Legal History “Morris Cohen” Essay Competition

The Legal History and Rare Books Special Interest Section (LHRB) of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), in cooperation with Gale, a Cengage Company, is conducting its annual Morris L. Cohen Student Essay Competition.  Full- and part-time students currently enrolled in accredited graduate programs in law, history, library science, or related fields are eligible to enter.  Essays may be on any topic related to legal history, rare law books, or legal archives.  Criteria on which papers will be judged include originality of topic or approach, quality and depth of research and analysis, clarity of presentation, and contribution to the field.  The winner will receive a $1,000 prize from Gale.  The authors of the winning and runner-up essays will have the opportunity to publish their essays  in LHRB’s online annual scholarly journal Unbound:  A Review of Legal History and Rare Books.  The Competition electronic submission deadline is 11:59pm EDT, Monday, 15 May 2023.

Full Competition details and Application Form are available at the LHRB SIS Morris L. Cohen Student Essay Competition web page.  Questions can be sent to Linda K. Tesar (lktesar@wm.edu), Head of Technical Services & Special Collections, William & Mary Law School.  The Competition is named in honor of Morris L. Cohen, late Professor Emeritus of Law at Yale Law School and recognized as “one of the towering figures of late 20th century law libraries.”  His scholarly work  focused on legal research, rare law books, and historical bibliography.