All eligible law students are invited to showcase their writing skills and explore the laws of succession in the Dead Hand Writing Competition.
$5,000 PRIZE!!!
WRITING TOPIC:
Wills, trusts, and estates are not among the “foundational concepts and principles” the National Board of Law Examiners intends to test as part of the NextGen bar exam, set to debut in July 2026. For this year’s Competition, address both of the following questions:
- What are the potential consequences of eliminating this subject matter from the bar exam? Identify and examine ramifications for the legal profession and the general public.
- Minnesota has announced plans to administer the NextGen bar exam beginning in July 2027. What steps should Minnesota take to address the issues you have identified? You may use existing attorney licensure models as a guide or propose new ideas, but you should assume that Minnesota will continue to require passage of a bar examination as a component of attorney licensure.
Who May Enter: Any current J.D. candidate enrolled at an ABA-accredited law school who is interested in practicing law in Minnesota.
All submissions must be received by midnight on February 9, 2025.
Submissions must be the author’s original work product and should be research-based, citing to appropriate sources, such as case law, statutes, and industry publications.
Send submissions to the attention of Tram Nguyen at tnguyen@mnbars.org with the subject line “Dead Hand Writing Competition.” Eligible submissions will include two separate documents:
- A cover letter that provides the author’s name, address, phone number, email address, school of attendance, and month and year of anticipated law school graduation.
- An original paper that meets the following requirements:
- A minimum of five pages, exclusive of citations;
- Contents must not include any identifying information;
- Citation to authority in endnotes in the form prescribed by The Bluebook;
- 8 1/2″ x 11” paper; one-inch margins; double-spaced; 12-point, Times New Roman font.
The Section reserves the right to publish submissions, in whole or in part, and to publicly identify Competition winners.
Visit mnbars.org for more information.