2006 LAMP Essay Contest
Contest Rules |
Contest Rules
***** NEW! 2006 Contest Topic *****
Discuss the operational and practical challenges of providing legal assistance in the deployed environment, including without limitation the challenges of providing legal assistance to family members in remote locations. Present a well-supported argument for enhancement of relevant policies, programs or practices.
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Amount of Prize:
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SPONSORS: The Legal Assistance Essay Contest is conducted by the American Bar Association ("ABA") Standing Committee on Legal Assistance for Military Personnel ("LAMP"). The contest is administered and judged by a subcommittee designated by the LAMP Committee. The contest prizes have been generously contributed by the Tacoma, WA firm of Luce & Associates, P.S.
CONTEST MISSION: The contest is intended to promote critical and creative discourse on the future of military legal assistance, with the goal of enhancing legal assistance service delivery.
ELIGIBILITY: The contest is open to all military and civilian lawyers, law students, and paralegals. Current ABA officers and members of the Board of Governors; employees of the ABA or its sections, divisions and committees; and officers and employees of the American Bar Foundation or the American Bar Endowment are not eligible to participate in this competition. Each entrant may submit only one entry, and no co-authored submissions will be accepted. No individual may be awarded First Place more than once in any five-year period.
ESSAY REQUIREMENTS: No essay will be accepted unless prepared for this contest and not previously published. Each entrant will be required to assign to the ABA all rights, title and interest in the essay submitted. It is the policy of the ABA to release the assignment of rights in all but the winning essay after the judges have made their decision.
Essays may not exceed 3,000 words, including quoted matter and citations. Footnotes are disfavored. Material sometimes placed in footnotes, such as citations to cases and statutes, should be included in the main text. The winning essay will be considered for printing in ABA publications that are distributed to the military attorney network, practicing attorneys and the general legal community.
JUDGING: Essays will be judged by a subcommittee designated by the ABA LAMP Committee, whose decision will be final and whose names cannot be divulged. The ABA and the judges retain the right to award no prize.
PREPARATION: Paper submissions of the essay should be submitted in triplicate, typewritten double-spaced on one side of plain white, letter-size paper (8 1/2" x 11"). Electronic submissions should not exceed 2.5 MB; should be in one of these formats - MS Word, Word Perfect, Adobe PDF, TXT, RTF, or HTML; should be typewritten double-spaced; and formatted for printing on letter-size paper (8 1/2" x 11"). On all submissions or copies, the number of words on each page should be typed on the lower right-hand corner of all three copies of the page. The total number of words in the essay should be entered on the last page of the essay text. In computing the number of words, all articles and prepositions should be counted. Count numbers and abbreviations as words. For example: F.2d = 1 word. 746 F.2d 619 = 3 words.
IDENTIFICATION: For identification, an entry number will be assigned on receipt of the entry. A cover sheet with identifying information for the entrant, together with the entrant's title for the entry, should be submitted with the essays, but no identification other than title should appear on the essays themselves. The cover sheet will be removed before the essay is read by the judges to assure objectivity in the judging process.
MAILED ENTRIES: The essay and the paper entry form should be mailed as first-class matter, without folding. Postal Service postmark will determine mailing date. The materials may also be sent via an express delivery service. Entries will be accepted via e-mail in an attached Word document only.
ELECTRONIC ENTRIES: Complete the electronic entry form with digital signature and submit form with entry attached, as instructed on the form.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
American Bar Association
Standing Committee on Legal Assistance for Military Personnel
321 North Clark Street, 19th Floor
Chicago, IL 60610
