The Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation is pleased to announce the winners of the 2008 LCCHP Student Writing Competition in Cultural Heritage Preservation Law, sponsored by Andrews Kurth LLP - a national law firm with offices in seven U.S. cities, Beijing, and London.

First place is awarded to Ethan Plaut, of the University of Colorado, for his submission, entitled "Tribal-Agency Confidentiality: A Catch-22 for Sacred Site Management?," Mr. Plaut’s paper will be published in the Ecology Law Quarterly.

The second place winner is Bryan Stockton of Georgetown Law School, for his paper entitled “Preserving Sacred Places: Religious Free Exercise and Historic Preservation in the Context of Third Church of Christ Scientist, Washington, DC.”  Mr. Stockton’s paper will be published in the 2009 Yearbook of Cultural Property Law.

In addition, two finalist papers, “Risk as a Relevant Factor in Determining the Fair Market Value of Donated Antiquities,” by Jillianne Arguello of American University Washington College of Law, and “In Defense of Site-Specific Art: The Visual Artists Rights Act’s Pragmatism Gone Awry in the First Circuit,” by Jessica Kennedy of Lewis & Clark Law School, will also be published in the next issue of the Yearbook.

Due to the generosity of Andrews Kurth’s DC office, the first-place winner will receive an award of $1000 and the second-place winner will receive an award of $500. This is the fourth annual competition, which attracted twenty-two entrants from nineteen schools, the largest numbers of entrants and law schools represented in any prior competition.

For the second year, LCCHP is pleased to partner with Andrews Kurth in offering this competition as a means of expanding the teaching of cultural heritage preservation law in U.S. law schools.

ABOUT LCCHP
The Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation is an organization of lawyers, law students, and interested members of the public who have joined together to promote the preservation and protection of cultural heritage resources in the United States and internationally, through education, outreach, and advocacy. Cultural heritage law is a growing legal field, as our society comes to appreciate the important symbolic, historical, and emotional role that cultural heritage plays in our lives. Cultural heritage law encompasses several disparate areas, including the protection of archaeological sites, preservation of historic structures and the built environment, preservation of and respect for both tangible and intangible indigenous cultures, international market in art works and antiquities, and recovery of stolen art works.

ABOUT ANDREWS KURTH
For more than a century, Andrews Kurth LLP has built its practice on the belief that "straight talk is good business." Real answers, clear vision and mutual respect define the firm's relationships with clients, colleagues, communities and employees. The firm has represented government and quasi-governmental institutions, museums, churches, foundations, families and private individuals from around the globe on the legal aspects of art and antiquities recovery in U.S. courts.  With more than 400 lawyers and offices in Austin, Beijing, Dallas, Houston, London, Los Angeles, New York, The Woodlands and Washington, DC, Andrews Kurth represents a wide array of clients in all areas of business law.
More information about the firm’s art and cultural property practice may be found online at
www.andrewskurth.com/industries-artantiquities.html.