selected as the winner of the Award, and the author will receive a cash prize of $2,000, a full set of Moore’s Federal Rules Pamphlets, and publicity of his or her name in connection with the award. The winning entrant’s law review or journal will also be awarded $1,000.
The submission deadline for this year’s award is June 3, 2013, and winners will be announced on or around October 1, 2013.
Please direct any inquiries to Mark Landis, Legal Editor, Practice Area Content, LexisNexis, at 1-800-424-0651.
Ed Edmondson Scholarship for The Sovereignty Symposium XXVI
Deadline
Description
Ed Edmondson represented Oklahoma in the United States Congress for 20 years and was a long-time supporter of Native American concerns and education.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court and The Sovereignty Symposium, Inc. will host The Sovereignty Symposium XXVI on June 5 and 6, 2013 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Sovereignty Symposium was established to provide a forum in which ideas concerning common legal issues can be exchanged in a scholarly, non-adversarial environment.
A maximum of 100 Symposium tuition-only scholarships will be offered in Congressman Edmondson’s name as the Symposium’s thank you for his support and efforts during its founding.
Applicants should demonstrate an interest in and dedication to Native American law issues and the need for a scholarship in a simple letter of application. There is no formal application form.
The deadline is June 4, 2013, and notification will be upon receipt of scholarship request.
Applications must be submitted to:
The Sovereignty Symposium
Attn: Ed Edmondson Scholarship Committee
Oklahoma Judicial Center, Suite 1
2100 North Lincoln Boulevard
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105.
For further information, contact Julie Rorie at 405.556.9371 or visit The Sovereignty Symposium’s website.
