Health Law Writing Competition

Epstein Becker Green is pleased to announce the winners of its 26th Annual Health Law Writing Competition:

• First Place ($7,500): Jalyn Radziminski (Fordham University School of Law): "Disability Justice for Transgender Youth: Living & Feeling Free with Gender Affirming Care"
• Second Place ($4,000): Tarra Olfat (The George Washington University Law School): "Are Your Organs Up for Grabs: The Legality of 'Incentivizing' Organ Transfers Under the National Organ Transplant Act"

The competition is designed to encourage J.D. and L.L.M. students in the preparation of scholarly papers on current topics of interest relating to health law.

Entrants are invited to take advantage of the fact that health law is a very broad and diverse field, encompassing aspects of almost every area of law, from traditional areas of the law as applied to health care (e.g., antitrust, tax, corporate) to areas of law unique to health care (e.g., fraud and abuse, managed care, Medicare/Medicaid, clinical trials, telehealth/telemedicine).

Interested in competing? Please check in December for announcements of next year's competition.

If you have questions about the competition, please contact Shannon DeBra in Epstein Becker Green’s Cincinnati, Ohio, office at (513) 838-5575 or by email at ebgcompetition@ebglaw.com.

Past Winners

2023 – Twenty-Fifth Annual Writing Competition

• First Place ($7,500): Megan McCarthy-White (Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law): “Access to Courts as Access to Care: Children's Medicaid Under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983”
• Second Place ($4,000): John "J.P." Riley (University of San Diego School of Law): “Braidwood Management Inc. v. Becerra: Refining the Appointments Clause and Resurrecting the Nondelegation Doctrine”

2022 – Twenty-Fourth Annual Writing Competition

• First Place ($4,000): Clare Elizondo (Yale Law School): “Reciprocal IVF: Two Biological Mothers, One Equal Protection Violation”
• Second Place ($2,000): Angelique Howard (Florida State University College of Law): “COVID-19 Vaccine Passport Bans: Unacceptable Under the Dormant Commerce Clause?”
• Third Place ($500): Erik Fuqua (George Washington University Law School): “Two Roads Converged in a Legal Wood: The Intersection of Litigation Funding and the False Claims Act”

2021 – Twenty-Third Annual Writing Competition

• First Place ($4,000): John Butzer (Arizona State University Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law): "Terminally False: Hospice and the Falsehood Standard of the False Claims Act"
• Second Place ($2,000): Alma Carver (Saint Louis University School of Law): “Reconsidering Controlled Human Infection Studies in a Paradigm Favoring Placebo Controlled Trials”
• Third Place ($500): Olivia Clark (University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law): "SNAP and the Right to Nutrition"

2020 – Twenty-Second Annual Writing Competition

• First Place ($4,000): Megan Hart (Saint Louis University School of Law): "Expanding Patient Access to Breast Cancer Genetic Testing Through Incentive Regimes"
• Second Place ($2,000): Felicia Langel (University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law): “Privacy & Security Considerations in the Long-Term Retention of Real-World Data”

2019 – Twenty-First Annual Writing Competition

• First Place ($4,000): Ian T. Liu (New York University School of Law): "Trust, but Supervise: Using Active Supervision to Ensure State-Action Immunity for State Medical Boards After North Carolina Dental"
• Second Place ($2,000): Lauren Newman (Georgia State University College of Law): “Keep Your Friends Close and Your Medical Records Closer”

2018 – Twentieth Annual Writing Competition

• First Place ($4,000): Katherine Rockwell (William & Mary Law School): "Drastic Times Call for Feasible Measures: Health Insurance as the Gatekeeper for Long-Term Opioid Prescription"
• Second Place ($2,000): Jessica C. Wheeler (Minnesota Law School): “Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics: Privacy Protections in Integrated Care”

2017 – Nineteenth Annual Writing Competition

• First Place ($4,000): Mark Fadel (University of Toledo College of Law): "Insurance Practices and Disparities in Access to Assisted Reproductive Technologies"
• Second Place ($2,000): Hana Sahdev (Boston College Law School): “Can I Skype My Doctor? Limited Medicare Coverage Hinders Telemedicine’s Potential to Improve Health Care Access”

2016 – Eighteenth Annual Writing Competition

• First Place ($4,000): Laura Hagen (UC Hastings College of Law): “Coding for Health: Cybersecurity in Medical Devices”
• Second Place ($2,000): Michael Grimes (American University Washington College of Law): “A Stark Contrast to Congressional Intent”

2015 – Seventeenth Annual Writing Competition

• First Place ($4,000): Brian F. Jordan (The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law): “Remembering to Protect Those Who Cannot Remember: Rethinking Alzheimer’s Liability and Healthcare Solutions”
• Second Place ($2,000): Nicholas G. Sumski (Suffolk University Law School): “Do What U Want (With My Body) – Biobanks: The Promise (and Perils) of the Future of Genetic Research”

2014 – Sixteenth Annual Writing Competition

• First Place ($4,000): Sarah Imhoff (Georgetown University Law Center): “Non-Discrimination of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Providers: Section 2706 and Optimizing Patient Choice”
• Second Place ($2,000): Sharone Assa (University of Wisconsin Law School): “FDCA Plus: Why United States v. Caronia Should Motivate the FDA to Adopt a Deceptive Advertising Framework”

2013 – Fifteenth Annual Writing Competition

• First Place ($4,000): Abraham Gitterman (University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law): "One Click Away From Untangling the Web: How the United States Food and Drug Administration Should Regulate Direct-to-Consumer Advertising on the Internet and in Social Media"
• Second Place ($2,000): James Hennessy (UCLA School of Law): "FQHCs and Health Reform: Up to the Task?"
• Third Place ($500): Douglas Metcalf (Boston University School of Law): "Licensing a Generic Biologic as a Biosimilar Presents More Red Tape Than Licensing It as a New Molecular Entity"

2012 – Fourteenth Annual Writing Competition

• First Place ($4,000): Kyle Thomson (Boston University School of Law): "The Common Rule: Updating Human Subject Research Protections for a New Era of Research"
• Second Place ($2,000): Mark Nickas (Boston University School of Law): "Regulatory Challenges in Implementing the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act"
• Third Place ($500): Ashley Mester (George Washington University School of Law): "Mission Impossible? Maintaining the Integrity of the Prescription Drug Distribution Chain"

2011 – Thirteenth Annual Writing Competition

• First Place ($4,000): Mary Vitale (St. John's University School of Law): "NOTA's Ban on Bone Marrow Donation Compensation: Legal Compensation to Create a Life, but Not Save a Life"
• Second Place ($2,000): Todd Rosenbaum (New York University School of Law): "Re-Thinking the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986: Proposals for Reform"

2010 – Twelfth Annual Writing Competition

• First Place ($4,000): Matthew Vanderpool (Saint Louis University): "Love and Marriage: The Interdependency of Health Reform Initiatives and Vertical Integration"
• Second Place ($2,000): Christopher Wintrode (Saint Louis University): "Disclosing Protected Health Information in the Digital Age: How the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) Impacts Health Care Business Associates in Public Health Emergencies"
• Third Place ($500): Rachel Rose (Stetson University College of Law): "Poor Prognosis: The End Game Scenario That May Arise Through the Use of the Contracts Dispute Act of 1978 or Physician Exodus from Medicare"

2009 – Eleventh Annual Writing Competition

• First Place ($4,000): Alexis Gregorian (University of Virginia): "Post-Mortem Pregnancy: A Proposed Methodology for the Resolution of Conflicts Over Whether a Brain Dead Pregnant Woman Should Be Maintained on Life-Sustaining Treatment"
• Second Place ($2,000): Sylvia Simson (Brooklyn Law School): "Breaking Barriers, Pushing Promise: America's Need for an Embryonic Stem Cell Regulatory Scheme"
• Third Place ($500): Matthew J.B. Lawrence (New York University): "In Search of an Enforceable Medical Malpractice Exculpatory Agreement: Introducing Confidential Contracts as a Solution to the Doctor-Patient Relationship Problem"

2008 – Tenth Annual Writing Competition

• First Place ($4,000): Steven Szymanski (Florida State University College of Law): "Informed Consent For Service Members in the Post 9/11 World"
• Second Place ($2,000): Julianna Frisch (William & Mary Law School): "Ethical and Legal Concerns Surrounding Physician Assisted Suicide in General and in Crisis Situations"
• Third Place ($500): Carrie Boyd (William & Mary Law School): "Entitled in Recompense: The Federal Government's Duty to Provide Comparable Health Care for Native Americans"

2007 – Ninth Annual Writing Competition

• First Prize ($4,000): Charles Dunham (Albany Law School): "'Body Property': Challenging the Ethical Barriers in Organ Transplantation to Protect Individual Autonomy"
• Second Prize ($2,000): Benjamin Falit (Harvard Law School): "Ancillary Service and Self-Referral Arrangements in the Medical and Legal Professions: Do Current Ethical, Legislative and Regulatory Policies Adequately Serve the Interests of Patients and Clients?"
• Third Prize ($500): Eva Wilkins (Boston University School of Law): "Linking Protection of Human Subjects and Regulation of Financial Conflicts of Interest in Research: Justifying the Adoption of a New Regulatory Approach"

2006 – Eighth Annual Writing Competition

• First Prize ($4,000): Holly Lynch (University of Pennsylvania Law School): "Give Them What They Want? The Legal and Ethical Permissibility of Pediatric Placebo-Controlled Trials Requested by the FDA Under the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act"
• Second Prize ($2,000): Darlene Ghavimi (Widener University School of Law): "Cosmetic Surgery in the Doctor's Office: Is State Regulation Improving Patient Safety?"
• Third Prize ($500): Lisa Kinney (University of Virginia School of Law): "Preventing "Patient Dumping": Retaining a Narrow Interpretation of EMTALA Through Judicial Decisions and Regulatory Revisions"

2005 – Seventh Annual Writing Competition

• First Prize ($4,000): Giuseppe A. Ippolito (University at Buffalo Law School, State University of New York): "Does Plaintiff Exclusion Have A Role to Play in 21st Century Negligence Litigation."
• Second Prize ($2,000): Amanda L. Kutz (College of William & Mary): "Finding a Home for Orphan Drugs in the Twenty-First Century: Revising the Statutory Framework."
• Third Prize ($500): Holly K. Fernandez (University of Pennsylvania): "Straight to the Top: A Policy Approach to Negligence Liability of Institutional Review Board Members."

Rules

1. The Health Law Writing Competition is open to submissions written by J.D. and L.L.M. degree candidates who are currently attending a U.S. law school or who attended a U.S. law school during the school year ending in May/June 2023, and who have a U.S. Social Security number and a U.S. mailing address.
2. Papers must address an issue relating to health law. Papers may address traditional areas of the law as applied to the health care field (e.g., antitrust, tax or corporate) or may address areas of law unique to the health care field (e.g., fraud and abuse, managed care, Medicare/Medicaid, clinical trials, telehealth/telemedicine).
3. Submissions will be evaluated based on the following criteria: (1) originality of thought; (2) clarity and thoroughness of legal analysis and conclusions; (3) technical excellence; (4) relevance to current health law issues or timeliness of topic; and (5) depth of research.
4. Papers authored by two or more eligible students may be submitted for consideration in the Health Law Writing Competition. All submissions must be the product of the author or authors, without substantial assistance from others.
5. Papers prepared for law school credit are eligible for entry in the Health Law Writing Competition provided that the work is original and the editing and citation work has been done by the author(s).
6. Authors may submit more than one paper for consideration in the Health Law Writing Competition. Please submit each paper separately.
7. All submissions must adhere to the following requirements: (1) papers must be double-spaced and set in Times New Roman, 12 point font; (2) papers must include footnotes instead of end notes, with the footnotes set in Times New Roman, 10 point font, and (3) papers must be 30 pages or less, excluding table of contents and cover pages, if any.  All papers must conform to the Bluebook legal citation guide.
8. All submissions are due by Friday, May 17, 2024. No late entries will be accepted.
9. Papers should be submitted in Microsoft Word format and should contain no identifying information except for the title, as all submissions are reviewed on an anonymous basis. Entrants will be asked to verify that the papers have been de-identified before submission.
10. Papers should be submitted via the Health Law Writing Competition page at the Epstein Becker Green website.
11. If you are unable to submit your entry form(s) and paper(s) electronically, please contact Shannon DeBra in Epstein Becker Green’s Cincinnati, Ohio office, at (513) 838-5575 or by e-mail at ebgcompetition@ebglaw.com.
12. Winners must provide a Social Security number and a U.S. mailing address in order to collect the cash prizes. The author of the first place entry will receive a cash award of $7,500; the author of the second place entry will receive a cash award of $4,000; and the author of the third place entry will receive a cash award of $1,000. If a winning paper has more than one author, the prize will be split equally among the co-authors. The judges may elect, at their discretion, to award honorable mention prizes.
13. Authors retain all ownership rights with respect to their work submitted to the Health Law Writing Competition. However, by submitting a paper, authors grant Epstein Becker & Green, P.C. the right to publish the title of the paper and the author’s name and law school, and any excerpts or testimonials in materials relating to the Health Law Writing Competition. Also, authors receiving any award or honorable mention agree to include a footnote on the first page of any publication of the work noting the Epstein Becker & Green, P.C. Health Law Writing Competition award.
14. An impartial panel will judge the Health Law Writing Competition entries. Some or all of the stated awards may not be made if none of the submissions are deemed by the judges to be of sufficient quality.
15. Winners will be announced and contacted by the end of the calendar year in which submissions are due, with exact timing depending on the volume of submissions received.

The views expressed in any of the submissions accepted by Epstein Becker Green's Health Law Writing Competition are those of the individual authors and should not be construed as the views of Epstein Becker Green and/or any individual attorney within the firm.