Boyd School of Law Writing Competitions
The Write-On Competition is for full-time 2Ls or part-time 3Ls students enrolled at the William S. Boyd School of Law for those who would like to be considered for a position on the Nevada Law Journal or the UNLV Gaming Law Journal. The contest is put on each spring semester and students must be registered for the competition and should attend a Bluebook and Note Writing Workshop to submit an entry.
Many of our students have written interesting scholarly papers in the course of their studies at Boyd. The Nevada Law Journal's Scholarly Writing Competition is their chance to get published in the Nevada Law Journal (NLJ) or Nevada Law Journal Forum. The Scholarly Writing Competition is open to currents 2Ls and 3Ls enrolled at the William S. Boyd School of Law. This competition is not open to members of NLJ or the UNLV Gaming Law Journal. Aside from the honor of being selected and the possibility of being published, there are also cash prizes for the top three papers.
The UNLV Gaming Law Journal's Scholarly Writing Competition is an opportunity for our students to get their gaming law papers published. Submissions must be related to gaming law and meet the Capstone Writing Requirements. This competition is open to full-time rising 3Ls and part-time rising 3Ls and 4Ls enrolled at the William S. Boyd School of Law. The top three papers will win cash prizes and the top paper will receive presumptive publication in the UNLV Gaming Law Journal.
Legal Writing Competition Honorees
The William S. Boyd School of Law is proud to have students enter and consistently rank high in legal writing competitions across the country. Below are a few of our students and alumni who recently placed high in national competitions.
Kristen Clarke's (’25) paper, Groff v. DeJoy: A “More Than De Minimus" Improvement for Religious Minorities, won third place in the 2024 Notre Dame Law Church, State, and Society Writing Contest.
Brittany Petersen Tellez (’24) received an honorable mention (second place) in the 2024 Herman and Edith Wildman Social Justice Writing Competition for her paper "The Invisible Working Poor: Poverty and Undocumented Immigrants," which was supervised by Professor Rachel Anderson.
McCall Johnson ('24) won first place in the American University Washington College of Law’s Ninth Annual National Health Law Writing Competition (2023-2024). McCall's paper entitled "Beyond Dobbs: Faith-Based Resistance To State Abortion Laws Under State RFRAs" was written as part of Professor Leslie Griffin's Law and Religion class.
Charles Cahillane (’24) won first place for the 2024 International Masters of Gaming Law National Competition. Charlie won the awards for his paper "Don't Level Up with Loot Boxes: A Reconsideration of Senate Bill 1629."
Joe Morris (’24) was selected as the third-place paper in the 2023 Beckley Student Writing Competition. His paper was titled Reinstating Public Confidence in Cryptocurrency Exchanges Through Enhanced Corporate Governance.
Taylor Duffy (’23) won second place in the 2023 New York State Bar Association’s Business Law Section Annual Student Writing Competition. Her paper was entitled “Standardizing the Corporate Veil Phenomenon.”
Travis Studdard (’22) won first place in the 2021 James E. Beckley National Competition by the Public Investors Advocate Bar Association (PIABA) for his article, Riling Up As Recommendation: How Commission-Free Brokerages Recommend Active Investing to the Public. He also won a Law360 Legal Writing Award in 2023 from the Burton Awards for the same article.