The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) sponsors this Call for Papers for the third annual Carl Liggio Memorial Paper Competition. One paper submitted in response to this call for papers will be selected to receive a financial award of up to US$20,000. The winning author will also be expected to present the paper at ACC’s Chief Legal Officer (CLO) Global Summit and at ACC’s 2026 Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, MN, USA. Winning authors will also be asked to develop a short companion article in order to summarize their findings to an in-house counsel audience.

Topic

We welcome the submission of unpublished scholarly papers relating to the role of the general counsel or CLO that make a significant contribution to the field of study and likely to be accepted for publication in a leading academic journal in the author’s field of research. A successful paper will address an important question and advance research related to the role of the CLO within the organization. All scholars working in any relevant academic field are welcome to participate in this call for papers.

Suggested topics of inquiry include but are not limited to the following:

• Corporate management reporting organization and/or structures
• Role of the general counsel/chief legal officer (GC/CLO) within an organization
• Relationships between members of the C-suite and the board of directors
• Board composition and oversight
• Shareholder/stakeholder theory and the corporation
• Impacts of management reporting structure on an organization’s legal, regulatory, and ethical compliance, effective risk management and/or other key corporate functions
• Role of the GC/CLO in overseeing compliance with legal and ethical obligations within the organization, and the extent to which the organization’s management reporting structure influences this role

The deadline for paper submissions is Monday, January 12, 2026.

Please use the menu to the left to submit your paper. You will be asked to create an account, through which you will be able to track your submission.

Please note that the selection of winners/finalists, if any, is at the sole discretion of the Association of Corporate Counsel. ACC reserves the right to select no winning papers in the event that the papers submitted do not meet the above guidelines and/or ACC does not believe any paper is worthy of the award.

About Carl Liggio

Carl D. Liggio was a founding member of ACC, along with seven other general counsel. As then-general counsel of Arthur Young & Company (now Ernst & Young), Carl was instrumental in growing ACC’s initial membership base, signing up his entire team and working tirelessly on behalf of the association. “Our profession owes so much to leaders like Carl who had the foresight and dedication to assuring the general counsel position was a respected and empowered executive in the C-suite,” said Veta T. Richardson, President & CEO. Carl was known for the many ways he established and expanded the role of in-house counsel throughout his career. Surrounded by his children, Carl passed away on January 17, 2021, at the age of 77.

About ACC

ACC is a global legal association that promotes the common professional and business interests of in-house counsel who work for corporations, associations, and other organizations through information, education, networking, and advocacy.