For many law students, COVID-19 interrupted summer employment plans. However, thanks to major sponsorships through the Nancy and Dave Petrone Business and Law Success Initiative Fund and the AccessLex Institute, 30 Oregon Law students were able to gain valuable hands-on, practice-focused experience during the global pandemic.
The two initiatives, LawMeets® 2020 M&A Boot Camp and the 2020 Litigation Lab, were each 10-weeks long. The experiences provided students access to mentors, coaches, and professionals to help develop their lawyering skills.
LawMeets® Boot Camp provides mergers and acquisitions experience for students
Through the Nancy and Dave Petrone Business and Law Success Initiative Fund, the Career Center sponsored 20 students (10 teams) to participate in the LawMeets® 2020 M&A Boot Camp over the summer. The sponsorship covered the cost of participating in the Boot Camp plus a $2,000 stipend per student.
The Boot Camp was a 10-week online program to teach deal skills to law students. Students worked in teams to draft, mark-up, and negotiate an acquisition agreement. In the simulated leveraged buyout transaction, students interacted with clients, senior lawyers, and opposing teams via video conference, email, and telephone.
The summer experience also exposed participants to M&A concepts, forms of agreement, and most importantly, senior practitioners, and their “know how.”
Tyler Eddington, a third-year student, says that the Boot Camp reinforced his interest in and ability to practice M&A and corporate law generally.
“It was fun to learn about the various legal mechanisms that could be included in an acquisition agreement and how different levers can be used to the benefit of the client,” Eddington said.
He also notes that staying organized, studying new areas of law, and working effectively with team members and opposing parties all contributed to his professional development.
“The experience was absolutely worthwhile,” Eddington said.
In addition to practical skills, the program provided a boost of confidence for participants like Andrea Moore. The third-year law student says that not only did she enjoy learning to draft M&A documents, but it increased her self-confidence.
“I learned that I am assertive in negotiations,” Moore said. “I always thought of myself more as a backseat listener. However, during the competition, I realized that I am good at transactional law and negotiations. To really shine, I just need to be more confident, which the competition helped me understand.”
Oregon Law Pro Tem Professor LizabethAnn R. Eisen coached Moore and teammate Sierra Tillery.
“The LawMeets competition offered students an opportunity to work one-on-one with a coach to hone practical transactional skills such as drafting, preparing issues lists and negotiating key terms,” Coach Eisen said. “It was a pleasure working with Andrea and Sierra — the learning curve was steep, and I am proud of them. Through their hard work, by the end, they were lawyering well beyond their years earning a perfect score on the final drafting assignment.”
Litigation Lab gives students skills and confidence
The AccessLex Institute sponsored ten students to participate in Oregon Law’s Summer 2020 Litigation Lab. Sponsorship included a $2,000 stipend along with a hard and digital copy of the 10th edition of the Pretrial casebook.
The 10-week intensive, online litigation workshop series was held from June 2 to August 7 and facilitated by the Honorable John V. Acosta (JD ’85), United States Magistrate Judge.
“This robust program was designed to teach students effective litigation skills that will make them better and more confident new lawyers,” said Rebecca Ivanoff, assistant dean at Oregon Law’s Center for Career Planning and Professional Development. “Those skills include working with colleagues and clients, investigating and developing cases, drafting and responding to pleadings, initiating and responding to discovery, interviewing and deposing witnesses, conducting motion practice, and writing and arguing motions.”
The enrollment was limited to ten students to maximize each participant’s opportunity to learn. Students were divided into plaintiff and defense firms and litigated a hypothetical employment case.
Students like third-year Cecilia Le were able to work with clients, witnesses, colleagues from their own firm, and counterparts from the opposing firm. Le says that the Litigation Lab gave her valuable professional experience.
“Having a judge teach us litigation skills was incredibly beneficial to us,” Le said. “I also learned first-hand how difficult handling clients can be and that words matter.”
By School of Law Communications