Public Citizen is organizing a Hogan/Smoger Access to Justice Essay Competition on the Topic ‘Non-disclosure provisions in Settlement Agreements: Should courts enforce public policy disfavoring them?’
Essays may focus on these or other related questions:
- The impact of nondisclosure agreements on claims of harassment or discrimination.
- Political and/or constitutional limitations.
- Differences among states.
- Strategies for challenging nondisclosure agreements.
- Impact on public safety of non-disclosure or non-disparagement clauses in product liability settlement agreements.
- Ethical and public policy arguments against settlement agreement provisions which hide safety defects from the public.
The Hogan/Smoger Access to Justice Essay Competition is sponsored by R. Ben Hogan III of Hogan Law Office, PC, in Birmingham, Alabama, and Gerson H. Smoger of Smoger & Associates in Dallas, Texas, and Oakland, California. It is administered by Public Citizen.
Prizes:
$5,000
Submission Deadline:
Submissions must be emailed on or before Saturday, April 30, 2018, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time, to Amanda Fleming at afleming@citizen.org. Papers emailed after this date will not be considered.
Eligibility:
The competition is open to all current law students and all masters of law students. Co-authored submissions are eligible; if selected, the co-authors will share the prize.
Each submission must be an original, unpublished academic work, but simultaneous submissions will be accepted.
Content:
Essay submissions are sought on the topic “Non-disclosure provisions in Settlement Agreements: Should courts enforce public policy disfavoring them?”
Format:
Submissions must be emailed as Microsoft Word documents. They may be full-length law review articles or shorter academic essays and should use footnotes (not endnotes). The word count may be between 6,000 and 25,000 words, not including footnotes.
Judging Process:
A panel of lawyers, including law professors and practitioners, will judge the submissions based on depth of analysis, quality of writing, originality, and thoroughness.
Winning Submission and Prizes:
The winner will be notified by email. The winner will receive $5,000. Only one winning paper will be chosen and only one prize awarded.
Contact:
- Main office: (202) 588-1000
- Capitol Hill office: (202) 546-4996
- Texas office: (512) 477-1155
