University of Wisconsin Law School student Sarah C. Williams 2L has been named the winner of the 2009 Environmental Law Essay Competition sponsored by the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Environmental Law Section (ELS).
            
Williams won the $1,000 prize with the essay “Riparian Landowners vs. the Public: The Importance of Roads and Highways for Public Access to Wisconsin’s Navigable Waters.”

Submitted essays are judged on overall scholarship, writing style, clarity and organization, strength of the issue addressed, and persuasiveness.

The annual award, which involves a partnership between the ELS and UW Law School environmental law faculty, was created to encourage scholarship and writing among environmentally-minded students. It is funded by the attorneys of the ELS.

The award was inaugurated in 1998 by the partnership of environmental lawyer Steven Wickland, then Chair of the ELS, and UW Law School Professor Arthur McEvoy, who together for ten years reviewed each year’s submitted essays to select the most outstanding one. Professor of Environmental Law Stephanie Tai has now taken over from McEvoy in working with Wickland to select the winning entry.

Tai comments, “I would like to say thank you to the Environmental Law Section of the State Bar for providing this wonderful opportunity for UW Law students to be recognized for their insights and analysis into environmental law issues, and to the essay competitors for submitting such diverse and well-written essays.”

Wickland notes, “The top essays always present a mixture of academic excellence and timeliness of environmental topics. This competition has been particularly worthwhile for the Environmental Law Section, as we publish the winning essay on the State Bar ELS Web site each year.”

Sarah Williams will receive the award officially at the Law School’s Honors and Awards Ceremony on May 14, 2009, at Memorial Union Theater.

  

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