A team of law students from the University of Wisconsin Law School took first place at LawMeets, a transactional moot court competition hosted by Duke University School of Law in February.

UW Law students and their coaches with their LawMeets competition trophy
UW Law School's LawMeets team

First-place finishers included Will Cowell, a third-year law student, and Claire Schaible and Colin Hoffman, both second-year law students. Five other UW Law students participated in earlier portions of the competition and contributed to the winning team's efforts: Saman Mirzaian, Gabrielle Kiefer, Michael Taylor, Alexa Thomas and Gretchen Winkel.

Coaches for this competition included Yaron Nili, a UW Law professor; Mike Anderson, chief legal officer and senior vice president at CUNA Mutual Insurance Group; and Kelly Wilfert, a third-year law student.

The event gives law students an opportunity to experience first-hand how transactional work is conducted in practice. Prior to the competition, the team spent several weeks learning about the transactional issues that the case posed. The team prepared a proposed draft agreement and provided markups on an agreement submitted by a team from another law school. They communicated with mock clients and adjusted their draft to address client needs. 

“This competition allowed our students to gain experience that is very close to what they may experience as practicing attorneys. They now have a deep understanding of some of the most important topics in transactional law,” says Nili. “It is another example of UW Law’s commitment to providing immersive, hands-on learning experiences.”

Submitted by Law School News on March 3, 2020

This article appears in the categories: Features, Students

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