California Legal History; June 30; $2,500 for 6,000 words

The California Supreme Court Historical Society
2011 Student Writing

DEADLINE: June 30, 2011

AWARD: The winning author will receive a prize of $2,500 and publication in the Society’s journal, California Legal History. Second and third place winners may also be chosen, and all winning papers will be posted on the Society’s website, www.cschs.org.

TOPIC: Original, unpublished scholarly writing on any aspect of California legal history, ranging from the Supreme Court itself, and its justices and decisions, to local events of legal historical importance—including biography, significant cases, independent state interpretation, the California Constitution, and reorganization of the court system, as well as areas of law such as criminal law, civil rights, family law, tort liability, environmental law, and taxation—in any time period from 1846 to the present.

On the leading position and nationwide influence of the California Supreme Court, see the article on “Followed Rates” by Jake Dear and Edward W. Jessen: http://lawreview.law.ucdavis.edu/issues/41-2_Dear.pdf

JUDGES: The entries will be judged by a panel of legal historians.

ELIGIBILITY: The submission must be written during the student’s enrollment in a school of law or as a graduate student in history, political science, government,
public policy, or a related field.

GUIDELINES: The maximum length of submissions is 6,000 words, exclusive of footnotes, in 12-point type, double-spaced, with 1" margins. To ensure anonymity, the author’s name should appear only on a separate cover page with mailing address, telephone number, email address, and name of school. Entries should be submitted as an email attachment in electronic format (Word, WordPerfect, or pdf).

SUBMISSIONS and QUESTIONS: Please send to the CSCHS Student Writing Competition Chair at smsth@aol.com

Image: wikipedia

$7,500 for Brief Writing over Spring Break? April 15 deadline

APRIL 15th DEADLINE APPROACHING FOR LEGAL BRIEF WRITING CONTEST
$7,500 PRIZE
TUPPER LAKE, NY - On Friday, November 19th 2011, the newly created Tupper Lake Business Community, Inc. announced a writing contest that is being submitted to law schools around the country, seeking students who are interested in preparing a brief concerning the influences that have had a negative effect on the Adirondack economy.

Full details and rules regarding the contest are posted online at http://tlbusiness.org

First prize for the writing contest will be $7,500; second prize $2,000; and third prize $500. All brief submissions must be received by April 15th. The panel of judges will be announced in the near future.

Committee Spokespeople Mark Moeller and Beth Johnson told the group of nearly 50 people, that there has been tremendous attention given to the environment in the Adirondack Park, with little regard to the economy. Moeller noted, "the intent of the contest is to have the law students from around the country review the influences on local businesses as well as on the regulatory agencies within the Adirondack Park, by outside parties and preservationist advocacy groups, and to prepare a brief that will be judged by a panel of experts in order to highlight and quantify the impact those influences have had on the economy and the people of the Adirondacks."

Johnson added, "we believe this group supports the true intent of the Adirondack Park Act, and believes the staff of the Adirondack Park Agency are true professionals that care about the environment and economy of the Park. This effort is not directed at them." Johnson went on to say, "there are groups who have had an undue adverse impact on our economy, and have used tactics that have come at a great cost to the local economies within the Park."

Moeller also clarified the difference between this group and ARISE. "The TLBC group has a very narrow focus with donations going for a specific purpose. ARISE has a more broad approach, and they are not set up for this type of advocacy."

The writing contest will focus specifically on Tupper Lake, knowing that much of the information provided by the students, will have a regional implication.

Attorneys Doug Wright and Kirk Gagnier, have been in contact with top law schools and, gauging the reaction by some of the professors, have reported that there seems to be overwhelming excitement about the project. Gagnier said, "there is a growing trend across the country, that advocacy group influence has come at a quantifiable cost, and this writing contest will offer a legal opinion on the impact felt in Tupper Lake."

Wright added, "there has been no discussion of this leading to a legal suit against any groups or individuals. This is an educational, research based effort that will be reviewed carefully after the submissions are made."

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Tupper Lake Business Community, Inc. is a New York not-for-profit association of businesses, formed to aggressively solicit information and solutions from various groups to advance the business environment in upstate New York, specifically Tupper Lake. More information is available at http://tlbusiness.org.

Image: Wikipedia for Tupper Lake, New York.