WRITING COMPETITION update:


MARSHALL M. SCHULMAN 2020-2021 COMPETITION FOR STUDENT PAPERS IN CRIMINAL LAW AND/OR CRIMINAL PROCEDURE [DEADLINE: APR. 2, 2021 BY MIDNIGHT]

The Criminal Law Section of the California Lawyer’s Association (formerly the Criminal Law Section of the California State Bar) is pleased to announce the 2020-2021 Marshall M. Schulman Annual Competition for Student Papers in Criminal Law and/or Criminal Procedure. This is a nationwide competition; while the focus is on California law, past winners have included students attending schools from coast to coast.

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. First-year law students are encouraged to submit entries.

Topic: 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

Awards: Grand prize:

  • $1,500 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:

  • $500 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

Submission guidelines: 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.  It need not be a law review “note”-style document; past winners have included articles about new developments in criminal procedure, sentencing alternatives, and other topics that can be discussed with more brevity.

  • Papers should be between 1,500 and 4,500 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.
  • 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.
    • Send to: Papers submitted to the Competition must be in Word format and sent by e-mail attachment to the following Criminal Law Journal co-editor: Anne Perry (perry@usdoj.gov)

Complete details: Available @ calawyers.org/section/criminal-law/student-writing-competition/

Contact: If students have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Anne Perry, Co-Editor California Criminal Law Journal @ anne.perry@usdoj.gov