Bert W. Levit Essay ContestSponsored by: ABA Standing Committee on Lawyers' Professional Liability and Long & Levit, LLP |
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| Contest Home | Contest Information & Rules | The Assignment: Essay Hypothetical |
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Contest Information
Deadline for Submission:
ONLINE entries MUST be submitted by 11:59 PM CST on February 18, 2011.
MAILED entries MUST be postmarked by February 18, 2011.
Prize:
* Cash award of $5,000.
* All expense paid trip to the Spring 2011 National Legal Malpractice Conference in Boston, MA on April 27-29.
The contest encourages original and innovative research and writing in the area of legal malpractice law, professional liability insurance and loss prevention.
Sponsors
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 2011 contest is administered and judged by a subcommittee designated by the ABA Standing Committee on Lawyers’ Professional Liability.
The Assignment
The 2011 Contest Essay Hypothetical concerns whether a party who has engaged in fraud has standing to bring a suit against a lawyer for fraud and legal malpractice based on the lawyer’s conduct relating to the fraud itself, or rather if such a claim is barred by the doctrine of in pari delicto, which prohibits one wrongdoer from suing another wrongdoer for a fraud the two parties committed together.
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 the ABA, 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.
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 one of the paper entry forms (PDF) or you can use the Online Contest Entry & Agreement Form, providing your full name, address and telephone number as indicated.
Identification
For identification, an entry number will be assigned on receipt of the entry, and the entrant will be advised of the number. One cover sheet showing the name, address and telephone number of the entrant, together with the entrant’s title for the entry, should be submitted with the essay. No identification other than the title should appear on the essays themselves. The cover sheet will be removed before the essay is read by the judges to assure objectivity in the judging process.
Eligibility
The contest is open to Young Lawyers Division or Law Student Division members of the ABA, in good standing as of February 18, 2011, 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.
Judging
Essays will be judged by a subcommittee designated by the ABA Standing Committee on Lawyers' Professional Liability and the San Francisco law firm of Long & Levit LLP, whose decision will be final and whose names cannot be divulged. The ABA and the judges reserve the right to award no prize.
National Legal Malpractice Conference
The winner of the contest will receive round-trip coach airfare to the 2011 Spring American Bar Association National Legal Malpractice Conference in Boston, MA, lodging for up to four nights during the conference, will be a guest at conference meals and events, and will attend the Committee dinner on April 29, 2011 paid for and arranged by the ABA.
How to Submit Entries
Electronic Submission
If you would like to submit your entry electronically, you will need to fill out and submit the Contest Entry & Agreement Form (Online) with your essay attached. Your essay should not exceed 2.5 MB and should be in one of the following formats: MS Word, Word Perfect, Adobe PDF, TXT, RTF, or HTML. Your entry must be submitted by 11:59 pm Central time on February 18, 2011.
Paper Submissions
If you would prefer to submit your entry by mail, you will need to download, print, and fill out one of our paper Contest Entry & Agreement Form (PDF or Word). The completed form and two copies of your essay should be mailed first-class, without folding, on or before February 18, 2011. U.S. Postal Service postmark will determine mailing date. The materials may also be sent via an express delivery service, if they are posted on or before February 18, 2011.
Entries should be mailed to:American Bar Association
LPL Levit Essay Contest
Meghan Monahan
FL 19
321 North Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60654
Additional Information
For further information, contact or call (312) 988-5763.
