Transactional Practice Skills introduces students to the skills lawyers—in particular, junior lawyers—need in transactional practice in a modern “biglaw” firm. In this course, students will experience critical aspects of what it is like to be a junior associate on a “deal team” in a transaction. Students will be divided into groups representing either buyer or seller in a mock semester-long transaction, and each group will represent their client from the transaction’s earliest stages to signing. Through the lens of the transaction, we will focus on understanding and manifesting the client’s business objectives, performing and communicating the findings of due diligence, drafting and revising documents and honing the soft skills (such as internal and external client communication and appropriate time and deadline management) that are necessary for a student to become a successful junior associate. During the semester, students will interact with practicing attorneys and mock clients in-person and via teleconference to walk through documents and receive feedback, which they will use to revise documents or modify their approach to various issues, much as associates do every day in firms.
Goodin, Robert Peter 
Hillebrand, Thomas Mark