On March 27, 22 teams from law schools across the country gathered at the Southfield offices of Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP to compete in the 2026 Wayne State Taft Transactional Law Invitational. The event was led by Wayne Law Professor Eric Zacks and Taft attorney and Wayne Law alumnus Justin Hanna.
The competition results are as follows:
—Buyer’s Counsel:
• 1st Place Negotiations: William & Mary Law School
• 2nd Place Negotiations: University of Kansas School of Law
• 1st Place Drafting: University of Kansas School of Law
• 2nd Place Drafting: Wayne State University Law School
—Seller’s Counsel:
• 1st Place Negotiations: Lewis and Clark Law School (Team 2)
• 2nd Place Negotiations: University of Tennessee, Winston College of Law
• 1st Place Drafting: University of Nebraska School of Law
• 2nd Place Drafting: University of San Diego School of Law
This year’s competition was chaired by third-year Wayne Law students Dino Bucci, Scout Ciora, Elizabeth Miller, Mackenzie Berenbrock, and Katie Koczak. The program is funded by the Taft Transactional Law Competition Fund, established in 2018.
The invitational helps students develop drafting, negotiation, and counseling skills, with two-member teams representing buyers and sellers in a complex acquisition. After a semester of drafting and revisions, teams participate in two negotiation rounds, receiving attorney feedback after each session.
Hanna remarked, “The Invitational continues to provide an outstanding platform for experiential learning. The level of talent and professionalism demonstrated by this year’s participants was impressive, and the engagement and feedback from our volunteer judges added tremendous value to the experience. Taft is proud to support a program that meaningfully prepares students for the practice of transactional law.”
Attorneys serving as judges included Wayne Law alumni and other distinguished practitioners:
• Justin Hanna (‘15), Taft
• Marguerite Donahue (‘87), Taft
• Mark Rubenfire (‘87), Taft
• Bruce Kahn, Taft
• Lauren Lambert (‘24), Taft
• Daniel Harwood (‘24), Taft
• Connor Schram (‘24), Taft
• Max Shuart (‘21), Taft
• Will Friedman, Taft
• Evonne Xu, Taft
• Ahmad Sabbagh (‘19), Honigman
• Nezar Habhab (‘18), DENSO
• Amy Smith, Wolfson Bolton
• Vanessa Bailey (‘14), VLB Consulting
• DeLone Dawisha (‘18), Dawisha Law
• Jeff Paulsen, Paulsen Law Firm
• Hillel Nadler, Wayne State University
• Jennifer Taub, Wayne State University
• Jennifer Bird-Pollan, Wayne State University
• Scott Carter (‘21), Barnes & Thornburg
• Jennifer Dewey, General Motors
• Chris Banerian (‘14), WorkForce
Zacks expressed his gratitude, saying, “We extend our sincerest thanks to the judges who generously gave their time and shared their expertise to help shape the next generation of transactional attorneys. Bringing together 22 teams from 20 schools required considerable coordination, and our student chairs and the Taft team executed everything seamlessly. We deeply value Taft’s ongoing commitment to advancing transactional law education and this program, and it was a privilege to once again partner with them in welcoming such an outstanding group of schools and students to this national competition.”
The participating schools and students were:
• Wayne State University Law School (Bennett McGraw & Austin Woody)
• William & Mary Law School (Abby Komiske & Abby Nishiwaki)
• Baylor University School of Law (Jacob Madden & Luis Garza)
• DePaul University (Rumer Richardson, Kenna Hogan, & Cecilia Fleischer)
• Widener University Commonwealth Law School (Elizabeth Wenger, Gianna Ianni, & Ryan Manderbach)
• University of Kansas School of Law (Emily Weiss & Kaegan Cowan)
• Washburn University School of Law (Madison Squibb, Melissa Hendricks, & Garrett Burr)
• American University Washington College of Law (Maanasa Muppavarapu & Bennett Dubrow)
• Charleston School of Law (Kiana Barber, Ashleigh Thompson, & Ansley Youst)
• Emory University School of Law (Team 1) (Caroline Parks, Akosua Asafu-Adjaye, & Jasmine Mathis)
• Emory University School of Law (Team 2) (Yunseo Ki, Vanessa Crespo, & Nicholas Cyran)
• Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law (Grant Blanchette & Emily Booker)
• University of San Diego School of Law (Max Ferrin & Weston Fairey)
• University of Tennessee Winston College of Law (Nicholas Gomez & Niklas Jarvi)
• Louisiana State University (Jacob Broussard & Kaelie Robichaux)
• St. Thomas University College of Law (Kayle Smith & Farris Abusad)
• University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law (Reece Treasure & Brooke Daugherty)
• University of Nebraska College of Law (Jack Kinney & Hannah-Kate Kinney)
• Lewis and Clark Law School (Team 1) (Emily Easton & Sean Scott)
• Lewis and Clark Law School (Team 2) (Kyle Wickers & Katherine Almquist)
• Indiana University Maurer School of Law (Alaina Smith & Isaac Sutherland)
• Bringham Young University Law School (Dante Richardson, Mason Evans, & Curtis Anderson)
The competition results are as follows:
—Buyer’s Counsel:
• 1st Place Negotiations: William & Mary Law School
• 2nd Place Negotiations: University of Kansas School of Law
• 1st Place Drafting: University of Kansas School of Law
• 2nd Place Drafting: Wayne State University Law School
—Seller’s Counsel:
• 1st Place Negotiations: Lewis and Clark Law School (Team 2)
• 2nd Place Negotiations: University of Tennessee, Winston College of Law
• 1st Place Drafting: University of Nebraska School of Law
• 2nd Place Drafting: University of San Diego School of Law
This year’s competition was chaired by third-year Wayne Law students Dino Bucci, Scout Ciora, Elizabeth Miller, Mackenzie Berenbrock, and Katie Koczak. The program is funded by the Taft Transactional Law Competition Fund, established in 2018.
The invitational helps students develop drafting, negotiation, and counseling skills, with two-member teams representing buyers and sellers in a complex acquisition. After a semester of drafting and revisions, teams participate in two negotiation rounds, receiving attorney feedback after each session.
Hanna remarked, “The Invitational continues to provide an outstanding platform for experiential learning. The level of talent and professionalism demonstrated by this year’s participants was impressive, and the engagement and feedback from our volunteer judges added tremendous value to the experience. Taft is proud to support a program that meaningfully prepares students for the practice of transactional law.”
Attorneys serving as judges included Wayne Law alumni and other distinguished practitioners:
• Justin Hanna (‘15), Taft
• Marguerite Donahue (‘87), Taft
• Mark Rubenfire (‘87), Taft
• Bruce Kahn, Taft
• Lauren Lambert (‘24), Taft
• Daniel Harwood (‘24), Taft
• Connor Schram (‘24), Taft
• Max Shuart (‘21), Taft
• Will Friedman, Taft
• Evonne Xu, Taft
• Ahmad Sabbagh (‘19), Honigman
• Nezar Habhab (‘18), DENSO
• Amy Smith, Wolfson Bolton
• Vanessa Bailey (‘14), VLB Consulting
• DeLone Dawisha (‘18), Dawisha Law
• Jeff Paulsen, Paulsen Law Firm
• Hillel Nadler, Wayne State University
• Jennifer Taub, Wayne State University
• Jennifer Bird-Pollan, Wayne State University
• Scott Carter (‘21), Barnes & Thornburg
• Jennifer Dewey, General Motors
• Chris Banerian (‘14), WorkForce
Zacks expressed his gratitude, saying, “We extend our sincerest thanks to the judges who generously gave their time and shared their expertise to help shape the next generation of transactional attorneys. Bringing together 22 teams from 20 schools required considerable coordination, and our student chairs and the Taft team executed everything seamlessly. We deeply value Taft’s ongoing commitment to advancing transactional law education and this program, and it was a privilege to once again partner with them in welcoming such an outstanding group of schools and students to this national competition.”
The participating schools and students were:
• Wayne State University Law School (Bennett McGraw & Austin Woody)
• William & Mary Law School (Abby Komiske & Abby Nishiwaki)
• Baylor University School of Law (Jacob Madden & Luis Garza)
• DePaul University (Rumer Richardson, Kenna Hogan, & Cecilia Fleischer)
• Widener University Commonwealth Law School (Elizabeth Wenger, Gianna Ianni, & Ryan Manderbach)
• University of Kansas School of Law (Emily Weiss & Kaegan Cowan)
• Washburn University School of Law (Madison Squibb, Melissa Hendricks, & Garrett Burr)
• American University Washington College of Law (Maanasa Muppavarapu & Bennett Dubrow)
• Charleston School of Law (Kiana Barber, Ashleigh Thompson, & Ansley Youst)
• Emory University School of Law (Team 1) (Caroline Parks, Akosua Asafu-Adjaye, & Jasmine Mathis)
• Emory University School of Law (Team 2) (Yunseo Ki, Vanessa Crespo, & Nicholas Cyran)
• Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law (Grant Blanchette & Emily Booker)
• University of San Diego School of Law (Max Ferrin & Weston Fairey)
• University of Tennessee Winston College of Law (Nicholas Gomez & Niklas Jarvi)
• Louisiana State University (Jacob Broussard & Kaelie Robichaux)
• St. Thomas University College of Law (Kayle Smith & Farris Abusad)
• University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law (Reece Treasure & Brooke Daugherty)
• University of Nebraska College of Law (Jack Kinney & Hannah-Kate Kinney)
• Lewis and Clark Law School (Team 1) (Emily Easton & Sean Scott)
• Lewis and Clark Law School (Team 2) (Kyle Wickers & Katherine Almquist)
• Indiana University Maurer School of Law (Alaina Smith & Isaac Sutherland)
• Bringham Young University Law School (Dante Richardson, Mason Evans, & Curtis Anderson)
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