Timely Legal Strategy Competition Asks Law Students to Explore Ways to End Presidential Conflicts of Interest

July 23, 2018

Washington, DC -- A competition launched today by the American Constitution Society (ACS) and Educating Citizens on Government Corruption offers $25,000 in top prizes to law students who present compelling legal ways to prevent a president from using his office for personal enrichment.

• The contest’s timely focus is the Trump International Hotel in the Old Post Office Tower in Washington. A signed agreement between the federal government and President Trump’s company says that no elected official can benefit from the lease, yet clearly the President stands to gain from his ownership of the property.
• Contest participants are asked to find a legal solution to this obvious conflict of interest. Students may enter the contest on their own or form teams with practicing lawyers.
• Submissions to the “Rule of Law Legal Strategy Competition” will be evaluated by a panel of judges based on originality, depth of analysis and quality of research and writing. Deepak Gupta, the founding principal of Gupta Wessler PLLC, will lead a panel of judges to pick the four winners.
• Prizes include $15,000 awarded for first-place in the team competition and $7,500 for runner-up and $10,000 and $5,000 awarded to the winner and runner-up, respectively, in the individual competition.
• Contest details can be found on ACS’ website at acslaw.org/ROLstrategycompetition. All submissions are due Monday, September 28, 2018, 12:00 UTC, and should be emailed to ROLstrategycompetition@acslaw.org.

Contact: Liz Rose, American Constitution Society, lrose@acslaw.org.

The American Constitution Society (ACS), founded in 2001 and one of the nation's leading progressive legal organizations, is a rapidly growing network of lawyers, law students, scholars, judges, policymakers and other concerned individuals dedicated to making the law a force to improve lives of all people. For more information about the organization or to locate one of the more than 200 lawyer and law student chapters in 48 states, please visit www.acslaw.org.