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 50 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 IIT Chicago-Kent's Institute for Law and the Workplace. The Institute 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.
2017-2018 Competition Winners
Treating Employees Like Widgets: The Legal Impact of Workforce Management Systems on Contingent Workers, Stefanie Brody
First Place
The Impact of RFRA on Employment Discrimination: Will the Hobby Lobby Decision Erode the Purpose of Title VII?, Naomi Bensdorf Frisch
Second Place
Vindicating Statutory Employment Rights in the Age of Mandatory Arbitration: State Attorney General Parens Patriae Litigation as an Alternative to Class Actions, Aaron Bibb
Third Place
2015-2016 Competition Winners
A Ticket to Ride? Not so Fast: Members-Only Collective Bargaining as a Possible State Response to a Judicially Recognized Right to Work, Chris Schmidt
First Place
Confronting and Critiquing White Privilege in Anti-Discrimination Enforcement, Clare Horan
Second Place
The NLRA and Social Media: Why the NLRB Can Be "Facebook Friends" With Both Employees and Employers, Nicholas J. Caplin
Third Place
2014-2015 Competition Winners
Executive Orders and the Struggle for Workplace Equality, David C. Roth
First Place
Coming Out of the Shadows of Sheltered Workshops and Subminimum Wage: Exploring the Exploitation of Disabled Workers Under Section 214(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, Jillian Guilfoyle
Second Place
Free Speech for Some: The NLRA, Secondary Boycotts, and the First Amendment, Seth B. Kennedy
Third Place
2013-2014 Competition Winners
An Untrustworthy Presumption: Replacing the Moench Presumption with a Sound Standard for Stock-Drop Litigation, Christopher J. Bryant
First Place
The Legal Enforcement of "Proper" Gender Performance Through Title VII, M. Caroline Hyatt
Second Place
Healthcare Workers' Religious Objections to Mandatory Influenza Vaccination: Examining Title VII's Religious Accommodation Requirement, Amy Berenbaum
Third Place
2012-2013 Competition Winners
Sinking the Unpaid Externship: How Many Externships Violate the Fair Labor Standards Act and Yield Exceptionally Broad Joint Liability, Hunter Swain
First Place
Overregulation or Fair Interpretation: Christopher v. SmithKline and the Question of Judicial Deference in Department of Labor Rulemaking, Amanda Walck
Second Place
Square with the House: The Case for Ending Ex-Offender Employment Discrimination, Andrew Galle
Third Place
2011-2012 Competition Winners
Courting Substantive Equality: Employment Discrimination Law in India, Deepti Shenoy
First Place
Got Milk: The New Health Insurance Law and Its Requirements Securing a Mother's Right to Express Breast Milk in the Workplace, Jamie Siebrase
Second Place
Mezonos, Hoffman and the Notion of Intent, Jon Luke Dueltgen
Third Place
2010-2011 Competition Winners
Blended Liability for a Blended Tort: The Interaction Between At-Will Employees, Non-Compete Covenants and Tortious Interference Claims, Jeremy V. Farrell
First Place
ATTENTION BLACK APPLICANTS: Be Cautious of "Unequal" Opportunity Employers and How Racially Motivated Stereotypes and Grooming Policies Can Impede Your Employment Outlook, Travis M. Sumter
Second Place
A Critique of Supplying the NLRB with Social Science Expertise Through Party/Amicus Briefs, Xenia Tashlitsky
Third Place
Discrimination v. Retaliation: What Level of Harm is Necessary to Establish a Cause of Action Under Title VII?, Brendan Hanner White
Third Place
2009-2010 Competition Winners
Interest Arbitration in the New Economy, Matthew J. Bartmes
First Place
Action Speaks Louder Than Form: The Case for Protecting Oral Complaints Under the FLSA, Caroline B. Park
Second Place
Continuing the White Collar Unionization Movement: Imagining a Private Attorneys Union, Kimberly Y. Chin
Third Place
2008-2009 Competition Winners
Transsexual Discrimination: Discrimination "Because of…Sex", Tracy Scholnick Gruber
First Place
Transgender Teachers as Role Models for a Tolerant Society: The Impact of Societal Views and Their Influence on Employment Anti-Discrimination Laws, Susannah L. Ashton
Second Place
The Supreme Court's Decision in Engquist v. Oregon Department of Agriculture: Why the Court Should Have Chosen the Scalpel Instead of the Meat-Axe, Chris Cavenave
Third Place
The Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act: Protecting Privacy and Ensuring Fairness in Health Insurance and Employment Practices, Melissa Beyer
Third Place
2007-2008 Competition Winners
ERISA Federal Preemption Problem with a State-Based Solution: The Need for Regulatory Subdivision in Employee Benefits, Mariya Starchevsky
First Place
The Fifth Amendment Disclosure Obligations of Government Employers When Interrogating Public Employees, Lindsay Niehaus
Second Place
Has the FLSA Failed to ADApt to the New Information and Service Economy? The Case of Insurance Adjusters, Juliana Poindexter
Second Place
2006-2007 Competition Winners
The Grand Bargain: Revitalizing Labor Through NLRA Reform and Radical Workplace Relations, Michael M. Oswalt
First Place
The New Hired Guns: Who Should Be Liable for the Conduct of Off-Duty Law Enforcement Officers Employed As Private Security Officers, Fermin De La Torre
Second Place
Shifting the Burden: A Proposal for Practical Application of the Interactive Process Duty in Disability Accommodations, Matthew Light-Oglander
Second Place
2005-2006 Competition Winners
HOT GOODS AND COLD CASH: Hot Goods Laws, The Joint Employment Doctrine and Retailer Liability Under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, Brooke Deines
First Place
Reasonable Accommodation for Employees with Perceived Disabilities: An Alternative Approach Based on Relationship, Wilson G. Barmeyer
Second Place
Justice Ginsburg's Fiduciary Loophole: A Viable Achilles' Heel to HMO's Impenetrable ERISA Shield, Charlotte Johnson
Second Place
2004-2005 Competition Winners
Faster Reemployment Is Not Always Better Employment: The Bonus/Training Conflict in the Personal Reemployment Account Proposal, Ross J. Davidson
First Place
Paging Health Care Workers: The NLRB Takes a Scalpel to Section 8(g) after Beverly, Joel Mandelman
Second Place
The Road Less Traveled --Going Beyond the Family and Medical Leave Act to Create a Family-Friendly Legal Profession, Sharon Baldasare
Second Place
2003-2004 Competition Winners
The Quest for a Lactating Male: Biology, Gender, and Discrimination, Maureen Eldredge
First Place
ERISA §404( c ) and Investment Advice: What is an Employer or Plan Sponsor To Do?, Stephanie Kastrinsky
Second Place
The Bench Trial: A More Beneficial Alternative to Arbitration of Title VII Claims, Dianne LaRocca
Second Place
2002-2003 Competition Winners
Recovering Retirement Security: An Analysis of the Lockdown Claims Under ERISA, as Illustrated by the Enron Litigation, Margo Eberlein
First Place
Reasonable Accommodation Under the ADA: Are Employers Required to Participate in the Interactive Process? The Courts Say "YES" But the Law Says "NO", John R. Autry
Second Place
State Employers Are Not Sovereign: By Analogy, Transfer the Market Participant Exception to the Dormant Commerce Clause to States as Employers, Lara M. Gardner
Second Place
2001-2002 Competition Winners
Informing Workers of the Right to Workplace Representation: Reasonably Moving From the Middle of the Highway to the Information Superhighway, G. Mica Wissinger
First Place
Levitz Furniture Co.: The End of Celanese and the Good-Faith Doubt Standard for Withdrawing Recognition of Incumbent Unions, Sarah Pawlick
Second Place
Recognition of Labor Unions in a Comparative Context: Has the United Kingdom Entered a New ERA?, Jared Gross
Second Place
2000-2001 Competition Winners
Unions in a Fragmented Society, Christopher Grant
First Place
The Americans with Disabilities Act After University of Alabama v. Garrett: Should the States Be Immune From Suit?, Nichole S. Richter
Second Place
Disciplining Sexual Harassers in the Unionized Workplace: Judicial Precedent is Influencing Arbitrator Attitudes, Awards, Lisa I. Fried-Grodin
Second Place
1999-2000 Competition Winners
Past Sexual Conduct in Sexual Harassment Cases, Lisa Dowlen Linton
First Place
OSHA Reform: An Examination of Third Party Audits, Anne T. Nichting
Second Place
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, Stefanie Vines Efrati
Second Place
1998-1999 Competition Winners
Nonmajority Unions, Employee Participation Programs, and Worker Organizing: Irreconcilable Differences?, Carol Brooke
First Place
Bad Medicine: The Anti-Competitive Side-Effects of Physician Unionization , Thomas Segars
Second Place
Farmworkers, Nonimmigration Policy, Involuntary Servitude, and a Look at the Sheepherding Industry, Kimi Jackson
Second Place