Judges of the Sir Charles Fraser Essay Competition announce winner and runner up

Alexander Kerr Alvarez has been named the winner of the Sir Charles Fraser Essay Competition for his essay entitled “Lawyering Naked and Alone”. The judges were impressed by the consistent argument and persuasive writing style that Alexander deployed.

The runner-up is Karan Kamath, for his essay entitled “The Future of the Legal Profession: Mr Bucket (or the unexpected virtue of inefficiency).” The judges were impressed by the range of literary sources deployed, and linked in to the future of the legal profession.

The judges were unanimous in their decision, but Alexander and Karan edged a crowded field of high quality submissions which gave the judges much to think about. The judges noted, however, that the personal links inherent within the legal profession (between lawyer and client, between lawyers within a firm, and between lawyers in different firms) were often downplayed or not discussed in entries, and consider that, whatever the future of the legal profession may be, it must find a way to preserve and reflect such links.

The competition was judged by Dr Jonny Hardman (University of Edinburgh), Rob Marrs (Law Society of Scotland), and Sir Charles Fraser. The winner will receive £500 and have their essay published in The Journal, the Law Society of Scotland’s monthly journal, and the runner up will receive £250.

The competition was held to commemorate Edinburgh Law School alumnus Sir Charles Fraser’s seminal article on the future of the legal profession in which he predicted a number of issues that came to pass, including a trend towards bigger law firms and that the computer would dramatically impact legal practice.