Now in its third year, the Transactional Law Invitational is an innovative draft-exchange and live-round competition featuring students from law schools across the country. The regional event is a spin-off of the in-school Transaction Law Competition at Wayne State University Law School, which was co-founded by Wayne Law graduate Justin Hanna in 2014 under the tutelage and supervision of Professor Eric Zacks.

This year’s competition welcomed students from 15 law schools who took part in the drafting, negotiation and advocacy processes, with two-member teams representing a buyer or seller involved in a complex acquisition. Students worked on drafting and revising for several weeks, and the live competition brought the teams together for two rounds of negotiations in front of a panel of judges who offered insight and feedback after each round.

The competition serves as a platform for students to develop transactional skills in a practical environment and to receive real-time feedback from practicing M&A professionals, whose feedback is routinely cited by the participants as one of the most valuable aspects of the program.

The following law students have been recognized as winners in the 2021 Transactional Law Invitational:

Negotiations Winners:

• Entrepreneur’s Counsel – Macgregor Hudson and Cora Johnson of Florida State University College of Law
• Investor’s Counsel – Chase Canevari and Ben D’Alton of the University of San Diego School of Law

Negotiations Runners Up:

• Entrepreneur’s Counsel – Jon Berger and Ashley Ifeadike of Georgetown University Law Center
• Investor’s Counsel – Phillip Van Leuven and Alex Wagner-Jakubiak of Willamette University College of Law

Drafting Winners:

• Entrepreneur’s Counsel – Phillip Van Leuven and Alex Wagner-Jakubiak of Willamette University College of Law
• Investor’s Counsel – (tie) Julian Freitag and Joseph Kuzmiak of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and Mac Bank, Nolan Gruemmer and Jack Swanson of the University of Michigan Law School

Drafting Runners Up:

Entrepreneur’s Counsel – Lindsey LaForest, Madison Light, Patrick Masterson and Max Shuart of Wayne State University Law School