Twenty-five Wayne State University Law School students participated Friday, November 12, in the 2021 Jaffe Transactional Law Competition.
The winners were:
• Negotiations (seller's counsel) and Drafting (seller's counsel) Muhammad Siwani and Andrew Vailliencourt
• Negotiations (buyer's counsel) Lily Indenbaum and Danielle Kus
• Drafting (buyer's counsel) Kevin Chrustowski and Christopher Sims
This innovative, live-round competition is part of a one-credit course created and supervised by Associate Professor Eric Zacks. Third-year students Lindsey LaForest, Madison Light, Colin Nash, and Kate Smigelski are the chairpersons of this year's 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 helps students develop drafting, negotiating and counseling skills, with two-member teams representing a buyer and seller involved in a complex acquisition. After a semester of drafting and revising, the negotiations brought the teams together for two rounds of competition. The panel of judges composed of 13 attorneys offered feedback following the completion of each round.
Wayne Law alumnus Justin Hanna of Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, and Weiss served as one of the judges. "We are proud to continue our support of the Jaffe Transactional Law Competition and the resulting growth and development of business-minded law graduates from Wayne Law," Hanna said. "Professor Eric Zacks and his team of student 'managers' continue to improve and expand the impact of the competition on the training and maturation of Wayne Law graduates on a yearly basis, advancing and enhancing the competitive quality of the Law School's business law graduates nationally and internationally."
Attorneys serving as judges were:
• Gabriel Appel '17, Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, and Weiss
• Christopher Attar '14, General Motors
• Cody Attisha '16, Kerr Russell
• Robert Gordon, Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, and Weiss
• Arthur Griem '19, Miller Canfield
• Nezar Habhab '18, Kerr Russell
• Justin Hanna '15, Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, and Weiss
• John Kanan, Honigman
• Steven Magliore '08, Honigman
• Linda Paullin-Hebden '89, Warner Norcross + Judd LLP
• Ahmad Sabbagh '19, Honigman
• Peter Sugar '70, Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, and Weiss
• Joseph Zannetti '20, GKN Automotive
"We had a wonderful competition this term, with a great group of students and an active and informative group of judges," said Zacks. "Jaffe's support for this program is invaluable as Wayne Law continues to train Michigan's future transactional attorneys."
To learn more about the Jaffe Transactional Law Competition, visit go.wayne.edu/jaffe.
