The Challenge: Write a scholarly position paper in response to a problem presented regarding embryo donation/adoption.1st Place: $2,500.00
2nd Place: $1,500.00
3rd Place: $1,000.00
Submission Deadline: Monday, March 2, 2009, 5:00 p.m. PST
* SPECIAL INCENTIVE FOR EARLY ENTRIES: All entries received by February 2, 2009, 5:00 pm PST will be eligible for a $500.00 BONUS award if their entry is selected as the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place winner. The panel reserves the right to make no award if a worthy essay is not submitted.
Purpose: Under a grant from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Nightlight Christian Adoptions is conducting a law student essay competition to raise awareness and increase interest in embryo donation and adoption.
Eligibility: The competition is open to currently enrolled students of ABA accredited law schools (including provisionally approved law schools). The essay must be the student's original, unpublished work. The paper may be prepared to satisfy a course requirement or for other academic credit. However, the essay must be the work of the submitting student without substantial editorial input from others. Co-authored papers are ineligible. Essay submission deadline is Monday, March 2, 2009, 5:00 p.m. PST.
Format: Entries should reflect scholarship and be presented in law review style. Essays must not exceed twenty-five (25) pages, including title, citations, and any footnotes. The text of the essay must be double-spaced, with twelve-point font and one-inch margins. Citations must be embedded in text or in footnote form; essays with endnotes will be disqualified. Cites must conform with the 18th Edition of The Bluebook: Uniform System of Citation.
All entrants create essays based on a specifically framed problem and legal issue.
This year's problem appears at: http://www.embryolaw.org/problem.asp
After a factual overview, the problem contains the following points of departure:
Advise the clinic as to the following:
1. What legal risks, if any, would the clinic be subject to if the original patients, or their heirs or assigns, would request possession of the embryos after a transfer of the embryos had been made to another patient?
2. What potential actions, if any, should be filed in court to assist the clinic in fulfilling its goal of transferring the embryos to other patients? Distinguish whether different actions would be recommended based on the distinctions among missing patients.
3. Assuming legal action was appropriate:
a. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the Clinic's position using the following legal principles, as applicable, for analysis: Contract, Property, Probate and Parentage.
b.What authority should be cited in support of the clinic's request and what authority should be given to the court that would represent opposition to the clinic?s request?
Prior Winners:
1st Place: Callie Weed, Stetson University College of Law, Gulfport, FL
Unscrambling the Uncertainty: Interpreting Egg Donor Agreements as They Relate to Embryo Adoption
2nd Place: Jonathan Penn, Regent University School of Law, Virginia Beach, VA
A Different Kind of Life Estate: The Laws, Rights, and Liabilities Associated with Donated Embryos
3rd place: Julie Cuplin, St. Mary's University School of Law, San Antonio, TX
2008 Embryo Law Essay Competition
More information: Here
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