University of Cincinnati law student places third in national writing competition
Megan Hurd, a third-year student at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Law, began her final year of law school on a high note. Hurd placed third in the College of Labor & Employment Lawyers/ABA Section of Labor & Employment Law Annual Writing Competition for Law Students.
This achievement was quite the experience for Hurd. It began last spring, when Professor Sandra Sperino, associate dean of faculty at the college, asked her students to write an essay for their seminar class. Hurd worked closely with Sperino and exchanged drafts until the paper was complete. Sperino then encouraged Hurd to submit the final draft to the competition this summer.
Hurd explains that if it wasn’t for Sperino, she would have never known about the competition or even considered submitting her work. Hurd hopes that, “more professors will encourage their students to submit work from their classes. Once a student completes a draft in class, it’s not a lot of extra work to submit to the competition.” She explains that law school seminar classes are the ultimate setting to develop a submission for legal writing competitions.
Hurd’s essay, “Enforcing Employee Rights under the FMLA: Who Has the Burden of Proof in FMLA Termination Cases” explores the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 and proof for termination cases under this act. In addition to a line on her resume, Hurd also received a cash prize for placing in the competition, and will be featured on the organization’s website.
A panel of labor and employment lawyers from the US and Canada reviewed the submissions in the competition. Hurd explained that any active student attending an accredited law school can submit their work. She also said that the submission process was fairly simple, and there is no cost to submit.
Along with a hefty cash prize, the first-place article may be selected for publication in the ABA Journal of Labor & Employment Law. The winner will be invited as a guest of the annual Continuing Legal Education program of the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law and honored at the Annual Induction Dinner of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. Submissions for the 2018 competition have closed, however submissions for the next competition will open early in 2019.
Hurd is grateful for her experience with the competition and thinks it will help her after graduation next spring. She has already accepted a position with a firm in downtown Cincinnati next fall, and feels confident that the writing skills she has developed will carry throughout her professional career.
Students interested in submitting their work to local or national competitions should consider talking with their professors, or even doing a little research on their own.
Writer: Emily Dawson
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