Louis Jackson National Student Writing Competition in Employment and Labor Law
co-sponsored by Jackson Lewis LLP
and
Institute for Law and the Workplace
Chicago-Kent College of Law
Illinois Institute of Technology

The Louis Jackson National Student Writing Competition in Employment and Labor Law is an annual law student writing competition that honors the memory of Louis Jackson, a founding partner in Jackson Lewis LLP. The Jackson Lewis law firm has been engaged in the practice of employment, labor, and benefits law on behalf of management for over 47 years. With offices in major cities throughout the United States, the firm has a national perspective and an awareness of local business environments. Jackson Lewis pioneered the concept of preventive employee relations to help employers shape a positive and productive workplace. The Louis Jackson National Student Writing Competition honors the memory of Louis Jackson, who provided inspiration, guidance, friendship and good humor for 39 years to all associated with Jackson Lewis.

The competition is administered by Chicago-Kent Institute for Law and the Workplace, a national center for research, training dialogue and reflection on the law that governs the workplace. It pools the resources of leading academic scholars and the practicing professional community to train students and professionals, monitor policies and trends, and reflect upon issues confronting the labor and employment law community in a neutral setting.

Competition Information


Competition Winners

2007 - 2008 Winners:

Mariya Starchevsky - 1st Place
George Mason University School of Law
Title of Paper: ERISA Federal Preemption Problem with a State-Based Solution: The Need for Regulatory Subdivision in Employee Benefits

Lindsay Niehaus - 2nd Place
Northern Kentucky University -Salmon P. Chase College of Law
Title of Paper: The Fifth Amendment Disclosure Obligations of Government Employers When Interrogating Public Employees

Juliana Poindexter - 2nd Place
University of San Francisco School of Law
Title of Paper: Has the FLSA Failed to Adapt to the New Information and Service Economy? The Case of Insurance Adjusters

2006 - 2007 Winners:

Michael M. Oswalt - 1st Place
Duke University School of Law
Title of Paper: The Grand Bargain: Revitalizing Labor Through NLRA Reform and Radical Workplace Relations

Matthew Light-Oglander - 2nd Place
University of California at Los Angles School of Law
Title of Paper: Shifting the Burden: A Proposal for Practical Application of the Interactive Process Duty in Disability Accommodations

Fermin De La Torre - 2nd Place
University of Tennessee College of Law
Title of Paper: The New Hired Guns: Who Should Be Liable for The Conduct of Off-Duty Law Enforcement Officers Employed As Private Security Officers

2005 - 2006 Winners:

Brooke Deines - 1st Place
City University New York School of Law
Title of Paper: HOT GOODS AND COLD CASH: Hot Goods Laws, The Joint Employment Doctrine and Retailer Liability Under The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938

Wilson G. Barmeyer - 2nd Place
University of Georgia School of Law
Title of Paper: Reasonable Accommodation for Employees with Perceived Disabilities: An Alternative Approach Based on Relationship

Charlotte Johnson - 2nd Place
Brigham Young University, J. Reuben Clark Law School
Title of Paper: Justice Ginsburg's Fiduciary Loophole: A Viable Achilles' Heel to HMO's Impenetrable ERISA Shield

2004 - 2005 Winners:

Ross J. Davidson - 1st. Place
University of California at Los Angeles
Title of Paper: Faster Reemployment Is Not Always Better Employment: The Bonus/Training Conflict in the Personal Reemployment Account Proposal

Joel Mandelman - 2nd Place
University of Wisconsin Law School
Title of Paper: Paging Health-Care Workers: The NLRB Takes a Scalpel to Section 8(g) after Beverly

Sharon Baldasare - 2nd Place
Wake Forest University School of Law
Title of Paper: The Road Less Traveled-Going Beyond the Family and Medical Leave Act to Create a Family-Friendly Legal Profession

2003 - 2004 Winners:

Maureen - Eldredge - 1st. Place
University of Colorado School of Law
Title of paper: The Quest for a Lactating Male: Biology, Gender, and Discrimination

Stephanie Kastrinsky - 2nd Place
Brooklyn Law School
Title of paper: ERISA §404(c) and Investment Advice: What Is an Employer or Plan Sponsor to Do?


Dianne LaRocca - 2nd Place
Harvard Law School
Title of paper: The Bench Trial: A More Beneficial Alternative to Arbitration of Title VII Claims

2002 - 2003

Margo Eberlein - 1st Place
St. John's University School of Law
Title of paper: Recovering Retirement Security: An Analysis of The Lockdown Claims Under ERISA, as Illustrated by the Enron Litigation

John R. Autry - 2nd Place
University of Georgia School of Law
Title of Paper: Reasonable Accommodation Under the ADA: Are Employers Required to Particpate in the Interactive Process? The Court's Say "YES" But the Law says "NO"

Lara M. Gardner - 2nd Place
Lewis & Clark Law School
Title of Paper: State Employer are Not Sovereign: By Anaology, Transfer the Market Participant Exception to the Dormant Commerce Clause to States as Employers

2001 - 2002

G. Mica Wissinger - 1st Place
Northeastern University School of Law
Title of Paper: Informing Workers of the Right to Workplace Representation: Reasonably Moving From the Middle of the Highway to the Information Superhighway

Sarah Pawlick - 2nd Place
University of Toledo College of Law
Title of Paper: Levitz Furniture Co.: The End of Celanese and the Good-Faith Doubt Standard for
Withdrawing Recognition of Incumbent Unions

Jared Gross - 2nd Place
Ohio State University Moritz College of Law
Title of Paper: Recognition of Labor Unions in a Comparative Context: Has the United Kingdom Entered A New ERA?

2000 - 2001

Christopher Grant - 1st Place
University of Illinois College of Law
Title of Paper: Unions in a Fragmented Society

Nichole S. Richter - 2nd Place
Valparasio University School of Law
Title of Paper: The Americans with Disabilities Act After University of Alabama v. Garrett: Should the States be Immune From Suit?

Lisa I. Fried-Grodin - 2nd Place
St. John's University School of Law
Title of Paper: Discipling Sexual Harassers in the Unionized Workplace: Judicial Precedent is Influencing Arbitrator Attitudes, Awards

1999 - 2000

Lisa Dowlen Linton - 1st Place
Baylor University School of Law
Title of Paper: Past Sexual Conduct in Sexual Harassment Cases

Anne T. Nichting - 2nd Place
University of Denver College of law
Title of Paper: OSHA Reform: An Examination of Third Party Audits

Stefanie Vines Efrati - 2nd Place
Brooklyn Law School
Title of Paper: Between Pretext Plus and Pretext Only: Shouldering the Effects of Pretext on Employment Discrimination after
St. Mary's Honor Center v. Hicks and Fisher v. Vassar College

1998 - 1999

Carol Brooke - 1st Place
University of North Carolina School of Law
Title of Paper: Nonmajority Unions, Employee Participation Programs, and Worker Organizing: Irreconcilable Differences?

Thomas Segars - 2nd Place
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Title of Paper: Bad Medicine: The Anticompetitive Side-Effects of Physician Unionization

Kimi Jackson - 2nd Place
University of Denver College of Law
Title of Paper: Farmworkers, Nonimmigration Policy, Involuntary Servitude, and a Look at the Sheepherding Industry