James L. Thistle, Q.C. Law Student Essay Contest

The CBA Dispute Resolution Section has established an essay contest related to general topics in DR. The objectives of the competition are to promote and reward interest in DR topics in Canadian law schools, and to promote participation by Canadian law students in the CBA DR Section activities.

This award is offered by the CBA Dispute Resolution Section in memory of its former Chair, James L. Thistle, Q.C.

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CRITERIA AND ELIGIBILITY

The award is presented annually for the best scholarly paper submitted to the Section on a subject relating to DR. This essay competition is restricted to full-time university students currently enrolled at a Canadian law school at an undergraduate level.

PLAGIARISM POLICY

Submissions must not infringe the intellectual property rights of others and must not plagiarize another’s work. Plagiarism is deliberately presenting the ideas, expression of ideas, or work of others as one’s own. Plagiarism includes reproducing or paraphrasing portions of someone else’s published or unpublished material, regardless of the source, and presenting these as one’s own without proper citation or reference to the original source. The CBA reserves the right to assess all submissions for content that potentially infringes on or plagiarizes the work of another and will disqualify any candidate that submits such content.

POLICY STATEMENT ON THE USE OF GENERATIVE AI IN ESSAY CONTEST SUBMISSIONS

The use of generative AI tools to create any content for essay contest submissions is strictly prohibited. The Canadian Bar Association (CBA) reserves the right to review all submissions for compliance with this policy. Any candidate found to have submitted content generated by generative AI will be disqualified from the contest.

SUBMISSION AND SELECTION PROCESS

Papers must adhere to the following guidelines:

  • Essays submitted for consideration should address a theme of significance in the field of DR or justice, public policy or public affairs related to same.
  • Essays must be the author's original work. Papers that are submitted for a law school course are eligible. Papers that are published in an academic journal or prepared for a conference or professional development course are not eligible.
  • Essays must be at least 12 pages and no more than 30 pages in length, including references (size 12 Times New Roman, double-spaced, excluding the title page and bibliography).
  • Essays must be appropriately referenced; all referencing methods in the legal field will be accepted.
  • Essays may be written in English or French.
  • A short abstract (max. 150 words) and author biography (max. 150 words) must be submitted.
  • The recipient of the Award will be selected by a Section jury.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS

April 25

Entries received after the deadline will not be considered.

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CONTACT

CBA Sections
Phone: (613) 237-2925 or
Toll Free: (800) 267-8860
E-mail: ALTDR@cba.org

AWARD

The award consists of a cash prize of $500. The winning paper will also be posted on the Dispute Resolution Section webpage.

AWARD WINNERS