Encouraging and recognizing excellent legal scholarship by newer faculty
AALS sponsors an annual Scholarly Papers Competition open to those with five or fewer years of experience as a full-time law teacher at an AALS member or fee-paid school. These professors are invited to submit a paper on a topic related to or concerning law. A committee of established scholars reviews the submitted papers with the authors’ identities concealed.
The competition winner is recognized at the next AALS Annual Meeting.
2026 Competition
The 2026 Scholarly Papers Competition is open to faculty members who have been teaching for five academic years or less as of July 1, 2025, including any time spent as a VAP or law fellow. The winner(s) will be recognized at the 2026 AALS Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA.
The deadline to submit a manuscript for consideration is August 1, 2025, by 5 pm Eastern. Anonymized manuscripts must be accompanied by a cover letter and adhere to all guidelines described in the Call for Papers.
Submissions and questions should be directed to [email protected].
Anonymity
The manuscript, including title page and footnotes, should not contain any references that identify the author or their school. The submitting author is responsible for redacting self-identifying text or footnotes. Additionally, the manuscript should not contain any information identifying a specific journal or law review where it may have been selected for publication. The manuscript should be accompanied by a cover letter with the author’s name, contact information, and the statement of compliance outlined below.
Form & Length
Each submission should be prepared and submitted using Microsoft Word. There is a maximum word limit of 30,000 words (inclusive of footnotes). The manuscript should be double-spaced in 12-point (or larger) type with ample (at least 1″) margins on all sides. Footnotes should be 10-point or larger, single-spaced, and preferably on the same page as the referenced text. Papers that do not comply with the above formatting requirements cannot be accepted if they cannot be corrected before the submission deadline.
Eligibility
Faculty members of AALS member and fee-paid schools, including visiting faculty whose “home” school is also an AALS member or fee-paid school, are eligible. Fellows, VAPs, and adjuncts are not eligible, nor are visiting faculty whose “home” school is not a member or fee-paid school. The competition is open to those who have been full-time law teachers for five academic years or less as of July 1, 2025 (for these purposes, one is considered a full-time faculty member while officially “on leave” from the law school, but time away on family or medical leave will not be included). Time spent as a Visiting Associate Professor (VAP) or law fellow will be counted toward the five-year maximum. Co-authored papers are eligible for consideration, but each of the co-authors must meet the eligibility criteria established above. Authors are limited to one submission each. A co-authored submission is treated as an individual submission by each author and precludes additional submissions by either author. AALS Scholarly Papers Competition winners are not eligible to compete again, though past Honorable Mention recipients are eligible.
Papers are expected to reflect original research. Papers are not eligible for consideration if they will be published before February 2026. However, inclusion of a version of the paper on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) or similar pre-publication resource does not count as “publication” for purposes of this competition. Submitted papers, whether or not selected for recognition, may be subsequently published as arranged by the authors. Papers may have been revised based on review by colleagues.
Statement of Compliance
The cover letter accompanying each submission should include a statement verifying:
- The author holds a faculty appointment at a member or fee-paid law school;
- The author has been engaged in full-time teaching for five academic years or less as of July 1, 2025; please indicate years taught to verify eligibility, including any years spent as a VAP or law fellow;
- All information identifying the author, author’s school, or publication commitment has been removed from the manuscript;
- The paper has not been previously published and is not committed for publication prior to February 2026;
- The author agrees to notify the AALS if the submitted paper will be published before February 2026; and
- Each author is to indicate up to four subject categories from the list below that best fit the paper. If none of the listed categories captures the essence of the paper, the author should write in one topic under “other.”
Subject Categories
Administrative Law; Admiralty; Agency/Partnership; Agricultural Law; Alternative Dispute Resolution; Animal Law; Antitrust; Arts and Literature; Aviation and Space Law; Bank and Finance; Bankruptcy and Creditor’s Rights; Bioethics; Civil Procedure; Civil Rights; Commercial Law; Communications Law; Community Property; Comparative Law; Computer and Internet Law; Conflict of Laws; Constitutional Law; Consumer Law; Contracts; Corporations; Courts; Criminal Law; Criminal Procedure; Critical Legal Theory; Disability Law; Dispute Resolution; Domestic Relations; Economics, Law and; Education Law; Elder Law; Election Law; Employment Practice; Energy and Utilities; Entertainment Law; Environmental Law; Estate Planning and Probate; Evidence; Family Law; Federal Jurisdiction and Procedure; Foreign Relations; Gender Law; Health Law and Policy; Housing Law; Human Rights Law; Immigration Law; Insurance Law; Intellectual Property; International Law – Private; International Law – Public; Jurisprudence; Juveniles; Labor; Law Enforcement and Corrections; Legal Analysis and Writing; Legal Education; Legal History; Legal Profession; Legislation; Local Government; Mergers and Acquisitions; Military Law; National Security Law; Native American Law; Natural Resources Law; Nonprofit Organizations; Organizations; Other; Poverty Law; Products Liability; Professional Responsibility; Property Law; Race and the Law; Real Estate Transactions; Religion, Law and; Remedies; Science, Law and; Securities; Sexuality and the Law; Social Justice; Social Sciences, Law and; Society, Law and; State and Local Government Law; Taxation – Federal; Taxation – State & Local; Technology, Law and; Terrorism; Torts; Trade; Trial and Appellate Advocacy; Trusts and Estates; Workers’ Compensation.