“The Most Important, Yet Overlooked, Issue in American Criminal Law”
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
THE CRIMINAL LAWYER’S $1000 ESSAY CONTEST
Young prosecutors and public defenders:
Get some recognition, and maybe a bit of cash.
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A little while back, we argued that paying prosecutors more isn’t going to result in better ADAs. Pay isn’t what attracts the good ones. Likewise, we’ve long maintained that pay is not a huge factor in the quality of public defenders.
However, having been there and done that ourselves, we know very well that the pay can be miserably low. When we started at the Manhattan DA’s office in 1997, our starting salary was about 1/3 of what we’d have made had we gone with a firm. Even after we scored a tiny rent-stabilized apartment, we were still living paycheck-to-paycheck for many years. We could have gone with a firm — top student from a top school, law review editor, serious real-life experience, we weren’t exactly hurting for opportunities — but we went with what we loved. In the tradeoff between money and job satisfaction, there was no contest. So to all of you who are going through the same thing now, we get it. We really do.
After writing that blog piece, we started asking ourselves: Why not give an opportunity to some of the young prosecutors and public defenders out there who are really bright and talented, but still working for peanuts, to get some recognition and maybe a bit of cash? Maybe do something with this blog, which (to our constant amazement) is fairly widely read. It started out as an idle thought, but now it’s become a real desire to do something tangible.
So now we’re announcing The Criminal Lawyer’s first essay contest. It’s open only to young prosecutors and public defenders, within their first five years out of law school. Write an article worthy of publication, no more than 2,500 words, on “The Most Important, Yet Overlooked, Issue in American Criminal Law.”
The top 10 finalists will have their pieces published here, with a short bio about each author. That’s a bit of nationwide recognition, something nifty for the old résumé.
A grand prize winner will be chosen from the finalists by general acclaim. The grand prize winner will get $1,000.
It’s not like winning the lottery, but it ain’t chump change either. Maybe it helps pay the rent, or you can skip the ramen for a month, or you can pay down some debt. For a young ADA or PD, that’s nothing to sneeze at.
Entries are due by August 27, 2010. Read the official rules below for more information and entry instructions.
Good luck!
(Tinyurl for this contest page: http://tinyurl.com/34zhds5)
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OFFICIAL RULES
1) The contest is open only to individuals who are: (more…)
