Three College of Law students took top honors last week in the Jaffe Transactional Law Invitational Competition hosted by Wayne State University Law School.
Third-year law student Ben Kelly and second-year students Alyx Thompson and Eric Allen competed against 15 schools to win the best draft agreement, tying for first place with University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. Kelly and Thompson also represented the UT College of Law in negotiations and defeated their competitors to place first in the final round.
The competition enables students with an interest in transactional law to experience live competition by resolving difficult business problems through contract negotiation and drafting. Student teams represent a client in a transaction, draft a document and mark up the other side’s drafted document. The event culminates with two negotiations in which competitors finalize the documents and their terms.
Kelly said the team’s preparation for competition over the last several weeks helped him build practical skills. Kelly was also a member of the winning team in the 2021 LawMeets Transactional Law Competition last year, and both competitions enhanced his understanding of the mergers and acquisitions language and process.
“I highly recommend that all law students, regardless of future practice, participate in Moot Court or Legal Clinic before they graduate,” Kelly said.
The Jaffe Transactional Law Competition helps participants develop drafting, negotiating and counseling skills with two-member teams representing a buyer and seller involved in a complex acquisition. Their client would contribute technology, management expertise and some financing for a minority ownership position in an enterprise that uses sunlight to convert sea water to potable water on a large scale. Detroit-based attorneys specializing in mergers and acquisitions judged the drafts and the negotiation sessions.
College of Law Professor Brian Krumm, who has mentored Kelly and the winning teams in 2021 and 2022, has been “an incredible coach and asset for both teams,” Kelly said.