2021 Lincoln Award Legal Writing Contest Winners Announced

The 2021 first place winner of the Lincoln Award Legal Writing Contest is Deanna Shahnami, Rockville, Maryland, who wrote “Liberties and Lockdowns: Illinois COVID-19 Restrictions and First Amendment Rights.” Her article will appear in the February issue of the Illinois Bar Journal.

Tied for second place is Arlo Walsman, Chicago, who wrote “The Incomplete Impeachment Conundrum: A Guide to Impeaching Wit- nesses With Prior Inconsistent Statements;” and Daniel C. Katzman, Belleville, who wrote “Are E-Signatures E-nough Under Illinois Law?”

Third place goes to Amber Hopkins Reed, Ottawa, for her manuscript, “If It’s Not Their Spit, You Must Acquit: Challenging Familial DNA Database Searches After Carpenter.”

The first-, second-, and third-place winners received $2,000, $1,000, and $500 respectively. They were among 23 manuscripts submitted in the 2021 contest, which was sponsored by the ISBA Young Lawyers Division and open to YLD lawyer members.

Contest judges included Judge John J. O’Gara Jr., a circuit judge in St. Clair County; Michelle M. Kohut, a Chicago personal injury trial lawyer at Corboy & Demetrio; Jennifer L. Ernest, managing partner of Larsen, Edlund, and Ernest, PC; and Donald K. Schoemaker, who practices civil litigation in southwestern Illinois.