ILW Writing Competitions

The Mary Rose Strubbe Labor & Employment Law Writing Prize

The Strubbe Prize is awarded annually for the best piece of legal writing in labor and employment law by a Chicago-Kent student or alumni. Entries are anonymously judged by a group of Chicago-Kent faculty, adjunct faculty, and alumni. The award money is a check of $5,000, awarded to one individual. In addition to the monetary award, the paper will be published on the Chicago-Kent Institute for Law and the Workplace website and shared with prize donors.

The prize is named after Mary Rose Strubbe, who served as Chicago-Kent’s director of Legal Research and Writing and as assistant director of the Institute for Law and the Workplace. Upon her retirement in 2017 after 23 years at Chicago-Kent, the Chicago Federation of Labor and Chicago-Kent faculty and alumni joined together to establish the Mary Rose Strubbe Labor & Employment Writing Prize to honor her impact on the legal education of thousands of lawyers.

Louis Jackson Memorial National Student Writing Competition

The Louis Jackson competition is sponsored by Jackson Lewis P.C. and administered by Chicago-Kent College of Law’s Martin H. Malin Institute for Law and the Workplace. It recognizes the best legal writing in the field of labor and employment law among current law students.

Manuscripts are presently being accepted for the 2024–2025 competition. Judges will consider papers on any topic relating to laws governing the workplace, such as employment law, labor law, employee benefits, or employment discrimination. The panel of judges is constituted by law professors from across the US. They conduct an anonymous review. Their determination is final. Neither Jackson Lewis P.C. nor the Malin Institute is involved in judging the competition.

REQUIREMENTS & ELIGIBILITY
Entries must be the law student author’s own work. Authors must have completed or be currently taking coursework in employment or labor law and must be enrolled in an accredited law school in the US during the Spring 2025 semester. Only the first two submissions per law school will be accepted as entries for consideration.

FORMAT
Entries must be suitable for publication in a law review. Citations must conform to current Bluebook style. Papers must not exceed 35 pages in length when printed on 8½ x 11-inch paper, including footnotes. Papers should be double spaced, with one-inch margins, and in 12-point Times Roman font (footnotes in 10-point font). Judging will be anonymous. No identifying information other than the title should appear on the paper.

SUBMISSION
Submit manuscripts to malininstitute@kentlaw.iit.edu. In your email, include your name, school, year (e.g., 2L),
and school email address (if different from the one you use to send the paper). Papers must be received
by 11:59 PM (CST) on Friday, February 7, 2025.

AWARDS
The first-place award is $3,000. Two $1,000 awards will be presented to two second-place winners. All awards are in the form of scholarships.