Winners named in Transactional Law Competition

Wayne Law students (left to right) George Cobane, Nicholas Stock, Jackson Buday and Kelsey Postema, stand together after placing first in the negotiations rounds.

Photo courtesy of Wayne Law

Forty-four Wayne State University Law School students competed Friday, Nov. 1 in the annual Jaffe Transactional Law Competition.

Winners were:

• Negotiations (seller’s counsel) and Drafting (seller’s counsel) – Third-year students George Cobane and Nicholas Stock

• Negotiations (buyer’s counsel) – Second-year student Scott Carter and third-year student Brandon Corcoran

• Drafting (buyer’s counsel) – Second-year students Jackson Buday and Kelsey Postema

This innovative, live-round competition is part of a one-credit course created and supervised by Associate Professor Eric Zacks. Third-year students Asma Al-Khshali, Jamila Garmo, Megan Hoberg and Joseph Zannetti were the chairpersons of the competition. The program is supported by the Jaffe Transactional Law Competition Fund, established in 2018 by Michigan-based law firm Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, and Weiss.

“The Jaffe Transactional Law Competition provides law students with a unique opportunity to develop transactional law skills in a very realistic setting, and perhaps most importantly, to receive immediate and valuable feedback from practitioners in the field,” said Zacks.

The winners from the negotiation rounds will represent the Law School at the spring Jaffe Regional Transactional Law Competition, when Wayne Law will host several schools in a regional competition.   Winners also will receive a scholarship award from the Business Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan. The winners for drafting will help the negotiation teams prepare, including assisting with the drafting that will be required for competitions and conducting practice negotiation rounds.

The Jaffe Transactional Law Competition helps students develop drafting, negotiation and counseling skills, with two-member teams representing a buyer and seller involved in a complex acquisition. After weeks of drafting and revising, the day of the live negotiations brought the teams together for two rounds of competition. The panel of judges – composed of 21 attorneys – offered feedback after each round.

Wayne Law alumnus Peter Sugar of Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, and Weiss served as one of the judges. “In our second year of sponsorship support for the competition, we are energized by the outstanding performance of the student competitors and their demonstration of impressive, newfound negotiation skills,” said Sugar. “The depth of practical experience and training Professor Zacks and his student coordinators have brought to the Law School curriculum is of significant value to all of the law firms that employ Wayne Law graduates.”

Wayne Law students compete in the 2019 Jaffe Transactional Law Competition. Attorneys serving as judges were:

• Joel Alam, Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, and Weiss

• Gabriel Appel ’17, Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, and Weiss

• Jyotsna Balakrishnan, Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, and Weiss

• Brian Balow, Dykema

• Christopher Banerian ’14, LogicalisUS

• Joshua Borson ’13, Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, and Weiss

• Roberto Cruz, Valeo

• John Decker, Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, and Weiss

• Robert Gordon, Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, and Weiss

• Nezar Habhab ’18, Project: Worldwide

• Justin Hanna ’15, Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, and Weiss

• John Kanan, Honigman

• Sara Kruse ’96, Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, and Weiss

• Aleksandra Miziolek ’80, Cooper Standard Holdings Inc.

• Christopher Moceri, Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, and Weiss

• Jeffrey Paulsen, Paulsen Law Firm

• Tom Przybylski, ’02 ITC Holdings

• Peter Sugar ’70, Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, and Weiss

• Gabe Valle, ITC Holdings

• Arius Webb ’15, Ford Motor Credit Company

• Bryan Zair ’04, Sasser Family Companies

“As always, we are grateful to Jaffe for their continued support of this program and to all of our volunteer judges for generously giving of their time to help our business law students. With the help of Jaffe and our volunteer judges, during the past five years of the program, our students have been able to participate in and negotiate over 500 simulated transactions,” said Zacks.