Edinburgh essay competition seeks views of the future

An essay competition for students at Edinburgh Law School has been launched to commemorate a seminal article on the future of the legal profession published in the Journal of the Law Society of Scotland back in 1968.

In "The Future of the Profession", Sir Charles Fraser, himself an Edinburgh Law School alumnus, predicted a number of issues that came to pass, including a trend towards bigger law firms and that the computer would dramatically impact legal practice. To commemorate this, and to identify how the future of the legal profession looks now, Edinburgh Law School and the Law Society of Scotland are running an essay competition for current Edinburgh Law School students to identify how the future of the legal profession looks today.

The competition is open to all undergraduate, postgraduate taught and diploma in legal practice students enrolled at Edinburgh Law School in the 2021-22 academic year. Essays should develop an argument in respect of the future of the legal profession. They can focus on any aspect of the future of the legal profession (demographic, economic, cultural, or otherwise), and the judges particularly welcome submissions which consider the future effect of technology.

Entries will be judged by a panel that will include Sir Charles Fraser, Dr Jonny Hardman, and a representative of the Law Society of Scotland.

The winner will receive a prize of £500, a sum set with a view to enabling the winner to take up opportunities for vacation work that might otherwise be inaccessible given travel and accommodation costs. The winning entry will be published in the Journal, subject to editorial changes that may be proposed by the editor.

A second prize of £250 will be awarded to the runner-up, and the judges may, at their discretion, select additional essays for special commendation.

Essays must be no longer than 1,500 words, including all footnotes, and be submitted by 5pm on Friday, 29 October 2021. Further information is at this link.