Securities Law Writing Competition 2013

Association of Securities and Exchange Commission Alumni

Securities Law Writing Competition 2013

Prizes

Three cash prizes are awarded each year at the ASECA annual dinner on February 21, 2014 in Washington, D.C.

·         1^st place is $5,000

·         2^nd place is $3,000

·         3^rd place is $2,000

Eligibility

Students enrolled at any accredited law school in the United States, with expected graduation in 2014 or later. Unpublished papers, papers published in any law journal or other publication during calendar year 2013, and papers scheduled for publication in 2013 or 2014 are eligible for submission.  Co-authored papers are not eligible. 

Deadline:     November 15, 2013

Mail two copies of submissions to:

ASECA
P. O. Box 5767
Washington, DC 20016

All submissions must include the author's name and contact information, including e-mail, postal address, telephone number, law school, and year of anticipated graduation.  For submissions which have been published or are scheduled to be published, the name and date of publication should be included.  Receipt of submissions will be acknowledged by e-mail.

Submissions in hard copy must be received by November 15, 2013.  E-mail submissions will not be accepted.  Questions may be directed to Mary Revell, ASECA Executive Director, at info@secalumni.org or 202-462-1211.

Award winners will be invited to attend the ASECA annual dinner, which will be held in Washington, D.C. on Friday, February 21, 2014. Travel and lodging for the first place winner will be reimbursed by ASECA up to $1,000 in actual expenses.

University of Connecticut School of Law Student Legal Writing Competition

Deadline

June 3, 2013

Description

The University of Connecticut School of Law has established a Student Legal Writing Competition to encourage and reward original student writing on legal issues affecting persons struggling with homelessness, mental illness, addiction, or substance abuse.

Topic

Entrants should submit a paper on a legal issue affecting persons struggling with homelessness, mental illness, addiction, or substance abuse.

Eligibility

Papers will be accepted from any student enrolled for the 2012-13 academic year in an ABA-accredited law school in the United States or Canada.  Papers must be the law student author’s own work and must not have been submitted for publication elsewhere.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, a student may incorporate professorial feedback as part of a course requirement or supervised writing project.  All students intending to enter the competition must register by April 15, 2013.  Registration Form is available online: http://www.law.uconn.edu/node/9768

Format

Papers should be a minimum of 15 pages in length and shall not exceed 30 pages, including footnotes.  They must be types, double-spaced and with one-inch margins, on 8 ½  x 11 inch paper, in a 12-point font, such as Times New Roman.  All citations and footnotes should conform to the current edition of The Bluebook:  A Uniform System of Citation and should also be in a 12-point font.

Judging

Papers will be judged by a panel appointed by the University of Connecticut School of Law.  Judges will evaluate papers based on the substance, clarity of the proposal or thesis, logical force, support of argument, and quality of research.  Grammar, syntax, and form will also be taken into consideration.

Submission

Entries must be received by 5pm on June 3, 2013.  Entries must be submitted in two formats:

(1) Email an electronic version (in Microsoft Word or PDF format) to Karen.DeMeola@law.uconn.edu

(2) Mail, with a postmark dated by June 3, 2013, four copies of the paper to:

Student Legal Writing Competition

University of Connecticut School of Law

55 Elizabeth Street

Hartford, CT 06105

Attn: Assistant Dean Karen Lynn DeMeola

Papers are judged anonymously, and no identifying information should appear on either the original or the copies of the paper.  Entrants must submit a separate cover letter listing the author’s name, address, telephone number, email address, name of law school, and year of graduation.

Awards

 Three cash prizes will be awarded:

• $750 First Prize 
• $500 Second Prize
• $250 Third Prize

Winners will be notified by July 30, 2013.  All decisions of the judges are final.

Linked In's New Checklist

As you know, Linked In is a great professional tool to connect with other professionals in diverse industries. Such connections may lead to employment opportunities. However, your Linked In profile must be up-to-date and distinguishing.

Last week, LinkedIn produced and published an updated "LinkedIn JobSearch Checklist," full of "great tips and links directly to job seeker features on LinkedIn in this list."

Take some time to review your profile with the checklist and to make updates accordingly. Once updated, connect with Director Beem or Assistant Director Nienaber so we can review your profile and become a new connection.

James E. Beckley Securities Arbitration and Law Writing Competition

The James E. Beckley Securities Arbitration and Law Writing Competition is a writing contest for law students interested in Securities Arbitration and Securities Law.  The PIABA Bar Journal Board-of-Editors will publish the first place paper, and may, at their option, elect to print additional submissions. Winners will be announced at the PIABA Annual Meeting and posted on The PIABA Foundation and PIABA websites. Stipends are awarded as follows: First Place - $1000; Second Place - $750; and Third place - $500.

Topic. The submission may address any aspect of Securities Law; Securities Arbitration; The Federal Arbitration Act, Title 9, US Code, Section 1-14; or FINRA Code of Arbitration, effective April 16, 2007 and any changes or proposed changes to that Code. The writing can be based in theory or practice, but should ultimately advocate a position on the topic area chosen.

Eligibility. The competition is open to all students who attend a law school in the United States. Full-time students who are not law students but who write law-related papers as part of a course at an American law school are also eligible. Employees of The PIABA Foundation and PIABA, except for students working less than 20 hours per week, are not eligible to enter the competition.

Authorship. The author must have performed all the key tasks of researching, writing, and revising the paper for himself or herself, but may have received a reasonable amount of advice from academicians or practitioners. Except for any discussions or other activities that occur as part of course activities approved by the student’s professor, the author must avoid collaboration with other students. If the paper is written as an assignment in a legal writing class and if the student was assigned to produce the paper along with a partner, the student may submit the paper but must identify the portions for which the student was the sole author. Only those parts of the paper will be evaluated. Under no other circumstances may any of the written product be produced by another.

Criteria and Judging. All entries will be judged anonymously by the Competition Judges, who will select the winning submission(s). Robin Ringo will notify the award winner(s). The Judges reserve the right not to award any prizes if it is determined that no entries are of sufficient quality to merit selection that year.

Entries will be judged based on the following criteria: quality of research and authority provided; accuracy and clarity of the analysis; compliance with legal writing standards and technical quality of writing, including organization, grammar, syntax, and form. Strong preference will be given to articles that advocate pro-investor positions, provide updates on or surveys of securities or ADR law, and/or are consistent with The PIABA Foundation's mission of promoting financial literacy by educating public investors about abuses in the financial services industry and the securities dispute resolution process.

Purposes of the James E. Beckley Securities Arbitration and Law Writing Competition. The purposes of the competition are to promote greater interest in and understanding of the fields of securities arbitration and securities law and to encourage excellent legal writing skills in law students.

Format. Submissions should be on one of the topics listed above. The text of a submission must be double-spaced, with twelve-point font and one-inch margins. Any Question(s) Presented section, the Statement of the Facts / Statement of the Law section, the Argument section, and/or the Conclusion together are limited to 25 pages. If the submission covers both a topic among those listed above and a topic not listed above, only the topic listed above will be evalfuated. Submissions will be penalized for arguing a position that would limit investor rights rather than expand them.

To Enter. Entries must be submitted no later than 5 pm CDT on September 20, 2013 through The Foundation Competition Submission Form:

http://piabafoundation.org/content/beckley-writing-competition-submission-form

The contestant’s name and other identifying markings such as school name are not to be on any copy of the submitted entry. Ms. Ringo will assign a random number to each entry and will record this number on all copies of each submission. Neither the contestant’s identity nor his or her academic institution will be known to any Competition Judge. Each entrant may submit only one entry.

Submission Deadline. September 20, 2013. The first place winner is invited to accept the James E. Beckley Student Writing Competition Award in-person during the PIABA Annual Meeting President’s Dinner on October 18, 2013. Second and Third places, as well as, Honorable Mention(s) are announced at that time as well. Upon receipt of any entry, confirmation of receipt will be sent by email. If you do not receive a confirmation, please contact The PIABA Foundation at (405) 310-2444.

About James E. Beckley. A passionate securities arbitration activist and an accomplished scholar, Mr. Beckley was well known for defending and promoting the rights of public investors. Along with his advocacy skills, he was as a prolific and outstanding writer. Mr. Beckley served on the Securities Industry Conference on Arbitration, an organization created at the request of the Securities and Exchange Commission to maintain and update the Uniform Code of Arbitration for securities arbitration, and to serve as a sounding board on issues of fairness in arbitration. At the time of his death in 1999, Mr. Beckley was the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association (“PIABA”) President. This competition and award has been established to honor his legacy.

Heartland Diversity Legal Job Fair (HDLJF)

The 9th Annual Heartland Diversity Legal Job Fair (HDLJF) will be held August 9-10, 2013, in Kansas City, Missouri. Students who are interested in becoming part of Kansas City’s dynamic legal community should strongly consider attending this event.  Students who will be returning to school in August and those graduating in May are eligible to attend the job fair, as employers will be interviewing for both summer and post-graduate positions.

The HDLJF is the result of Kansas City's leading law firms, legal associations, and corporate legal departments coming together to encourage law students to practice law in Kansas City.  The HDLJF is designed to expose law students of diverse backgrounds to both traditional and non-traditional legal employers.  In addition, the event is a great way to learn more about living in this wonderful city.

The HDLJF will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.  It will kick off with an evening Welcome Reception on Friday, August 9th at the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association.  The Saturday schedule includes a continental breakfast, interviewing from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and a luncheon at which participants will be greeted and addressed by a special Keynote Speaker.

Please register as soon as possible.  Students who register before May 24th will be entered into a drawing for exciting prizes.  The final deadline for registering is June 22, 2013.

Students can register on-line at https://law-kcmba-csm.symplicity.com/students/.