From the 2006 News Archive

Students Earn National Awards for Legal Writing

Reflective of the School of Law’s emphasis on teaching effective legal writing, three students have received top awards for their entries in national legal writing competitions.

Third-year student Clark Lee, one of the Notes & Comments Editors of the Journal of Health Care Law & Policy, has won a Burton Award for Legal Achievement for his article, "Federal Regulation of Hospital Resident Work Hours: Enforcement with Real Teeth," soon to be published in Issue 9:1 of the Journal.

The Burton Awards recognize "partners in law firms and law school students who use plain, clear and precise language and avoid archaic, stilted legalese." Clark is one of only 15 winners from law schools around the country.

The 2006 Burton Awards Program will be held in Coolidge Auditorium and will be followed by cocktails and dinner in the Great Hall of The Library of Congress on June 12. The theme is "Legends of the Law," with more than 400 guests expected to attend including judges, deans, managing partners in the nations largest law firms, partners, professors, and other members of the legal community. Columnist and ABC political correspondent George Will will deliver an address.

Second year student Amy Major was named the winner of the Environmental Law Institute’s inaugural "Endangered Environmental Laws" national student writing competition. Entrants had to write an essay on any topic addressing recent developments in American environmental law that have a constitutional law or "federalism" element.

Amy’s winning essay will be published in the Environmental Law Reporter, the only attorney-edited law review containing environmental and natural resource issues.

Third-year student Candace Howard received an Honorable Mention Award in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel’s Mary Moers Wenig 2006 Student Writing Competition. This competition was created by ACTEC’s Legal Education Committee, which consists of law school professors who teach in the area of trusts and estates and practitioners who teach as adjuncts in the trusts and estates field.

Candace’s essay "From Markham to Marshall: Why the Probate Exception Should be Narrowly Construed" discussed the probate exception to federal jurisdiction that was raised before the Supreme Court this term in the Anna Nicole Smith case.

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