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Law Student Writing Competitions: Writing Competitions

A collection of upcoming law student writing competitions. The guide includes competitions from past years as well.

Upcoming Competitions

  • 2024-2025 Law Essay Writing Competition
    Sponsor: Public Citizen
    Submission Deadline: April 30, 2025
    Topic: You may submit legal essays on compelling arguments related to Access to Justice. Examples of topics include Trump v. USAWhat will happen now that the Chevron Deference is no longer law?; and Legal Strategies to Address Qualified Immunity.

  • The Tenth Annual AUWCL National Health Law Writing Competition
    Sponsor: American University
    Submission Deadline: May 5, 2025
    Topic: This competition is designed to encourage law students to write scholarly papers on current topics of interest relevant to health law and/or food and drug law. 

  • 27th Annual Health Law Writing Competition
    Sponsor: Epstein Becker Green
    Submission Deadline: May 16, 2025
    Topic: Papers may address any traditional area of the law as applied to health care (e.g., antitrust, tax, corporate) or areas of law unique to health care (e.g., fraud and abuse, managed care, Medicare/Medicaid, clinical trials, telehealth/telemedicine).

  • The Marshall Manne Schulman Competition for Student Papers in Criminal Law and/or Criminal Procedure
    Sponsor: Criminal Law Section of the California Lawyers Association
    Submission Deadline: May 30, 2025
    Topic: The paper must pertain to criminal law and/or to criminal procedure, with a particular focus on contemporary issues of concern in the State of California.

  • ABA Law Student Writing Competition
    Sponsor: ABA Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law 
    Submission Deadline: May 31, 2025
    Topic: Entries should focus on a current topic dealing with real property, trust and estate law.

  • 2025 Law Student Writing Competition
    Sponsor: ABA 
    Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources
    Submission Deadline: May 31, 2025
    Topic: Entries for the Competition should demonstrate original thought on a question of legal and/or policy significance relating to one of the following topics: (1) Biodiversity, (2) Energy Law and/or Resource Recovery, (3) Forest Resources and Public Land, (4) Indigenous Law, (5) Water Law. Each entrant must select one of the five competition topics to write on. The topics are intended to be broad to stimulate creativity of thought and research.

  • The American College of Employee Benefits Counsel's Annual Writing Competition
    Sponsor: The American College of Employee Benefits Counsel

    Submission Deadline: June 1, 2025
    Topic:  Papers must deal with employee benefits legal topics. 

  • Cornelius Vander Broek Essay Contest for ‘Graduate/Older’ Students
    Sponsor: The Freedom of Religion Foundation

    Submission Deadline: June 1, 2025
    Topic: Focus on one issue related to state/church separation or secular social policy that you consider to be under threat by Christian nationalist policies in the Trump administration.

  • Legal Writing Competition for Law Students
    Sponsor: ACTEC Foundation

    Submission Deadline: June 1, 2025
    Topic:The paper must relate to the area of trusts and estates, broadly defined. 

  • Georgetown Law Writing Competition
    Sponsor: Georgetown Law Technology Review

    Submission Deadline: June 6, 2025
    Topic:  Students are invited to submit papers that provide analysis or insights on issues at the intersection of technology law and policy.

  • James B. Boskey Law Student Essay Contest
    Sponsor: ABA

    Submission Deadline: June 6, 2025
    Topic: 
    The essay may address any aspect of dispute resolution practice, theory, or research that the contestant chooses.

  • Adam A. Milani Writing Competition
    Sponsor: Mercer University School of Law & the American Bar Association Commission on Disability Rights

    Submission Deadline: June 6, 2025
    Topic: The submission may address any aspect of disability law, theory, or practice the contestant chooses.

  • Annual Law Student Writing Competition
    Sponsor: The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers

    Submission Deadline: June 15, 2025
    Topic: The topic must be on any relevant, engaging and useful to labor and employment lawyers in their practices.

  • Scholarship Contest from Smith, Born, Leventis, Taylor & Vega
    Sponsor: Smith, Born, Leventis, Taylor & Vega

    Submission Deadline: June 30, 2025
    Topic: Write a 500-word essay exploring what might happen if personal injury attorneys didn’t exist. Discuss the potential impact on individuals, businesses, and society as a whole.

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Past Competitions

  • Hon. William C. Conner Writing Competition
    Sponsor: New York Intellectual Property Law Association
    Submission Deadline: March 7, 2025
    Topic: An entry must be directed to any of the following subject areas of intellectual property.

  • Trandafir Writing Competition
    Sponsor: University of Iowa College of Law 
    Submission Deadline: March 14, 2025
    Topic: Any contemporary international business or economic concern.

  • International Insolvency Institute Prize in International Insolvency Studies
    Sponsor: International Insolvency Institute
    Submission Deadline: March 15, 2025
    Topic: The III Prize is awarded for original legal research, commentary or analysis on topics of international insolvency and restructuring significance and on comparative international analysis of domestic insolvency and restructuring issues and developments. 

  • Robert T. Matsui Annual Writing Competition
    Sponsor: Asian Pacific American Bar Association Educational Fund
    Submission Deadline: March 16, 2025
    Topic: Submissions should address a legal topic of importance to the Asian-Pacific American community.

  • The Roy Snell Health Care Regulatory & Compliance Writing Competition
    Sponsor: Health Law Institute at Mitchell Hamline School of Law and the Health Care Compliance Association
    Submission Deadline: March 17, 2025
    Topic: Students must analyze the facts presented in the Competition Problem, identify any and all regulatory/compliance concerns, and advise the recipient of the memorandum.

  • White River Environmental Law Writing Competition
    Sponsor: Vermont Journal of Environmental Law and Vermont Law and Graduate School
    Submission Deadline: Monday, March 18, 2024
    Topic: Any article that explores a legal environmental topic is generally eligible. Topics generally include environmental law, natural resource law, energy law, environmental justice, land use law, animal law, and agricultural law.

  • Judith Bresler Memorial Scholarship

    Sponsor: NYSBA Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Section
    Submission Deadline: April 1
    Topic: Each Scholarship candidate must write an original paper on any legal issue of current interest in the area of entertainment, art or sports law.

  • American Bar Association Howard C. Schwab Memorial Essay Contest
    Sponsor: American Bar Association Section of Family Law
    Submission Deadline: April 4, 2025
    Topic: The subject may be any aspect of family law.
  • Smith-Doheny Legal Ethics Writing Competition

            Sponsor: Notre Dame Law School
            Submission Deadline: April 15, 2025.
            Topic: Entries should concern any issue within the general category of legal ethics.

  • Howard C. Schwab Essay Contest
    Sponsor: ABA Section of Family Law
    Submission Deadline: April 18, 2025.
    Topic: Entries should be original essays on any aspect of family law.