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Writing Competitions

Writing Competitions for law students and legal scholars.

Writing competitions are a great way to showcase your work and hone your writing skills. They also are a good way to make money!

Students who enter writing competitions can submit their papers to Digital Commons @WCL, the law school's institutional repository.

Mendes Hershman Student Writing Contest

Title	Mendes Hershman Student Writing Contest
Deadline	May 30, 2025
Topic	Business Law
Sponsor	American Bar Association’s Business Law Section
Description	The Mendes Hershman Student Writing Contest is a highly regarded legal writing competition that encourages and rewards law students for their outstanding writing on business law topics. The distinguished and highly-regarded former Business Law Section Chair, Mendes Hershman (1974-1975) lends his name to this legacy.
Prize	First Place: $1,000 Second and Third Place: eligibility to have their essays considered for publication in Business Law Today.
Contact & Submission Info	Contact Chad Johannes by email, chad.johannes@americanbar.org, with any questions.
Competition URL	https://www.americanbar.org/groups/business_law/about/awards-initiatives/mendes-hershman-student-writing-contest/

Employee Benefits Writing Competition

Title	Employee Benefits Writing Competition
Deadline	June 1, 2025
Topic	Employment and Labor Law
Sponsor	American College of Employee Benefits Counsel
Description	Winners will be honored during the College’s annual black-tie dinner in November 8, 2025, in Charleston, South Carolina. The winning papers will also be distributed to the Fellows of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel, comprised of experienced attorneys who have made significant contributions to the advancement of the employee benefits field in a wide range of practice settings including law and consulting firms, universities, labor unions, advocacy organizations, and government agencies throughout the United States.
Prize	Up to two awards of $2,500.
Contact & Submission Info	Frances King Quick, Chair of the ACEBC® Writing Competition Committee, at fquick@maynardnexsen.com with a copy to sstewart@maynardnexsen.com.
Competition URL	https://www.acebc.com/employee-benefits-writing-competition

Mary Moers Wenig Student Writing Competition

Title	Mary Moers Wenig Student Writing Competition
Deadline	June 1, 2025
Topic	Trusts and Estates
Sponsor	ACTEC’s Legal Education Committee
Description	Consistent with The ACTEC Foundation’s purposes, the Mary Moers Wenig Student Writing Competition was created to encourage and reward scholarly works in the area of trusts and estates. ACTEC’s purposes are to maintain an association of lawyers, international in scope, skilled and experienced in the preparation of wills and trusts; estate planning; probate procedure and administration of trusts and estates of decedents, minors and incompetents; to improve and reform probate, trust and tax laws, procedures, and professional responsibility, to bring together qualified lawyers whose character and ability will contribute to the achievement of the purposes of the College; and to cooperate with bar associations and other organizations with similar purposes.
Prize	First place - $5,000, publication in the ACTEC Law Journal, and a full tuition scholarship to the Heckerling Graduate Program in Estate Planning at the University of Miami School of Law for the 2025-2026 or 2026-2027 academic year. Second place - $3,000, online publication on The ACTEC Foundation’s website, and possible publication in the ACTEC Law Journal. Third place - $1,000, online publication on The ACTEC Foundation’s website, and possible publication in the ACTEC Law Journal.
Contact & Submission Info	Email paper in either MS Word or PDF, and scanned entry form to: Amy Michaud at amy.michaud@actec.org.
Competition URL	https://actecfoundation.org/programs-law-student-writing-competition/

Adam A. Milani Disability Law Writing Competition

Title	Adam A. Milani Disability Law Writing Competition
Deadlin	June 13, 2025
Topic	Disability Law
Sponsor	Mercer University School of Law and the American Bar Association Commission on Disability Rights
Description	The purposes of the competition are to promote greater interest in and understanding of the field of disability law and to encourage excellent legal writing skills in law students.
Prize	First prize will range between $300 and $1,000, depending on whether multiple awards are given.
Contact & Submission Info	Entries for the competition must be submitted in pdf and sent by email to Cherie Jump, jump_cs@law.mercer.edu with subject line “Adam A. Milani Disability Law Writing Competition.”
Competition URL	https://law.mercer.edu/academics/legal-writing/milani-writing-competition/

Chapman LLC Scholarship for Law Students

Title	Chapman LLC Scholarship for Law Students
Deadline	June 13, 2025
Topic	Essay Question: You’re starring in the pilot episode of a new legal drama about investment fraud. Write the opening scene where your character takes on their first high-stakes case.
Sponsor	Chapman Albin
Description	Since 2015, ChapmanAlbin has sponsored a yearly $1000 scholarship for incoming and current law students. To apply, a U.S. law student must write a 200-300 word essay on a specific topic and meet a few other criteria for consideration.
Prize	A check for $1,000 will be made to the scholarship recipient’s law school of choice to cover expenses.
Contact & Submission Info	None provided.
Competition URL	https://chapmanalbin.com/scholarship/

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