NLR Writing Competition

NLR 2010 Law Student Writing Competition
Rules and Submission Guidelines

The National Law Review (NLR) consolidates practice-oriented legal analysis from a variety of sources for easy access by lawyers, paralegals, law students, business executives, insurance professionals, accountants, compliance officers, human resource managers, and other professionals who wish to better understand specific legal issues relevant to their work.

The NLR Law Student Writing Competition offers law students the opportunity to submit articles for publication consideration on the NLR Web site.  No entry fee is required. Applicants can submit an unlimited number of entries each month.

• Winning submissions will initially be published online in April, May, and June 2010.
• In each of these months, entries will be judged and the top two articles chosen will be featured in the NLR monthly magazine prominently displayed on the NLR home page. Up to 25 runner-up entries will also be posted in the NLR searchable database each month.
• Each winning article will be displayed accompanied by the student’s photo, biography, contact information, law school logo, and any copyright disclosure.
• All winning articles will remain in the NLR database for two years (subject to earlier removal upon request of the law school).
• In addition, the NLR sends links to targeted articles to specific professional groups via e-mail. The NLR also posts links to selected articles on the “Legal Issues” or “Research” sections of various professional organizations’ Web sites. (NLR, at its sole discretion, may distribute any winning entry in such a manner, but does not make any such guarantees nor does NLR represent that this is part of the prize package.)

Content Guidelines and Deadlines
Content Guidelines must be followed by all entrants to qualify. It is recommended that articles address the following monthly topic areas:

• April 2010 Feature: Health Care and Labor Law (Submission deadline: March 25, 2010)
• May 2010 Feature: Tax Law (Submission deadline: April  23, 2010)
• June 2010 Feature: Banking & Financial Law (Submission deadline: May 24, 2010)

Articles covering current issues related to other areas of the law may also be submitted. Entries must be submitted via email to your law school’s NLR Marketing Coordinator by 5:00 pm Central Standard Time on the dates indicated above.

Articles will be judged by NLR staff members on the basis of readability, clarity, organization, and timeliness. Tone should be authoritative, but not overly formal. Ideally, articles should be straightforward and practical, containing useful information of potential interest to legal and business professionals. Judges reserve the right not to award any prizes if it is determined that no entries merit selection for publication by NLR. All judges’ decisions are final. All submissions are subject to the NLR’s Terms of Use.

Students are not required to transfer copyright ownership of their winning articles to the NLR. However, all articles submitted must be clearly identified with any applicable copyright or other proprietary notices. The NLR will accept articles previously published by another publication, provided the author has the authority to grant the right to publish it on the NLR site. Do not submit any material that infringes upon the intellectual property or privacy rights of any third party, including a third party’s unlicensed copyrighted work.

Manuscript Requirements

• Format – HTML (preferred) or Microsoft^® Word
• Length – Articles should be no more than 5,500 words, including endnotes.
• Endnotes and citations – Any citations should be in endnote form and listed at the end of the article. Unreported cases should include docket number and court. Authors are responsible for the accuracy and proper format of related cites. In general, follow the Bluebook. Limit the number of endnotes to only those most essential. Authors are responsible for accuracy of all quoted material.
• Author Biography/Law School Information – Please submit the following:
  1. Full name of author (First Middle Last)
  2. Contact information for author, including e-mail address and phone number
  3. Author photo (recommended but optional) in JPEG format with a maximum file size of 1 MB and in RGB color format. Image size must be at least 150 x 200 pixels.
  4. A brief professional biography of the author, running approximately 100 words or 1,200 characters including spaces.
  5. The law school’s logo (recommended but optional) in JPEG format with a maximum file size of 1 MB and in RGB color format. Image size must be at least 300 pixels high or 300 pixels wide.
  6. The law school mailing address, main phone number, contact e-mail address, school Web site address, and a brief description of the law school, running no more than 125 words or 2,100 characters including spaces.

To enter, an applicant and any co-authors must be enrolled in an accredited law school within the fifty United States. Employees of The National Law Review are not eligible. Entries must include ALL information listed above to be considered and must be submitted to the NLR Marketing Coordinator assigned to entrant’s law school by stated deadlines.  To obtain your assigned NLR Marketing Coordinator’s e-mail address, please check with your Career Services office, consult the chart below or e-mail Bryan McDermand at bmcdermand@natlawreview.com with your request.

Any entry which does not meet the requirements and deadlines outlined herein will be disqualified from the competition. Winners will be notified via e-mail and/or telephone call at least one day prior to publication. Winners will be announced on the NLR home page at the beginning of each of the featured months. All prizes are contingent on recipient signing an Affidavit of Eligibility, Publicity Release and Liability Waiver.The National Law Review 2010 Law Student Writing Competition is sponsored by The National Law Forum, LLC, d/b/a The National Law Review, 4700 Gilbert, Suite 47 (#230), Western Springs, IL 60558, 708-357-3317. This contest is void where prohibited by law. All entries must be submitted in accordance with The National Law Review Contributor Guidelines per the terms of the contest rules. A list of winners may be obtained by writing to the address listed above or by e-mailing the NLR Marketing Coordinator. There is no fee to enter this contest.