Congrats to Marcia Narine Weldon and University of Miami School of Law for kicking off another semester of this truly incredible program on transactional skills - we are proud to play a supporting role! #legaleducation
Dir. Transactional Skills, UM Law | Executive/Leadership Coach| Retreat Facilitator | GC for AI Startup & Nonprofit | Former Fortune 500 Deputy GC, Privacy, & Chief Compliance Officer | Podcaster | Mental Health Advocate
It’s the first day of classes at University of Miami School of Law and the first day for 159 students to learn practical contract drafting and negotiation skills from some of the best lawyers in the country. I used to teach some of these classes alone but there was such demand that I had to call on some super heros to co-teach with me. All of our classes have simulated client and partner meetings, drafting, billing, negotiations, redlining, and A LOT of work to simulate what students will see in practice. Transactional Skills I teaches the basics of drafting and negotiation. Thanks to departing adjunct, Ines Bahachille, welcome to Kimberly Thibault and Kyle Hershey and welcome back Philip Nicholas (who teaches 3 courses and has an in-house job!) Stephen Sandiford, Amy Shook, Krista Russell, Annette De La Torre Raij, Maria Cecilia Rachadell, Peter E. Reinert (a lawyer and CFO), Arthur Baker, Esq., and David Rodrigues Gonçalves. Transactional Skills II focuses on deal structures, business terms, corporate governance, due diligence, and corporate documents. Welcome to Erin Stafford and welcome back to Paul Berkowitz and Santiago Martínez Ojeda. Thanks to departing adjuncts Curtis Wolfe, Samuel Goodman, Nicholas Rodriguez, and Anabelle Dahdah. Selfishly, we hope to see you back when things slow down (although we don’t actually want business to slow down)! Transactional Skills III is the capstone where students can pick from three skills offerings- negotiating and drafting private equity agreements with Gaby Valdes and Austin Ericson; legal and business issues in IPOS with Julien Apollon and Alix Apollon; and negotiating and drafting for M&A with Daniel Novela and Paul Berkowitz. Thanks also to our partners Hotshot Inc. and Law Insider, who provide great resources for our students, and Preston Clark, alum, and donor to our scholarship program. We are always looking to improve the program and the experience for our students and for the marketplace. Stay tuned for future announcements about upcoming CLEs, a Spring drafting and negotiation competition for law students where we will need coaches and judges, a call to join a stakeholder advisory group, and more. What’s the best advice you have for students who are learning contract drafting and negotiation? And do you miss anything about being in law school?