Bert W. Levit Essay Contest – Deadline is February 22, 2013
The Bert W. Levit Essay Contest is sponsored by the ABA Standing Committee on Lawyers’ Professional Liability and Long & Levit, LLP.
Deadline for Submission:
ONLINE entries MUST be submitted by 11:59 PM CST on February 22, 2013.
MAILED entries MUST be postmarked by February 22, 2013.
Prize:
* Cash award of $5,000.
* All expense paid trip to the Spring 2013 National Legal Malpractice Conference in New Orleans, LA, on April 24–26, 2013.
The Bert W. Levit Essay Contest is conducted by the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Lawyers’ Professional Liability and the San Francisco law firm of Long & Levit LLP. The 2013 contest is administered and judged by a subcommittee designated by the ABA Standing Committee on Lawyers’ Professional Liability.
The Assignment:
The 2013 Contest Essay Hypothetical involves questions about a law firm’s potential malpractice exposure when it relied upon a third-party vendor to provide document review services for a client, which ultimately resulted in the release of privileged documents.
Contest Rules/Essay Requirements:
Entries should be written as scholarly essays. All entries must be prepared for this contest and not previously published. Each entrant is required to assign to the ABA all rights, title and interest in the essay submitted. It is the policy of theABA, however, to release all assigned rights in all but the winning essay.
Essays should not exceed 3,000 words, including quoted matter and citations. Footnotes are not permitted and citations should be incorporated into the main text.
Entrants may seek general feedback on their draft essays from professors, colleagues, and the like. An essay submitted to the competition, however, must be entirely the entrant’s own work product and may not be written or edited by any other person.
The essay should be typewritten double-spaced on 8 1/2″ x 11″ pages. The number of words on each page should be entered on the bottom right hand corner of each copy. The total number of words should be entered on the last page. In computing the number of words, all articles and prepositions should be counted. Count numbers and abbreviations as words. For example F.2d = 1 word; 746 F.2d 619 = 3 words.
Complete and sign the paper entry form (PDF) or you can use the Online Contest Entry & Agreement Form, providing your full name, address and telephone number as indicated.
Eligibility:
The contest is open to Young Lawyers Division or Law Student Division members of the ABA, in good standing as of February 22, 2013, according to the membership records of the Association. Excluded from the competition are previous winners; current ABA officers and members of the Board of Governors; employees of the ABA or its sections, divisions and committees; and officers and employees of the American Bar Foundation or the American Bar Endowment). Only one essay may be submitted by each entrant, and no co-authored essays will be accepted.
National Legal Malpractice Conference:
The winner of the contest will receive round-trip coach airfare to the 2013 Spring American Bar Association National Legal Malpractice Conference in New Orleans, LA, lodging for up to two nights during the conference, and will be a guest at conference meals and events.
For additional information, please visit the website or contact Meghan Monahan.