Joining the Virginia Law Review

Three methods are used to determine which students will be invited to join the Law Review at the Law School:

1.  First Year Grades (25 students).  The twenty-five students with the highest cumulative GPAs in their class after completing two semesters at the Law School will be invited to join the Law Review. Completion of the Contact Information and Grade Waiver Form is necessary for consideration.

2.  Journal Tryout (15 students).  Fifteen students will be invited to join the Law Review based solely on their performance on the Unified Journal Tryout. Up to two transfer students may also be invited to join the Law Review based on the Fall Tryout.

3.  Virginia Plan (0-5 students).  As many as five students will be invited to join the Law Review on the basis of three combined factors: first-year grades, performance on the Unified Journal Tryout, and a Personal Statement.  To be considered for membership under the Virginia Plan, a student must:

(1)  Rank within the top one-third of the entire first year class based on cumulative GPA; and

(2)  Rank within the top one-third of all Journal Tryout participants based on the Law Review’s evaluation of participants’ Tryout submissions; and

(3)  Submit a Personal Statement.  That is, any student wishing to be considered under this option must provide a personal statement.  The Personal Statement should address how its author’s experiences or personal attributes would contribute to the Virginia Law Review.  Personal Statements submitted in past years have discussed race, ethnicity, religious background, disability, age, sex, sexual orientation, political affiliation, personal adversity, and veteran status, among other things.  Personal Statements should not exceed 500 words.  Though Personal Statements are not considered under either of the two methods described above, all applicants are strongly encouraged to submit a Personal Statement. 

 

Invitations to join the Law Review will be extended in July of 2014 (before the resume-posting deadline for on-grounds 2L interviews). Anyone who accepts an offer of membership must return to school in August approximately 10 days prior to the beginning of class. If you have not received an invitation to join the Law Review by early August, you may assume that all invitations have already been extended. Please note that the Law Review does not distinguish between those who are invited to join based on grades, Tryout performance, or the Virginia Plan. If you are invited to become a member of the Law Review, no one will know whether you “graded on,” “wrote on,” or otherwise.

The Law Review also extends invitations of membership based on Note Publication and Second Year Grades. Details regarding these methods of joining the Law Review are available on the Law Review’s website, www.virginialawreview.org.

Latham & Watkins is once again pleased to announce the Latham Diversity Scholars Program, which will award a $10,000 non-renewable scholarship to each of six second-year law students. Factors considered in choosing the Latham Diversity Scholars will include a candidate’s:

·         Ability and commitment to contribute to the diversity objectives of global law firms;

·         Life experiences that have shaped values and that provide a unique perspective, including any obstacles or challenges faced in choosing or pursuing law as a profession;

·         Academic and/or leadership achievements; and

·         Desire to practice in a global law firm environment.

Students will be asked to submit an application form, personal statement, resume and official or unofficial law school transcript by September 3, 2013. Recipients will be announced in early 2014.

This scholarship is not contingent upon receiving or accepting an offer of employment at Latham. Rather, it is open to all law students in the hope that greater diversity among the attorneys at large law firms will benefit the entire profession. 

The Dalhousie Journal of Legal Studies (DJLS) is now accepting papers for its 22nd Volume (to be published in spring/summer 2013). Established in 1991, the DJLS operates out of the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a non-profit, student-run academic journal  that offers undergraduate and graduate law students, as well as recent law graduates (within one year), the opportunity to have their work published to a broad, international subscription base. 

Attached to this message you will find our official Call for Submissions, which contains important information on the submissions process.The DJLS accepts essays, articles, case comments, and reviews concerning contemporary issues in Canadian or international law, not exceeding 15,000 words. Selected papers will be eligible for cash prizes (1st prize: C$1,000; 2nd prize: C$500; 3rd prize: C$250) and all authors will be able to receive feedback from our editorial team upon request.  (Note:  We will not be publishing articles that focus exclusively on American domestic law.)

The deadline for submissions for Volume 22 is Sunday, February 24, 2012. Submissions should be sent to [email protected].

Please feel free to contact us at [email protected] or visit our website at www.djls.org should you have any additional questions.

Best regards,

Will Green, Jennifer Huygen & Dante Manna
Editors-in-Chief

Named for the late Tax Court Judge Theodore Tannenwald, Jr., and designed to perpetuate his dedication to legal scholarship of the highest quality, the Tannenwald Writing Competition is open to all full- or part-time law school students, undergraduate or graduate.  Papers on any federal or state tax-related topic may be submitted in accordance with the Competition Rules (viewable at www.tannenwald.org). 

Cash prizes of $5,000, $2,500 and $1,500 for the top three papers.

Deadline for submitting papers:  9:00 p.m. EST, July 1, 2013.

For more information visit the competition website.

The Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA) has launched the 3rd Jacques Leroy International Prize - Business and Human Rights for law students under 30 with the theme ‘The Jurist and the Development of Human Rights in the Business World’.

Students who wish to compete for this prize must send a dissertation (plea, study, commentary of a practical case) to the UIA before June 30, 2012.

The winner will be rewarded with participation in the UIA annual congress that will take place in Dresden, Germany from October 31 to November 4, 2012, including travel costs, accommodation and a cash prize of € 1000, as well as free membership in the UIA for a year.

Download the flyer and the rules for more information.

Should US Courts Recognize Cause of Action for Violation of the Law of Nations Outside the US?

In Spring 2013, the US Supreme Court is likely to issue its decision on Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, 621 F. 3d 111 (2d Cir. 2010), cert. granted, 80 U.S.L.W. 3237 (U.S. Oct. 17, 2011) (No. 10-1491), involving a claim under Alien Tort Statute, which allows US courts to recognize cause of action for violation of the law of nations occurring within the territory of a sovereign nation other than the US. Here is your chance to weigh in as an amicus curiae on how the court should rule.

Associate Justice Antonin Scalia will present the winner(s) at a US Supreme Court evening reception on Friday, April 27, 2013 during the ABA International Section Spring 2013 Meeting.

See the Competition Guidelines

The National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) is a national voluntary legal
professional organization whose mission is the advancement of women in the legal profession and women's rights. Since 1899, NAWL has served as an educational forum and active voice for the concerns of women lawyers in this country and abroad. NAWL continues to support and advance the interests of women in and under the law, and in so doing, supports and advances the social, political, and professional empowerment of women. Through its programs and networks, NAWL provides the tools for women in the profession to advance, prosper and enrich the profession. NAWL has established the annual Selma Moidel Smith Law Student Writing Competition to encourage and reward original law student writing on issues concerning women and the law. The rules for the competition are as follows:

Entrants should submit a paper on an issue concerning women's rights or the status of women in the law. The most recent winning paper was "All Things Being Equal, Women Lose. Investigating the Lack of Diversity Among the Recent Appointments to the Iowa Supreme Court" written by Abigail Rury, Michigan State University School of Law.

Essays will be accepted from students enrolled at any law school during the 2012-13 school year. The essays must be the law student author's own work and must not have been submitted for publication elsewhere. Papers written by students for coursework or independent study during the Summer, Fall or Spring semesters are eligible for submission. Notwithstanding the foregoing, students may incorporate professorial feedback as part of a course requirement or supervised writing project.

FORMAT: Essays must be double-spaced in 12-point font, Times New Roman font type. All margins must be at least one inch. Entries must not exceed fifteen (15) pages of text, excluding notes, with footnotes placed as endnotes. Citation style should conform to The Bluebook - A Uniform System of Citation. Essays longer than 15 pages of text, excluding notes, or which are not in the required format may not be read.

JUDGING: NAWL Women Lawyers Journal® designees will judge the competition. Essays will be judged based upon content, exhaustiveness of research, originality, writing style, and timeliness.

QUESTIONS: Questions regarding this competition should be addressed to the chair of the Writing Competition, Professor Jennifer Martin at [email protected].

SUBMISSION AND DEADLINE: Entries must be received by May 1, 2013. Entries received
after the deadline will be considered only at the discretion of NAWL. Entries must provide a cover letter providing the title of your essay, school affiliation, email address, phone number and mailing address. Entries must be submitted in the following format: email an electronic version (in Microsoft Word or PDF format) to [email protected].

AWARD: The author of the winning essay will receive a cash prize of $500. NAWL will also publish the winning essay in NAWL's Women Lawyers Journal in the summer of 2013.


PRINT COMPETITION GUIDELINES (PDF)

2013 COMPETITION FOR STUDENT PAPERS IN CRIMINAL LAW AND/OR CRIMINAL PROCEDURE 
 
The Criminal Law Section of the State Bar of California is pleased to announce its Fifth Annual Competition for Student Papers in Criminal Law and/or Criminal Procedure 

PRIZES:
 
GRAND PRIZE
♦ $1000 cash prize
♦ The Grand Prize –winning paper will be published in the Criminal Law Journal, the official quarterly publication of the Criminal Law Section of the State Bar of California
♦ One-year student membership in the Criminal Law Section 
 

THREE HONORABLE MENTION PRIZES
♦ $300 cash prize
♦ Each of the papers awarded Honorable Mention status will be published in the Criminal Law Journal, the official quarterly publication of the Criminal Law Section of the State Bar of California
♦ One-year student membership in the Criminal Law Section 


ELIGIBILITY 
To be eligible for consideration, the paper must be written solely by a student enrolled in law school at the time the author submits a paper to this Competition.   
 

CONTEST RULES 
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.  The paper should be original and scholarly.  It should be appropriately and carefully annotated to reflect the authorities that support the author’s opinions and findings, and upon which the author otherwise relies.
   
Papers should be between 1,500 and 4,000 words in length, including any citations, and should follow the citation style of The Blue Book: A Uniform System of Citation.  Papers that have previously been published in a book, journal, magazine, or newspaper are not eligible.
  
Papers submitted to the Competition must be in Word format and sent by e-mail attachment to each of the Criminal Law Journal co-editors:  

Anne Perry ([email protected]), Decio Rangel, Jr. (DecioRangelLaw.com), and Lani Biafore ([email protected]).

Papers submitted to the 2013 Criminal Law Section Student Paper Competition must be e-mailed no later than midnight, February 28, 2013.  Submissions must be accompanied by an e-mail cover letter verifying the author’s current law school enrollment and authorizing the Criminal Law Section of the State Bar to publish the paper in the Criminal Law Journal.  


JUDGING
The papers will be judged on their originality and informational value, as well as the quality of the author’s legal research, writing and analysis.  The decision of the judges is final.  Papers must be of publishable quality, and the Criminal Law Section reserves the right not to award one or more of the listed prizes, if, in the sole opinion of the judges, the papers submitted in the Competition do not meet its standards.

The Criminal Law Section reserves the right to edit the papers that are selected for publication.
 
For information about the Criminal Law Section see: 
http://criminallaw.calbar.ca.gov