Nine students and two professors traveled to San Francisco for the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association’s spring meeting April 16-18.

Trustee Professor Amy Boss and Professor Karl Okamoto, director of the law school’s Business and Entrepreneurial Law Program, led the delegation, which constituted an unusually large number of students.

“We really stood out,” Boss said, noting that a handful of students from West Coast law schools attended the meeting, which attracts a vast number of business lawyers.

The students attended committee meetings focused on specific areas of business law, such as mergers and acquisitions and venture capital, learning about trends that affect practice in those arenas, 3L Brittany Esser said.

At the Venture Capital Committee meeting, Esser said she learned how different states are responding to model documents created by the National Venture Capital Association.

Esser was able to meet the head of the Private Equity Committee as well as the chair of the Business Law Section.

“The most productive part of the trip for me was getting to network with the attorneys,” 3L Devon Pope said.

3L Ruben Perez said Boss and Okamoto made it easy to meet and interact with practitioners. 

"I would encourage all law students, regardless of year, to attend such conferences," Perez said. "It allows students a comfortable setting to practice their networking skills."