Guide to Law Student Writing Competitions
This guide is designed to provide links and information to writing competitions for law students. While there a many resources that attempt to keep track of writing contests of interest to law students, those web pages are organized differently and updated on different schedules. These sources are a good place to start, but this is not meant to be an exhaustive list of writing contests. If there is a particular field of law which is of interest to you, you should review the homepages of organizations devoted to that particular area of law to ascertain if they sponsor any writing competitions.
American Bar Association
http://www.abanet.org/lsd/competitions/writing-contests/
National Appellate Advocacy Competition – traditional moot court competition focusing on written and oral advocacy skills.
http://www.abanet.org/lsd/competitions/naac/home.html
ABA Essay and Writing Competitions
ABA Journal – Ross Essay Contest
Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice – Gellhorn-Sargentich Law Student Essay Contest -
http://www.abanet.org/adminlaw/awardsprogram/2008essays/writings.html
Affordable Housing and Community Development Forum Committee Law Writing Competition - Papers should address any legal issue regarding affordable housing and/or community development law. http://www.abanet.org/forums/affordable/writing/home.shtml
Air and Space Law Forum Committee Law Student Writing Competition – co-sponsored by Rolls-Royce North America, Inc. http://www.abanet.org/lsd/competitions/writing-contests/ (See ABA Essay and Writing Competitions section).
Antitrust Law Section Writing Competition
http://www.abanet.org/antitrust/at-law-student/at-writing-comp.html
Business Law Section – Mendes Hershman Student Writing Contest - Each ABA-accredited law school, acting through its dean, is asked to nominate, by January 4, 2008, one paper on a high quality business law topic written in the 2007-2008 or current academic year by a student currently enrolled in the law school's J.D. program. The paper may be 1) specifically prepared for this contest; 2) submitted in a class, seminar, or as an independent study; or 3) a proposed law review/journal note, comment or article. The paper should, however, be the work of the submitting student without substantial editorial input from others. Papers submitted are normally 20-30 pages long, but in any event should not exceed 100 pages of double-spaced typed text, including footnotes. A student need not be a member of the Section of Business Law to participate in the contest.
http://www.abanet.org/buslaw/hershman/
Criminal Justice Section – 7th Annual William W. Greenhalgh Student Writing Competition - The competition is open to all students in good standing who attend an ABA-accredited law school within the United States and who are members of the American Bar Association.
http://www.abanet.org/crimjust/cjmag/greenhalgh.html
Dispute Resolution Section and the Penn State University Dickinson School of Law – James B. Boskey Law Student Essay Contest on Dispute Resolution - The purpose of the competition is to promote greater interest in and understanding of the field of dispute resolution and collaborative decision-making among students enrolled in ABA accredited law schools and also graduate programs in the United States and abroad.
http://www.abanet.org/dispute/essaycomp.html
Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law – Adam A. Milani Disability Law Writing Competition - The purposes of the competition are to promote greater interest in and understanding of the field of disability law and to encourage excellent legal writing skills in law students. http://www.law.mercer.edu/academics/legal_writing/writingcomp.cfm
Commission on Domestic Violence Annual Student Writing Competition
http://www.abanet.org/lsd/competitions/writing-contests/ (See ABA Essay and Writing Competitions section).
Environmental, Energy and Resources Law Student Writing Competition
http://www.abanet.org/environ/committees/lawstudents/writingcompetition/
Family Law Section – Howard C. Schwab Memorial Essay Contest - The purpose of the contest is to create greater interest in the field of family law among all law students, and particularly the Law Student Division of the American Bar Association. http://www.abanet.org/family/lawstudents/schwab.shtml
Health Law Writing Competition –
http://www.abanet.org/health/06_membership/LawStudents/WritingCompetition.shtml
Labor Lawyer Student Writing Contest –
http://www.abanet.org/labor/proopp.html#laborlawyer
Lawyers’ Professional Liability Standing Committee – Levit Essay Contest on Lawyers’ Professional Liability - https://www.abanet.org/legalservices/lpl/levit.html
Legal Assistance to Military Personnel – Legal Assistance Essay Contest –
http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/lamp/econtest.html
Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section – RPTE Section Student Writing Contest
http://www.abanet.org/rppt/publications/journal/writingcontest/home.html
Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section (TIPS) Law Student Writing Competition
http://www.abanet.org/tips/lawstudent/
Children’s Law
National Association of Counsel for Children – Student Essay Competition on the Legal Interests of Children - http://naccchildlaw.org/childrenlaw/awards.html
Environmental Law
ELI-ABA-NAELS - Endangered Environmental Laws Student Writing Competition
http://www2.eli.org/writingcontest.htm
Environmental Justice Commission – Environmental Justice Essay Competition
http://www.abanet.org/irr/committees/environmental/essay.html
Parry Environmental Scholarship - http://www.stmarkpresbyterian.org/
The Roscoe Hogan Environmental Law Essay Contest
http://www.roscoepound.org/new/programs/hogan06.htm
Health Law
ABA Commission on Domestic Violence Annual Law Student Writing Competition
http://www.abanet.org/domviol/students.html
American College of Legal Medicine – Student Writing Competition – The Letourneau Award
http://www.aclm.org/resources/swc/Default.aspx
American College of Legal Medicine – Hoffman Bioethics Writing Competition
http://www.aclm.org/resources/swc/Default.aspx
Epstein, Becker & Green Annual Health Law Writing Competition
http://ebghealthlaw.com/hlnews_writing2.php
H. Thomas Austern Memorial Writing Competition
http://www.fdli.org/academic/hthomas.html
National Center for Non-Smokers’ Rights – Legal Research and Writing Competition
http://nosmokingcontest.org/
International/Foreign Law
Andrew P. Vance Memorial Writing Competition
http://www.brooklaw.edu/students/journals/bjilvance.php
The Center for Global Trade & Development – Chapman University School of Law
http://www.brooklaw.edu/writingcompetitions/#inter_trade
Federal Circuit Bar Association – George Hutchinson Writing Competition
http://www.brooklaw.edu/writingcompetitions/#inter_trade
The James Baker Hughes Prize - http://www.hjil.org/Submissions.asp
Journal of Transnational Law and Contemporary Problems – Trandafir
International Business Writing Competition - http://www.law.uiowa.edu/journals/tlcp/trandafir.php
New York State Bar Association International Law and Practice Section – Albert S. Pergram International Law Writing Competition
http://www.brooklaw.edu/writingcompetitions/#international
The State Bar of California International Law Section Student Writing Competition
http://calbar.ca.gov/state/calbar/calbar_generic.jsp?cid=10708&id=32301
The Washington Foreign Law Society – Ibrahim Shihata Prize - A competition to recognize outstanding student works addressing issues pertaining to Islamic jurisprudence and related legal developments in the Muslim World.
http://www.wfls.org/files/WFLS-AwardShihataNomination.doc
Other Resources
Brooklyn Law School
Heiros Gamos
Lewis and Clark Law School
Seton Hall Law
Temple University Beasley School of Law
William S. Richardson School of Law
University of Notre Dame Law School
Guide to Students for Publishing Articles in Law Reviews and Journals
This guide is designed to assist students who wish to submit articles for scholarly publication in law reviews and journals.
Listings of Law Reviews and Journals
You should first review a list of law reviews and journals that will help you decide where to submit an article. To follow is a list of resources that provide current listings of law reviews and journals.
Directory of Law Reviews –
Reference Collection KF8 .A56 2005
http://www.lexisnexis.com/lawschool/prodev/lawreview/
Jurist Law Reviews - directory of legal journals based at ABA-accredited law schools.
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/lawreviews/
Style, Strategy & Selection
Sources to assist in the process of choosing and submitting articles.
C. Stephen Bradford. As I Lay Writing: How to Write Law Review Articles for Fun and Profit. 44 J. Legal Educ. 13 (1994). Anglo-American Periodical Collection. Also available on HeinOnline.
Elizabeth Fajans. Scholarly writing for law students: seminar papers, law review notes, and law review competition papers. Reserve Collection KF250.F35 2005.
Austen L. Parrish and Dennis T. Yokoyama. Effective Lawyering: A Checklist Approach to Legal Writing and Oral Argument. Treatise Collection. KF250.P37 2007.
Jean Stefancic and Fred R. Shapiro. Introduction. Symposium on Trends in Legal Citations and Scholarship. 71 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. 743 (1996). Anglo-American Periodical Collection. Also available on HeinOnline.
Fred R. Shapiro. The Most-Cited Law Review Articles Revisited. 71 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. 751 (1996). Anglo-American Periodical Collection. Also available on HeinOnline.
Eugene Volokh. Academic Legal Writing: law review articles, student notes, seminar papers, and getting on law review. Reserve Collection KF250.V6 2005.
Guide to Choosing an Article Topic
Finding a Note Paper/Topic – Password required
Starting Your Law Review Note – Password required
Westlaw Journals and Law Reviews Database (JLR)
Lexis Law Review Databases (U.S. Journals and Law Reviews Combined)
Hein Online – a full-text searchable database of law journals, available through the Law Library’s Subscription Database webpage.
Index to Legal Periodicals – indexes articles from thousands of legal periodicals (from 1981) and law books (from 1993). Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective – indexes articles from 1918 to 1981. Both databases are accessible from the Law Library’s Subscription Database webpage or from the library’s catalog.
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Legal Trac – indexes over 800 legal periodicals, available through the Law Library’s Subscription Database webpage or from the library’s catalog.
Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals – indexes articles from more than 450 legal periodicals from 1985 to the present and covers international law, comparative law, and municipal law of countries other than the United States, British Isles, and British Commonwealth. This index is available from the Law Library’s Subscription Database webpage or from the library’s catalog.
How to Submit Articles for Publication
ExpressO – express online deliveries to law reviews. This is a fee-based submission service. Students create an account on the ExpressO website and one free submission is provided.
http://law.bepress.com/expresso/
Law Journal Submission Service, Washington and Lee University Law School Library. Submit articles directly from this website to journals that accept electronic submissions.
http://lawlib.wlu.edu/LJ/
Other Useful Sites
Marian Gould Law Library. University of Washington School of Law.
Harvard Law School.
http://www.law.harvard.edu/library/services/research/guides/united_states/basics/publishing_in_law_reviews.php
Georgetown Law Library.
http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/guides/Publishing.cfm
