Best Brief Competition
Jacob Neeley is the winner of the Spring 2021 Best Brief Competition. Other competition finalists were Eva Karademas, Mike Neary, Cameron Ubel, and Leigha Vilen. Congratulations to these great legal writers!
The Best Brief Competition is an annual event that recognizes outstanding legal writing by first-year students. The Legal Research and Writing faculty select the best appellate briefs from among those written by their spring semester students. Next, Wisconsin attorneys evaluate the semi-finalists' briefs to determine who will become finalists. A panel of Law School faculty then evaluates the finalists' briefs to decide the winner.
Other Writing Competitions for Students
One of the most comprehensive collections of law student writing competitions can be found at: http://www.suffolk.edu/icompetewriting
For information about how law students can submit papers for publication in law reviews outside their own law school, see Submission of Law Student Articles for Publication.
Competitions on the following table are listed by deadline date. Only the first prize is listed.
| Deadline | Prize Details | Competition Details |
|---|---|---|
| May 31, 2022 | First prize is $10,000. Smaller, but significant, prizes will be given for Second Place, Third Place, and for 2 finalists. |
Link: 2022 Brown Award for Excellence in Legal Writing The topic must be on a legal subject. The submission must include a letter or recommendation from a law school faculty member or legal professional. See the rules at the link above for detailed submission instructions. |
| June 15, 2022 | First prize is $3,000. One or more papers may be published in the ABA Journal of Labor & Employment Law. The first-place winner will be invited as a guest to the annual CLE program of the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law. |
Link: College of Labor & Employment Lawyers Student Writing Competition The topic must be relevant, engaging, and useful to labor and employment law lawyers in their practices. The article should be relevant nationally. See the rules at the link above for more content information. |
| June 30, 2022 | First prize is a full tuition scholarship to the Heckerling Graduate Program in Estate Planning at the University of Miami School of Law for the 2023-2024 or 2024-2025 academic year (candidates must apply and be admitted as full-time students to be considered for the scholarship), a $5,000 award, and publication in the ACTEC Law Journal. |
Link: Mary Moers Wenig Student Writing Competition The topic must relate to the area of trusts and estates, broadly defined. Click on this link to this poster (PDF) for a list of possible topics. The competition is sponsored by the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. See the link above for more details and competition rules. |
Legal Resources
American Legal System
Writing Resources
Avoiding Plagiarism
- UW-Madison Academic Misconduct »
- Defining & Avoiding Plagiarism (CWPA) »
- Plagiarism: Types & Consequences »
General Writing Skills
Grammar, Punctuation, and Usage
