Third Annual Transactional LawMeet

Drexel students Sekou Lewis and Deidre Martin compete in the regional Transactional Lawyering Meet

Drexel student Sekou Lewis (Right) participates in the regional Transactional LawMeet competition

While generations of law students have sharpened their litigating skills in moot court and mock trial competitions, the Transactional LawMeet™ created by professor Karl Okamoto of the Earle Mack School of Law at Drexel University is the first of its kind anywhere that allows students of transactional law to practice their deal-making skills against their peers. The law school will host the Third Annual Transactional LawMeet™ on March 29 and 30, beginning at 1:30 p.m.The Transactional LawMeet™ was conceived of in 2010 by Okamoto, a law professor and director of Drexel's Business and Entrepreneurship Law Program, to put students’ negotiating skills to the test under the scrutiny of seasoned transactional lawyers who serve as judges. Interest in the meets has been so high that teams from many law schools were turned away in the first two years.“Law schools struggle to provide ‘hands on’ learning for future transactional lawyers," said Okamoto. “LawMeets™ provide a taste of real deal lawyering by exposing students to realistic transactional challenges and to expert deal lawyers. Both students and our experts from practice have been very excited about the program.”

Drexel professor Karl Okamoto

Professor Karl Okamoto created Transactional LawMeets in 2010

This year, five regional competitions were held across the country on February 17, allowing much greater participation. In addition to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Meet hosted by Drexel in Philadelphia, other competitions were hosted by Western New England College School of Law in Springfield, Mass.; the University of Georgia School of Law in Athens, Ga.; the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law in Kansas City, Mo.; and UCLA Law School in Los Angeles, Calif.The final four teams from each region and two “wild card” teams will advance to the national Transactional LawMeet ™ to be held here at the law school (3320 Market St.) on March 29 and 30. The list of participants moving on to the national competition is available at http://transactionalmeet.lawmeets.com/participantsAt each level of competition, teams are judged by seasoned transactional lawyers. The National rounds will be judged by distinguished practitioners from premier law firms and corporate law departments from both Philadelphia and New York.This year’s competition requires teams to negotiate an employment agreement for the CEO of a fictitious company. Teams will represent either the CEO or the company that is wooing her. At the close of each meet, the judges demonstrate how they would have brokered the same deal that the students had just negotiated.