Louis Jackson National Student Writing Competition winners named

The law firm of Jackson Lewis and Chicago-Kent College of Law's Institute for Law and the Workplace have announced the winners of the 2009–10 Louis Jackson National Student Writing Competition in Employment and Labor Law. Awards were presented to the top three entries.

Matthew Bartmes, a third-year student at Chicago-Kent College of Law, won top honors for his paper "Interest Arbitration in the New Economy." Bartmes will receive a $3,000 cash prize and his paper will be published on the Institute for Law and the Workplace Web site.

There are two second-place winners. Second-year student Caroline P. Park of the University of Connecticut School of Law won for her paper "Action Speaks Louder Than Form: The Case for Protecting Oral Complaints Under the FLSA." In addition, third-year student Kimberley Chin of Boston College Law School won for her paper "Continuing the White Collar Unionization Movement: Imagining A Private Attorneys' Union." Park and Chin will each receive a $1,000 cash prize. Their papers will likewise be published on the ILW Web site.

Established in 1998, the writing competition is named for the late Louis Jackson, founding partner of Jackson Lewis. The firm, which has more than 350 attorneys in 20 offices in 13 states and the District of Columbia, has represented management in the practice of employment, labor, and benefits law for nearly 50 years.

"From 1958 until his death in 1997, Louis Jackson provided inspiration, guidance, friendship and good humor to his colleagues," said Felice Ekelman of the law firm. "It is fitting that we honor his memory by carrying on his commitment to the future of the profession through this national student competition."

"We are pleased to join with Jackson Lewis in encouraging scholarship by law students interested in careers in labor and employment law," said Martin H. Malin, Chicago-Kent professor and director of the Institute for Law and the Workplace.

Chicago-Kent's Institute for Law and the Workplace administers the annual competition. Entries are blind-judged by an independent panel of law professors from across the United States. The determination of the judges' panel is final, and neither Jackson Lewis LLP nor the Institute for Law and the Workplace is involved in judging the competition.

Chicago-Kent College of Law is the law school of Illinois Institute of Technology, a private, Ph.D.-granting institution with programs in engineering, psychology, architecture, business, design and law. Created in 1996, the Institute for Law and the Workplace is housed at Illinois Institute of Technology's Chicago-Kent College of Law. The Institute is a national center for research, training, dialogue, and reflection on the law that governs the workplace.