The Australian Academy of Law is pleased to announce the offering of its Annual Essay Prize for 2023.

The Prize is open to anyone, wherever resident, who is studying or has studied legal subjects at a tertiary level, or who is working or has worked in a law-based occupation. There is no limit by reference to the age or seniority or experience of, or position held by, a person who may submit an entry. Accordingly, judicial officers, legal practitioners, legal academics and law students are all eligible to submit an essay.

The amount of the Prize is $10,000.

The essay topic for the Prize in 2023 is as follows:

Mass torts and class actions: can the growth in this kind of private litigation in Australia and elsewhere be described as an evolutionary form of “privatised regulation”, gap-filling where the state and its regulators have not fully or properly controlled or deterred behaviours, or protected and compensated affected persons? To what extent is it successful in that regard? Should it be encouraged? Why or why not? Give examples.

The length of the essay to be submitted is a maximum of 8,000 words (excluding the abstract).

The deadline for the submission of an essay is 31 August 2023 and this time limit is strictly observed, as the Rules Governing the Annual Essay Prize make clear.

The Essay Prize Rules can be accessed here.

Access to the essay submission cover page is here.