THE HOGAN/SMOGER ACCESS TO JUSTICE ESSAY CONTEST offers law students an opportunity to receive reward and recognition for expounding on whether and how the courts can be used to obtain justice.

For 40 years, the competition was known as the Roscoe Hogan Environmental Law Essay Contest, providing law students an opportunity to investigate and offer solutions to the multitude of injustices inflicted on the environment.   The contest was established in 1970 by the late Roscoe B. Hogan of Birmingham, Alabama, a prominent environmental lawyer.  With additional support from noted attorney Gerson Smoger, the contest was renamed and expanded beginning with the 2011 competition.

The topic for the 2012 contest is "Are Factories Hog-Tying People's Rights? Right to Farm and Ag-Gag Laws."

Any student currently enrolled in an accredited American law school may submit a legal essay for the competition.  

The author of the winning essay will receive a $5,000 cash prize; recognition  in the Public Justice newsletter and on the website; and a free Public Justice Foundation membership for the Contest Year.  

Any student currently enrolled in an accredited American law school may enroll in the contest.  Each entry must be submitted through a faculty adviser.  All entrants must submit an INTENT TO ENTER FORM by January 31, 2012.   The deadline for the essay is March 31, 2012.  A panel of nationally renowned trial lawyers and law professors will judge the entries.

CLICK HERE FOR CONTEST RULES AND CRITERIA.

For more information, contact Cassandra Goings at (202) 797-8600, Ext. 244 or cgoings@publicjustice.net .     

Previous Winners 

2011 - The Gulf Oil Spill: OPA State Law and Maritime Preemption - William K. Gignilliatt, University of Georgia School of Law

2010 - Myths of Coal's Clean Future: The Story of Methylmercury - Jonathan Skinner, Duke University School of Law

2009 - Don't Mess with Houston, Texas:  The Clean Air Act and State/Local Preemption - Ryan Hackney, University of Texas School of Law

2008 - Flipping Daubert: Putting Climate Change Defendants in the Hot Seat - Ryan Hackney, University of Texas School of Law

2007 - Fifth Amendment Takings & Transitions in Water Law: Compensation (Just) for the Environment - Ling-Yee Huang, University of Florida College of Law  

2006 - Striking at the Heart of Corporate Polluters: Resurrecting Quo Warranto Proceedings to Revoke Corporate Charters - Mark Willis, Chicago-Kent College of Law  

2005 - Speak Softly, but How Big a Stick? The Availability of Punitive Damages to Protect the Environment - Candace Howard, Maryland University School of Law  

2004 - Versatile By Nature: Exploring the Law of the American Wilderness - Sarah Brull, University of Maryland  

2003 - Graceful Maneuvering: Corporate Avoidance of Liability Through Bankruptcy and Corporate Law - John Heenan, Montana School of Law  

2002 - Exporting our Dirt: Suing Corporations in U.S. Courts for Environmental Wrongs Committed Abroad - Natalie Bridgeman, UCLA School of Law  

2001 - An Ounce of Preemption Is Worth a Pound of Cure: State Preemption of Local Siting Authority as Means for Achieving Environmental Equity - Tessa Meyer Santiago, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University  

2000 - Causation Standards for Toxic Torts - Alex P. Mayer, Santa  Clara University School of Law  

1999 - What Is an Environmental Expert? - Carl H. Johnson, University of Minnesota School of Law