2014 Mississippi Sports Law Review Membership Competition
Competition Dates
Bluebook Exercise and Written Response
Materials Provided - June 2, 2014
Due Date – July 11, 2014 (5:00 PM CST)
Directions
For the sake of anonymity, please use your Spring Exam Number on all materials, rather than your name to identify yourself. Any materials submitted with your name will be promptly dismissed from the competition.
Part I: Bluebook Exercise
Please read the article and correct the errors related to Footnotes 1–41 found on pages one through six. These errors include both grammatical and spelling errors in the text, as well as visible errors in the footnotes. To correct all errors, first follow the instructions provided
on how to turn on Track Changes and provide your competition number, rather than your name. Also provided is a brief outline of some commonly used Bluebook rules for both text and footnotes. The errors amount in a total score of 60% of the competition.
During the completion of this exercise, please use Westlaw, LexisNexis, or the Internet to search for the sources used in the footnotes. We will not require you to find materials that are not on an online database (such as books and only in print journal publications), but we do advise that you still correct those footnotes for style based on the applicable Bluebook rules.
Part II: Written Response
After reading the entire article, please write a 1000-1500-word response expressing either support or disagreement with the author’s argument. We have provided you with the articles first forty-one footnotes for the purpose of the Bluebook exercise, but have removed the remainder of the footnotes for clarity. Please feel free to use the sources provided in the footnotes, as well as your own sources to construct your response. You must include footnotes and source citations to support your argument (in proper Bluebook format). This portion of the competition will be graded upon your argument for or against the authors, your writing style, and correct usage of citations. Please title this piece with an introductory title of your choice and your competition number, not your name. This written response amounts in a total score of 40% of the competition.
Submission
To submit your competition materials, please send one email to the MSLR drop box email address (it will be provided later during the competition) with both the corrected article and your response attached. Please note this email is for material submission only.
Your submissions must be saved using the following MSLR format:
•MSLR Article “Spring Exam Number”
•MSLR Response “Spring Exam Number”
•For example, MSLR Article 175.doc or MSLR Response 175.doc
Questions
Please contact us through the MSLR email address with questions regarding the competition (). No questions will be accepted regarding any Bluebook errors, nor the style of your response. Any technical questions regarding the use of track changes, how to remove your name from your materials, or how to use the drop box will be received and answered as soon as possible.