Judge John R. Brown Award

The Judge John R. Brown Scholarship Foundation
1177 West Loop South, Tenth Floor
Houston, Texas 77027

2017 Rules for the Brown Award of $10,000 for Excellence in Legal Writing

The Judge John R. Brown Scholarship Foundation is pleased to announce the twenty-fourth annual Brown Award. The Award is in recognition of Excellence in Legal Writing in American Law Schools. Any law student currently enrolled in an accredited law school in the United States seeking a J.D. or LL.B degree is eligible to submit a paper for the Award. The awards for 2017 will be as follows:

$10,000 First Place
$5,000 Second Place
$3,000 Third Place
$1,000 Finalist
$1,000 Finalist and
$5,000 to the Scholarship Fund selected by the Dean of
the law school in which the First Place candidate is enrolled.

In order to be considered, two copies of a current legal writing must be submitted to the Foundation c/o Kenneth G. Engerrand, Brown Sims, P.C., Tenth Floor, 1177 West Loop South, Houston, Texas 77027-9007. The article must be accompanied by a letter of recommendation from a law school faculty member or legal professional other than the author of the paper. Only one paper may be submitted on behalf of any student and only one paper may be sponsored by any faculty member or legal professional. The submission must be postmarked no later than August 18, 2017. The student’s package must contain a separate sheet containing the title of the paper; the name, physical address, telephone number, and email address of the student; and the name, title, physical address, and email address of the student’s sponsor. There is no page limitation or restriction on the topic except that the writing must be on a legal subject. The Foundation will appoint a final judging panel consisting of a law school dean, a federal judge, and a law school professor. The Foundation will not return any material submitted to the Foundation. The 2017 recipient of the Brown Award will be notified by January 31, 2018, and listed with the other finalists at the website www.brownsims.com/about-brown-sims/affiliations/judge-john-r-brown-award.

Results for the 2016 Brown Award for Excellence in Legal Writing:

Congratulations to the winners of the 2016 Brown Award for Excellence in Legal Writing:

First Place: $10,000 to Nicholas D’Angelo for his paper, EMERGING FROM DAIMLER’S SHADOW: REGISTRATION STATUTES AS A MEANS TO GENERAL JURISDICTION OVER FOREIGN CORPORATIONS, Sponsored by Jane E. Scott, Associate Professor of Legal Writing, St John’s University School of Law, Queens, New York.

Second Place: $5,000 to Lindsey Lusk for her paper, MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD, BUT WHAT ABOUT THE SHIELD? THE DANGERS OF THE FERPA DEFENSE AND NEED TO AMEND THE STUDENT-PRIVACY LAW, Sponsored by, Shannon M. Moritz, Director of Legal Writing, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign College of Law, Champaign, Illinois.

Third Place: $3,000 to Yang Wang for the paper, INCORPORATING THE THIRD BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT INTO U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY REVIEW OF FOREIGN INVESTMENT, Sponsored by Ewell E. Murphy, Jr., Adjunct Professor, The University of Houston Law Center, Houston, Texas.

Finalist: $1,000 to Crystal Etue for her paper, JOHNSON V. UNITED STATES: A BREACH OF THE SOCIAL CONTRACT, Sponsored by Wendy Shea, Associate Professor of Law, Southern University Law Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Finalist: $1,000 Jean Phillip Shami for his paper, A PROMISE REALIZED? A CRITICAL REVIEW OF ACCOUNTABLE CARE ORGANIZATIONS SINCE THE ENACTMENT OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT, Sponsor, Patricia D. White, Dean and Professor of Law, University of Miami Law School, Coral Gables, Florida.