Law Student Opportunities

Law students enrolled at an ABA-accredited law school can join NAWL for free.

We recognize the importance of access to our resources and network early in your career, and we encourage your membership and active participation. As a member of NAWL, you unite with lawyers throughout the United States who are proud to be engaged in the practice of law and wish to work together to support the empowerment of women in the legal profession and gender equity under the law.

Membership Benefits for Law Students

Community

NAWL membership as a law student gives you, at an early stage of your career, access to career development, networking, and mentoring opportunities with lawyers in many practice areas and career stages.

Career Development

Law student members can attend NAWL's three yearly conferences for free. Designed to facilitate connection and to foster essential skills and resources for career growth and satisfaction, our conferences provide a place to learn and build your network.

Leadership

We encourage law student members to participate in NAWL's Committees, Affinity Groups, and events, where they can develop and exercise teamwork skills and take on leadership roles.

Advocacy

NAWL is a great place to amplify your voice. Our Advocacy and Amicus Committees work to put NAWL's mission in motion. Some of our recent topics include reproductive justice, pay equity, gender-based violence, and racial equity.

Continued Learning

NAWL members not only enjoy the NAWL Podcast, Women Lawyers Journal , and NAWL research reports, but they also produce them. Read, listen, and get involved to keep up to date with the latest in the legal profession.

Join for Free

Awards and Opportunities

Selma Moidel Smith Writing Competition

The annual Selma Moidel Smith Law Student Writing Competition encourages and rewards original law student writing on issues concerning women and the law. Essays are accepted from students enrolled and in good standing at an ABA-accredited law school. The essays must be the law student author’s own work and must not have been submitted for publication elsewhere.

Papers written for coursework or independent study are eligible for submission.

The Rules

Prompt: Submit a paper identifying a legal issue that relates to NAWL's mission. The mission of NAWL is to provide leadership, a collective voice, and essential resources to advance women in the legal profession and advocate for the equality of women under the law.

Format: Essays must be double-spaced in 12-point, Times New Roman font. All margins must be one inch. Entries must provide a cover page providing the author’s name, the title of the essay, school affiliation, email address, phone number, and permanent mailing address. Entries must not exceed fifteen (15) pages of text, excluding notes, with footnotes placed as endnotes. Citation style should conform to The Bluebook – A Uniform System of Citation. Essays longer than 15 pages of text, excluding notes, or that are not in the required format will not be considered.

Judging: NAWL Women Lawyers Journal Editorial Board Members will judge essays based on content, exhaustiveness of research, originality, writing style, and timeliness.

Deadline: Entries are due April 18, 2025 (the third Friday in April each year). Entries received after the deadline will not be considered. Entries must be submitted via email as a Microsoft Word document to dpayne@nawl.org.

Questions: Contact Devon Payne at dpayne@nawl.org.

The Reward

The author of the winning essay will receive a cash prize of $500. NAWL will also publish the winning essay in the Spring/Summer issue of the Women Lawyers Journal.

Read a recent winning paper, “Meritorious Diversity: An Analysis of the Relationship Between Diversity in State Judiciaries and Judicial Selection Methods” written by Madelyn Cox-Guerra of the University of Minnesota School of Law.

About Selma

In 1943, Selma Moidel Smith was admitted to the California Bar, and that same year joined NAWL. Since 1899, NAWL's mission has been to provide leadership, a collective voice, and essential resources to advance women in the legal profession and advocate for the equality of women under the law. To serve NAWL's mission, Selma Moidel Smith chaired or served on more than 20 different committees. Selma Moidel Smith also authored the "Centennial History of NAWL" in the 1999 Summer issue of the Women Lawyers Journal.

As a testament to her service, in 1999, Selma was honored with NAWL's Lifetime of Service Award, and in 2005, NAWL created the Selma Moidel Smith Law Student Writing Competition.

Outstanding Law Student Award

The National Association of Women Lawyers ("NAWL") accepts nominations each spring for the Outstanding Law Student Award from all ABA-accredited law schools.

Each year, we ask the faculty to identify a third-year law student who meets the below selection criteria. Upon approval by NAWL, the nominated student will be given: a certificate of recognition, an acknowledgment in an issue of the Women Lawyers Journal and on social media, and complimentary registration to NAWL's Annual Meeting in July.

We invite you to select one student nominee, of any gender identity, from your current graduating class who best exemplifies the following characteristics:

Contributes to the advancement of women in society.
Promotes issues and concerns of women in the legal profession.
Demonstrates a commitment to NAWL's mission.
Exhibits motivation, tenacity, and enthusiasm.
Demonstrates high academic achievement.
Earns your respect and that of your colleagues.

Your nomination should include (1) a brief letter outlining why the student merits selection and (2) a copy of the student's resume. Nominations missing one or more of these components may not be considered.

Nominations are due the first Friday in May. Nominations received after that date will not be entitled to the benefits associated with this award. Only one student per law school may be nominated. Multiple submissions will result in NAWL's arbitrary selection of one.

Please send your Outstanding Law Student nomination to Devon Payne at dpayne@nawl.org.