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The Phil Cowan Memorial/BMI Scholarship
Law students, take note of this publishing and
scholarship opportunity: The Entertainment, Arts & Sports Law
Section of the New York State Bar Association (EASL), in partnership
with BMI, the world’s largest music performing rights
organization, has established the Phil Cowan Memorial/BMI
Scholarship! Created in memory of Cowan, an esteemed
entertainment lawyer and a former Chair of EASL, the Phil Cowan
Memorial/BMI Scholarship fund offers up to two
awards of $2,500 each on an annual basis in Phil Cowan’s
memory to a law student who is committed to a practice concentrating in
one or more areas of entertainment, art or sports law.
The Phil Cowan Memorial/BMI Scholarship has been in effect since
2005. It is awarded each year at EASL’s Annual Meeting in
January in New York City.
The Competition
Each Scholarship candidate must write an original paper on any legal
issue of current interest in the area of entertainment, art or sports
law.
The paper should be twelve to fifteen pages in length (including
Bluebook form footnotes), double-spaced
and submitted in Microsoft Word format. PAPERS LONGER THAN 15
PAGES TOTAL WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED. The cover page (which is not
part of the page count) should contain the title of the paper, the
student’s name, school, class year, telephone number and email
address. The first page of the actual paper should contain only
the title at the top, immediately followed by the body of text.
The name of the author or any other identifying information must not
appear anywhere other than on the cover page. All papers
should be submitted to designated faculty members of each respective law
school. All law schools will screen the papers and submit the
three best to EASL’s Phil Cowan Memorial/BMI Scholarship
Committee. The Committee will read the papers submitted and will
select the Scholarship recipient(s).
Eligibility
The Competition is open to all students attending eligible law
schools. “Eligible” law schools mean all accredited
law schools within New York State, along with Rutgers University Law
School and Seton Hall Law School in New Jersey, and up to ten other
accredited law schools throughout the country to be selected, at the
Committee’s discretion, on a rotating basis.
Yearly Deadlines
December 12th: Law School Faculty
liaison submits 3 best papers to the EASL/BMI Scholarship Committee
January 15th: EASL/BMI
Scholarship Committee will determine the winner(s)
The winner will be announced, and the Scholarship(s) awarded at
EASL’s January Annual
Meeting.
Prerogatives of EASL/BMI’s Scholarship
Committee
The Scholarship Committee is composed of the current Chair of EASL,
all former EASL Chairs who are still active in the Section, all Section
District Representatives, and any other interested member of the EASL
Executive Committee. Each winning
paper will be published in the EASL Journal and will be made available to EASL members on
the EASL website. BMI reserves the right to post each
winning paper on the BMI website, and to distribute copies of each
winning paper in all media. The Scholarship
Committee is willing to waive the right of
first publication so
that students may simultaneously submit their papers to law journals or
other school publications. In addition,
papers previously submitted and published in law journals or other
school publications are also eligible for submission to The Scholarship
Committee. The Scholarship Committee reserves the
right to submit all papers it receives to the EASL
Journal for publication and to theEASL Web site. The
Scholarship Committee also reserves the right to award only one
Scholarship or no Scholarship if it determines, in any given year that,
respectively, only one paper, or no paper is sufficiently
meritorious. All rights of dissemination of the papers by each of
EASL and BMI are non-exclusive.
Payment of Monies
Payment of Scholarship funds will be made by EASL/BMI directly to the
law school of the winner, to be credited against the winner’s
account.
Donations
The Phil Cowan Memorial/BMI Scholarship Fund is pleased to accept
donations. The donations are tax-deductible. All donations
should be made by check, and be payable to The New York Bar Foundation.
Each donation should indicate that it is designated for the Phil Cowan
Memorial/BMI Scholarship. All donations
should be forwarded to The New York Bar Foundation, One Elk Street,
Albany, New York 12207, Attention: Director of
Finance.
About BMI
BMI is an American performing rights organization that represents
approximately 350,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in all
genres of music. The non-profit-making company, founded in 1940,
collects license fees on behalf of those American creators it
represents, as well as thousands of creators from around the world who
chose BMI for representation in the United States. The license fees BMI
collects for the "public performances" of its repertoire of
approximately 4.5 million compositions are then distributed as royalties
to BMI-member writers, composers and copyrightholders.
About the New York State Bar Association / EASL
The 72,000-member New York State Bar Association is the official
statewide organization of lawyers in New York and the largest voluntary
state bar association in the nation. Founded in 1976, NYSBA
programs and activities have continuously served the public and improved
the justice system for more than 125
years.
The more than 1,600 members of the Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law
Section of the NYSBA represent varied interests, including headline
stories, matters debated in Congress, and issues ruled upon by the
courts today. The EASL Section provides substantive case law,
forums for discussion, debate and information-sharing, pro bono
opportunities, and access to unique resources including its popular
quarterly publication, The Journal.
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