About the Competition
The Robert Pitofsky Law Student Writing Competition encourages and rewards student-written articles in the area of antitrust law, competition policy, and consumer protection law.
Robert Pitofsky Law Student Writing Competition
How to Apply
The application form can be downloaded here.
Competition Rules
Goals: The goal of the American Bar Association Robert Pitofsky Law Student Writing Competition (“Competition”) is to encourage and reward law student writings on antitrust law and competition law subjects of general and current interest. As part of this effort, the ABA will sponsor the Competition which invites editors of law school publications to submit to the ABA Antitrust Law Section published articles on a current topic dealing with antitrust law and consumer protection law. The Competition is designed to attract students to the antitrust law and consumer protection law field and to strongly encourage scholarship in these areas.
Who May Enter: Open to any law school student in good standing, over the age of 21, who is currently attending an ABA-accredited law school within the United States and its possessions, and who is a citizen or legal permanent resident of the United States. Officers, employees, and agents of the ABA and their immediate family or household members are not eligible to enter or win. Eligibility determinations will be made by the ABA Antitrust Law Section; all decisions regarding eligibility are final.
Essays: Entrants must submit an original article, which has already been published or which is scheduled to be published no later than January 28, 2024, on a current topic dealing with antitrust or consumer protection law. The Selection Committee will interpret the scope of the subject broadly to ensure that the Competition affords the greatest degree of flexibility in writing on these subject areas. Entrants are encouraged to submit subjects of national interest.
Specifications: Papers must be submitted electronically as a PDF attachment to an email message addressed to [email protected] with the subject line, “Pitofsky Writing Competition Entry”, formatted for standard, 8-1/2 x 11-inch paper, and double spaced. All margins must be one inch. Essays must not exceed 50 pages double-spaced typed text, including footnotes. Only one essay may be submitted by each entrant.
Entries: All expenses involved in preparing and submitting an entry are the entrant’s responsibility. Winners must relinquish all rights to the ABA to reproduce entries in any medium and without restriction. Entries will not be returned. Essays submitted must have been authored by the entrant, must have been written and published after January 1, 2022, or, if not yet published, must be scheduled to be published no later than January 28, 2024. All participants retain full copyright to their entries except that winners are required to license certain rights to the ABA (see below) as a condition of entry.
Submission: Entries must be submitted electronically in PDF format, as an attachment to an email message to [email protected]. with the subject line, “Pitofsky Writing Competition Entry”.
Please Note: The editor of the law school publication that published the entrant’s paper must complete and submit an official 2023-2024 Entry Form. The Entry Form should be printed, signed (digital signature also accepted), scanned and then attached to the email message which submits the writing competition entry. If the official Entry Form is not fully completed, signed, and submitted with any entry, the entry will be disqualified. Proper submission of all required forms constitutes acceptance of all conditions set forth in these Competition Rules.
Deadline: Entries must be received by the Section no later than 5:00 p.m. CST, February 23, 2024.
Judging: The essays will be judged based on research and analysis, choice of topic, writing style, originality, and contribution to the literature available on the topic. The winner will be selected in March 2024 by a panel of judges appointed at the discretion of the Section Chair.
Selection and Notification of Winners: Section Staff will notify the winner by email of their selection in March. The Section reserves the right not to award a prize if it is determined that no entries are of sufficient quality to merit selection that year. If a potential winner does not respond within ten (10) business days after ABA’s first attempt to contact him or her, or if the contact is returned as non-deliverable, the potential winner forfeits all rights to be named as winner or receive a prize, and an alternate winner may be chosen.
Prizes: The winner will receive $5,000 cash, a one-year free membership in the Antitrust Law Section, free round-trip economy-class airfare (if outside the Washington, DC area), and three nights’ accommodations (at a hotel of the Section’s choosing) to attend the Section’s Annual Spring Meeting, April 10-12, 2024 in Washington, DC (airfare, hotel accommodations, and luncheon ticket are valued at approximately $1,000), if the Meeting is held in-person. The winner will also be announced in an upcoming issue of Antitrust, the Section’s magazine. No substitutions for prizes will be permitted, except at the Section’s discretion.
The winner must submit a completed IRS Form W-9 to receive their cash prize. The full fair market value of the prize will be reported on an IRS Form 1099. The winner is responsible for all taxes in connection with receiving a prize. Only one winner allowed per family or household. Duplicate prizes will be awarded in the event of a tie.
The Section reserves the right to hold its 2024 Annual Spring Meeting in a virtual format. In such event, no reimbursement of travel expenses will be given, but the winner may be invited to attend the virtual meeting and given a free registration to attend. At its sole discretion, the contest administrators may elect to invite the winner to attend a future in-person meeting. In such event, the Writing Contest winner will be eligible to receive reimbursement of travel expenses in accordance with the same limitations and rules in the preceding paragraph.
License, Grant of Rights: By entering, the winner grants to the ABA the following rights: (1) the non-exclusive worldwide right, in ABA’s sole discretion, to use, transcribe, publish, reproduce, distribute, sell (as part of an ABA publication) or display the entry, alone or in conjunction with other materials; (2) the right to edit the essay to conform to the publication’s standards of style, technological requirements, language, grammar and punctuation, provided the meaning of the essay is not materially altered; and (3) the non-exclusive worldwide right to use the winner’s name and likeness in connection with the essay or this Writing Competition without further compensation. Additionally, the winning entrant may be asked to execute a separate licensing agreement giving the ABA the publication rights enumerated above and the right to use the article for any other purpose related to the ABA mission. If the winner fails to sign the agreement within ten (10) business days of receipt, the prize will be considered forfeited and another winner named. By entering, entrants warrant that their entry is original and not subject to any third-party copyright; that publication of the entry will not libel anyone or infringe on or invade the rights of others; and that the entry has not been published elsewhere in whole or in part.
Artificial Intelligence: The ABA prohibits the use of all generative artificial intelligence, including large language models, to create any portion of a contestant’s written submission for this competition whether in the research, writing, or editing phase. Generative AI in this context includes, but is not limited to, OpenAI’s “GPT” series, BLOOM, Jasper, BERT, Galactica, and Lex. Note that for these purposes, AI does not include basic tools for checking grammar, spelling, references, etc. Upon submission of the work product, contestants must affirm that they did not utilize AI in the preparation of their written work product. The ABA reserves the right to screen submissions for use of AI through an AI detector. Contestants utilizing AI to generate their work product in whole or in part will be disqualified. If it is determined after the winner is announced and the prize is awarded that the winning contestant utilized AI to generate the written submission in whole or in part, then the contestant will forfeit the winning designation and shall return the prize. A new winner will then be selected.
Odds of Winning: Chances of winning will vary depending on the number and quality of entries. However, the Section reserves the right not to award any prize if the judges determine that no entries are sufficient quality to merit selection that year.
Announcement of Winner: For the name of the prize winner, send a self-addressed stamped envelope by May 31, 2024, to the Antitrust Law Section, American Bar Association, 321 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60654.
Restrictions: Void where prohibited. Only previously published writings or scheduled to be published writings are eligible. Each entry shall be the original work of a single individual. Jointly authored writings are not acceptable. The ABA gives no guarantee that there will be a winner.
Laws and Regulations: This contest is governed by U.S. law and all relevant federal, state, and local laws and regulations apply. By entering, all participants agree that the competition shall be governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, that the courts of Illinois shall have exclusive jurisdiction, and that Cook County, Illinois shall be the venue for any dispute or litigation relating to or arising from the competition. Void where prohibited by law.
Conditions of Participation: By participating, each entrant agrees to these Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsor, and releases and discharges the ABA, subsidiary and affiliated entities, and each of their respective officers, directors, members, employees, independent contractors, agents, representatives, successors and assigns (collectively “Sponsor”) from any and all liability whatsoever in connection with this promotion, including without limitation legal claims, cost, injuries, losses or damages, demands or actions of any kind (including without limitation personal injuries, death, damage to, loss or destruction of property, rights of publicity or privacy, defamation, or portrayal in false light) (collectively “Claims”). Except where prohibited, acceptance of a prize constitutes a release by any winner of the Sponsor of all Claims in connection with the administration of this promotion and the use, misuse or possession of any prize. All entries become the property of Sponsor and will not be acknowledged or returned. Sponsor is not responsible for errors or for lost, late, or misdirected mail or email, or telecommunication or hardware or software failures, including by reason of infection by computer virus, tampering, unauthorized intervention, force majeure or technical difficulties of any kind.
Opt-Out Option: Any individual may elect to opt out of receiving future contest mailings by calling the ABA Service Center at 800-285-2221.
Privacy Policy/Data Collection: Information provided by entrants in connection with this sweepstakes is subject to Sponsor’s privacy policy, available at http://www.americanbar.org/utility/privacy.html
Sponsor: American Bar Association, Antitrust Law Section, 321 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60654.
2024 Robert Pitofsky Writing Competition Award Recipient
Matthew Couch is a third-year law student at Campbell Law School, where he is an Articles Editor of the Campbell Law Review and a member of the moot court team. Matthew was a summer associate at Michael Best & Friedrich, where he plans to return after sitting for the North Carolina Bar. Before law school, he worked as a photographer and editor in Arlington, Virginia. Matthew received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
2023 Robert Pitofsky Writing Competition Award Recipient
Connor Leydecker is an attorney and business strategist, primarily focusing on antitrust, privacy, and appellate litigation (LinkedIn). He serves as an Associate Trustee of the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and maintains an active pro bono practice focused on immigration, LGBTQ+ rights, and access to justice. Connor's piece, A Different Curse: Improving the Antitrust Debate about "Bigness" (SSRN), was recognized with the Robert Pitofsky Award by the American Bar Association's Antitrust Law Section, a Burton Award, and Duke Law's top award for student scholarly writing. The piece was published in the Summer 2022 issue of the New York University Journal of Law & Business.
Connor earned his law degree from Duke University School of Law, graduating magna cum laude. During law school, he founded the Competition Law Society, served on a committee of the Duke University Board of Trustees, and participated on the Moot Court Board. He also wrote for and edited Judicature, the scholarly journal about the judiciary. Connor interned with the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s Bureaus of Competition (Anticompetitive Practices) and Consumer Protection, and the Honorable James A. Wynn on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He earned his undergraduate degree summa cum laude in Business and Linguistics from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.