UMKC Law Takes First Place in National Competition

Merger and acquisition tournament held in New York City

A team of students from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law has been recognized as the nation’s best in Transactional Law Practice at the Ninth Annual Transactional LawMeet Competition.

The Transactional Lawyering Meet competition engages students in a complex hypothetical transaction involving a merger or acquisition of a business; 96 different law schools participated in this year’s competition. Students must interview clients, plan and draft purchase agreements, and negotiate the final transaction. The student teams represented either the buyers or sellers of the business. The competition results in two categories of awards for each side (sellers and buyers). UMKC’s team won both Best Negotiation and Best Draft on the Buyer’s side in the final round of the competition, held April 6 at the Sullivan & Cromwell law firm in New York City. Competition judges included partners from leading law firms, corporate general counsels, and other senior practitioners. A team from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law won top honors on the Seller’s side.

“This is UMKC’s second national championship in the LawMeets competition,” said Barbara Glesner Fines, interim dean of the law school. “These are high impact learning experiences led by UMKC Law’s faculty, who combine significant practice experience with scholarly expertise.”

UMKC’s national championship team included students Danielle Wallace, Keith Kelly and Jennifer Cacchio; and was coached by Associate Professor Del Wright, with assistance from adjunct instructor (and UMKC Law alum) Kyle Conroy. The UMKC Law School student team of Joey Harris, Andrew Potter and Sarah Smith, which had won Buyer’s side best draft in the regional competition, also contributed to the success in the national finals by playing the role of Seller’s counsel in practice rounds. Anthony J. Luppino, Rubey M. Hulen Professor of Law; and Ralph G. Wrobley, attorney and UMKC Law benefactor; provided valuable feedback as judges of the practice rounds.

Other law schools represented in the final round included the University of Georgia School of Law, University of Kansas School of Law, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, University of Texas at Austin School of Law and University of Wisconsin Law School.

LawMeets was founded in 2010 by Drexel University law professor Karl Okamoto as a way to deliver practical skills exercises to law students interested in transactional law. He organized the first Transactional LawMeet, with 11 participating teams, in 2010. This year, 96 teams participated in the competition.


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