Southwestern Law School — Legal Fiction Contest Rules

Journal of Legal Education Home | Legal Fiction Contest

The long hours, the ethical quandaries, the contestable notions of justice - all force hard choices upon law students, practitioners, judges, academics - and the people in their lives. These struggles can make powerful stories, and we want to read them. We welcome submissions from lawyers (including "recovering lawyers"), judges, law students as well as non-lawyers - anyone, really with a good story to tell. Submissions must be original short works of fiction, and winning entries will be published in a future issue of the JLE.

The submission period for the JLE Fiction Contest is now closed. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Entry Deadline

Submissions must be received (via email, see below), by 6:00 p.m., Pacific Daylight Time, Thursday, March 15, 2012.

Eligibility

The contest is open to lawyers and non-lawyers, academics and non-academics - anyone setting a fictitious story in a legal setting (law school, law firm, courtroom, legislature, judge's chambers, etc.) or focusing on a law-related character (lawyer, law professor, judicial clerk, etc.).

Submission Requirements

All submissions must be original and previously unpublished works of short fiction related to law school or the practice of law. Submissions must be no more than 5,000 words (approximately 20 double-spaced pages). You must email your submission and it must include two attachments, both Word documents. One attachment must include the manuscript, double-spaced; please include the title of the story, but no information identifying the author. The second attachment should be a separate title page which must include the manuscript title and the author's name and contact information (email address, telephone number, and mailing address). Only one entry per author will be accepted.

Submissions must be emailed to jle@swlaw.edu; please note "Fiction contest entry" in the subject line of your email. A cover letter should also accompany the submission. Entries that do not conform to these guidelines will not be considered.

Judging

Entries will be judged on originality, quality of writing and depth of character. Submissions will be reviewed anonymously by our panel of four judges. Biographies of the judges can be found here.

Announcements

The ten winners will be announced in June 2012. While we cannot offer a monetary prize, we will publish the winning stories in the Journal of Legal Education: The Fiction Issue in early 2013. Additionally, the winning entries and ten runner-up entries will be posted on the JLE website. Authors will retain copyright ownership.

Questions?

Please email us at jle@swlaw.edu.