2022 Brown Award for Excellence in Legal Writing

The Judge John R. Brown Scholarship Foundation is pleased to announce the twenty-ninth annual Brown Award. The Award honors excellence in legal writing in American law schools. Any law student currently enrolled in an accredited law school in the United States seeking a J.D. or LL.B degree is eligible to submit a paper for the Award.

In order to be considered, two copies of a current legal writing must be submitted to the Foundation c/o Kenneth G. Engerrand, Brown Sims, P.C., Tenth Floor, 1177 West Loop South, Houston, Texas 77027-9007. The article must be accompanied by a letter of recommendation from a law school faculty member or legal professional other than the author of the paper. Only one paper may be submitted on behalf of any student, and only one paper may be sponsored by any faculty member or legal professional. The submission must be postmarked no later than May 31, 2022. The submission must contain a separate sheet containing the title of the paper; the name, physical address, telephone number, and email address of the student; and the name, title, physical address, and email address of the student’s sponsor. There is no page limitation or restriction on the topic except that the writing must be on a legal subject. Papers that have been submitted to a law review for publication are eligible, but the submission must be of the paper in its form before it was edited by anyone other than the author.

The Foundation will appoint a final judging panel consisting of a law school dean, a federal judge, and a law school professor. The Foundation will not return any material submitted to the Foundation.

The Judge John R. Brown Scholarship Foundation

The amounts awarded for 2022 will be as follows:

$10,000 First Place,
$5,000 Second Place,
$3,000 Third Place,
$1,000 Finalist,
$1,000 Finalist, and

$5,000 to the Scholarship Fund selected by the Dean of
the law school in which the First Place candidate is enrolled.

05/31/2022

The Criminal Justice Reform National Writing Competition

This national writing competition seeks to promote legal scholarship centering on criminal justice reform. Applicants may write on any criminal justice topic but all submissions should offer a recommendation or solution to the problem(s) being highlighted. Articles must be no longer than 10,000 words (including footnotes), but shorter articles are also encouraged. Applicants should include a cover page indicating their school and year of graduation. Applicants must be enrolled full-time at an ABA-accredited law school at the time of submission.

The Arizona State Law Journal and the Academy for Justice’s selection will focus on clarity, accessibility of the arguments, practical relevance, measured tone, and non-partisan solutions in their decision.

The Academy for Justice and Arizona State Law Journal

$1,000 in prize money will be awarded and articles will be considered for publication in the Arizona State Law Journal Online.

07/01/2022