Article Writing Competition by the Pro Bono Club & the Journal Committee, RMLNLU: Submit by 30th March 2023

About RMLNLU

Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University is an institute for law in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. Dr. RMLNLU was established in the year 2005, and since then, has been providing undergraduate and post-graduate legal education.

About the Pro Bono Club, RMLNLU

The Pro Bono Club of RMLNLU, Lucknow was constituted to strengthen the Nyaya Bandhu (Pro Bono Legal Services) program which is an initiative under the Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice. Nyaya Bandhu is the Government of India’s primary initiative to establish a framework for the dispensation of Pro Bono Legal Services across the country. Pro Bono Club has been conceptualized to strengthen the existing Pro Bono framework, by integrating law schools and students within its fold.

About the Journal Committee

The Committee was constituted with the objective of promoting legal research and writing. Apart from conducting the RMLNLU International Legal Essay Writing Competition every year, the Committee annually publishes two peer-reviewed journals – the RMLNLU Law Review and the RMLNLU Journal on CMET (Communication, Media, Entertainment and Technology) Law. Both these journals publish articles, essays, case notes/comments and book reviews from contributors all over the world. The Journal Committee also runs a blog by the name of The RMLNLU Law Review which provides a platform for people in the field to express their opinions on contemporary legal issues.

The Pro Bono Club, along with the Journal Committee is pleased to announce an Article Writing Competition. 

Theme: The Digital Empowerment of India’s Judicial System

Sub-themes:

1. Live streaming as a tool to enhance transparency and accountability in the working of Courts.
2. Importance of Live Transcription of Court proceedings in Law school education.
3. Use of Technology to bolster access to free legal aid.
4. Case studies of successful virtual access to justice initiatives (domestic or international).
5. Ethical and legal implications of using AI in the legal arena.
6. Right to privacy vis-a-vis use of technology in the legal sector.

Topics may fall under the abovementioned sub-themes or should be closely related to the main theme.

Submission Guidelines

Each of these entries shall be required to conform to the set of guidelines that follow:

1. Articles should contain content that is both original and unpublished. Plagiarised content is highly discouraged.
2. Articles should be submitted in Microsoft Word format. The document submitted should be named in the format “author’s name_submission”.
3. At the time of submitting a piece, authors are requested to provide 4-5 keywords well suited to the theme and content of their submitted piece.
4. We encourage the use of hyperlinks as opposed to footnotes. However, if your article contains sources that cannot be linked, please use Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA) (4th edition) style in the footnotes.
5. Except under extreme circumstances, the word limit for the entries shall be 1500-1600 words. 
6. We shall evaluate articles on three chief criteria: relevancy of the article, the content of the article and the language employed in the article.
7. Formatting: Please use British English. To add emphasis, please italicise the text.

General Instructions

1. The submission should be original and non-plagiarised. They should exhibit originality in thought, critical evaluation, and careful interpretations. Submission of an article shall be taken to imply that it is an unpublished work and is not being considered for publication elsewhere.
2. Co-Authorship to a maximum of two members is allowed.
3. Acknowledgement and Declaration by the author(s) need not be included.
4. The contents should in no way, directly or indirectly, indicate or reference the identity of the author(s).
5. The authors must refrain from adding any other information (such as personal information, and declarations) to this manuscript. 
6.  The file name of the attached manuscript must be the name(s) of the author(s).

Declarations

1. Reviewers’ decisions shall be final and binding. They reserve the sole rights to the publication of the selected articles in addition to, inter alia, any edits/amends/reproduction.
2. The contributions presented to and accepted for publication and the copyrights therein shall be the intellectual property of the Journal Committee, Dr. RMLNLU.

Rewards

Cash Prizes

Winner: Rs. 2,000/-

First Runner-Up: Rs. 1,500/-

Second Runner-Up: 1,000/-

Other Entitlements

All Participants shall receive a Certificate of Participation. The Top 5 entries shall receive a Certificate of Merit. The Top 3 entries shall receive a Certificate of Achievement along with the above-mentioned cash prize. 

The top three entries will stand a chance to be published in the RMLNLU Law Review Blog.

How to Submit?

The submissions shall be made via this google form: https://forms.gle/kN23yhvhJPVBQz997.

Please note, that only one submission per author or a team of co-authors is permissible. In case of more than one submission, only the one received first would be considered.

Submission Deadline

The deadline for submission of the manuscript is 30th March 2023, 11:59 pm.

Contact Information

E-mail: submissionsprobono.rml@gmail.com

Mob Nos.:

Priyanshi Bhageria: +91 8852012939

Abhyuday Pratap: +91 6386995198

Arihant Samdaria: +91 8114422177