Trial Practice Section

The general purpose of the Section shall be the promotion of the objectives of the State Bar of New Mexico within the particular fields designated by the name of this Section. To that end, it shall be the purpose of this Section to improve the trial advocacy skills of the trial lawyers in New Mexico.

2011 State Bar Trial Practice Section
Law Student Writing Competition

The goal of the competition is to encourage and reward law student writings on legal subjects within the scope of the Trial Practice Section and of general and current interest. It is also designed to attract students to the civil trial fields, and to strongly encourage scholarship in these areas.

Rules concerning the competition are as follows:

1. The competition is open to any University of New Mexico Law student in good standing.
2. Papers should address a current topic in a legal area. Papers covering Rules of Professional Conduct, Judicial Ethics, Discovery or Trial Practice and technique in general will be given preference.
3. Entrants must submit their own original essay.
4. Essays must be submitted by e-mail to Denise A. Snyder: dsnyder@snyder-law-nm.com.
5. Essays must not exceed 5 pages of double-spaced typed text, including footnotes. Only one essay is to be submitted for each entrant. Entrants should write essays in traditional law review style, presenting a scholarly discussion with full citation to authority in footnotes.
6. The following information shall be presented on the title page: title; author's name; author's year in school; author's address, email address and telephone number.
7. Entries will be judged based on the following criteria: clarity of the topic presented, significance of the topic selected, manner in which the topic is treated, organization, quality of analysis, quality of research and authority provided, and grammar, syntax, and form.
8. The entries will be judged anonymously by members of the Trial Practice Section.
9. Deadline to submit entries is Friday, November 18, 2011.
10. Winner will be announced via the Trial Practice Website: http://www.nmbar.org/AboutSBNM/sections/TrialPractice/trialpracticesection.html by Monday, December 19, 2011.
11. The first-place winner will receive $500.00. The second-place winner will receive $250.00. The third-place will receive an honorable mention on the Trial Practice Website.
12. By entering, the Trial Practice Section receives the right to reproduce any essay material submitted in any medium without time, use, or territorial limitation, as long as such is for noncommercial purposes. Entries will not be returned. All entries submitted to the Trial Practice Section become the property of the Trial Practice Section.
13. Winners, by accepting the cash award, agree to give the Trial Practice Section a non-exclusive right to publish the article and to use for other purposes. Essays submitted must have been created by the entrant, must never have been published in any other medium other than a law school publication, and must have been written after January 1, 2009.
Thank you for participating and Good Luck!

- The State Bar Trial Practice Section

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