Student Note Submission

JOLT Law & AI Student Note Competition

OVERVIEW

The Harvard Journal of Law and Technology (JOLT) and the Harvard Law Artificial Intelligence Student Association (AIA) are excited to announce our student note competition for the 2024–25 academic year for publication in Volume 38, Issue 2!

There will be two awards:

  • Law & AI Award: Submissions should engage with novel legal issues posed by transformative AI systems, e.g., regulating large language models, national security implications of dual-use AI models, tort liability for large-scale AI harms, and other problems in law and AI safety. A list of potential topics is given below in the “Topics” section.
  • Open Topic Award: Submissions should engage with novel issues at the intersection of law and technology. Topics may include but are not limited to cybercrime, biotechnology, space law, entertainment and news media, comparative legal approaches to intellectual property, the law of the Internet, and technology in the public interest.

Each winner will receive a $1,000 cash award, and each winning note will be invited to publish in JOLT’s Volume 38, Issue 2. The deadline for submissions is 11:59 PM Eastern Time on December 15th, 2024.

We encourage creative approaches to law and technology, and we encourage individuals with underrepresented perspectives and backgrounds to submit.

ELIGIBILITY

To be eligible for the competition, both the author eligibility criteria and the note eligibility criteria must be satisfied.

Authors

Student note authors must fulfill the following conditions:

  • Authors must be one of the following:
    • a current law student enrolled in either of 1) any program at an ABA-accredited law school, or 2) in any law degree program at any non-U.S. university.
    • an alumni within one year of graduation from any of the programs above.
    • a current student supervised by a faculty member at any ABA-accredited law school or by the law faculty of an international university.
  • Authors must not have won a previous JOLT or AIA competition.

Notes

Notes must fulfill the following conditions:

  • Notes must be 4,000–8,000 words, not including footnotes.
  • Notes must not be simultaneously submitted for consideration at another publication venue.
  • For the Law & AI award only: Notes must examine a current issue in law and AI, as defined in the “Topics” section below.

Sample student notes are available on jolt.law.harvard.edu. Please feel free to consult them as you prepare your submission.

TOPICS (Law & AI Award Only)

We take a broad approach to law and AI, and we encourage submissions in the area of law and AI safety. Topics and themes include, but are not limited to:

Submissions using quantitative methods, technical experiments, etc. are welcome, but all submissions must have a clear nexus with a legal topic(s).

For submissions outside the Law & AI Award, we encourage any submissions exploring the intersection of law and technology.

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

To submit, please send the following two documents to joltstudentnotes@gmail.com. Your email subject line should read “JOLT STUDENT NOTE SUBMISSION”.

  1. Your completed Student Note Application, filled out from this document, and titled Lastname_Firstname_v38_NoteApplication. Ex: Doe_Jane_v38_NoteApplication.docx
  1. The most complete draft of your proposed note, in Microsoft Word format, titled v38_NoteDraft_Title. Because our review process is blind, your name, school, or any other identifying information should not appear anywhere on your draft. Including any such information may lead to disqualification. Ex: v38_NoteDraft_Super_Awesome_Student_Note.docx
  1. If you want to be considered for the Law & AI Award, please indicate so in the body of your email. All submissions will be considered for the Open Topic Award, regardless of whether or not the submission is also considered for the Law & AI Award.

We encourage individuals with underrepresented perspectives and backgrounds to submit. The deadline for submissions is 11:59 PM Eastern Time on December 15, 2024.

AWARDS

All competition submissions will be considered for publication in our Volume 38. We will award the following prizes:

  • Law & AI Award Winner: The winner will receive $1,000 and an invitation to publish in JOLT’s Volume 38.
  • Open Topic Award Winner: The winner will receive $1,000 and an invitation to publish in JOLT’s Volume 38.

USE OF AI POLICY

Authors may use generative AI tools such as ChatGPT in the writing process, so long as all such usage is disclosed. Authors must document any use of AI tools in the title page footnote, e.g., “ChatGPT was used for copy-editing.” Please disclose both the tool(s) used (e.g., ChatGPT) as well as all functions for which those tools were used (e.g., copy-editing, drafting, figure generation, citation formatting, research, etc.). Failure to disclose the use of such tools may be considered against a submission.

All authors are ultimately responsible for the content of their submissions, and all submissions are subject to our evaluation criteria as described below. Thus, submissions that cite to non-existent sources or are missing citations/sources, that insufficiently engage with the current literature, that are not stylistically effective, that plagiarize from other sources, etc. will be evaluated accordingly.

EVALUATION

JOLT and AIA’s evaluation criteria include:

  • rigor and quality of argumentation/analysis;
  • effectiveness and quality of writing;
  • novelty, creativity, and contribution to the field of law and AI;
  • organization and structure;
  • engagement with current literature (including the quality of the preemption check);
  • accuracy and quality of the citations and sources (in accordance with the 21st Edition of The Bluebook);
  • appropriateness of the topic to JOLT;
  • eligibility criteria, as specified above.

JOLT reserves the right to revoke the acceptance of any submission for any reason, including due to a finding of plagiarism at any stage of the submission or editing process.

If accepted, you must be able to comply with the editing and revision process, which may extend through the Spring 2025 academic semester.

THANK YOU! Your interest in publishing with us is an honor to the JOLT community, and your time spent completing this application is deeply appreciated. Please contact joltstudentnotes@gmail.com with any questions.