With a growing percentage of "transactional lawyering," Miami Law's experienced faculty and program enable students to leave law school with a solid background in reviewing, drafting, and negotiating contracts of all types and coming out of law school with more skills training beyond litigation-based writing.
The University of Miami School of Law rolled out a Transactional Skills Program in 2018 with 19 students, with Marcia Narine Weldon at the lead. As of spring 2022, the program has seen 510 enrollments, and almost 150 students are enrolled in transactional skills classes this Fall.
"Law students face the ongoing demand to come out of law school with more skills training and experiential learning as part of their legal education beyond litigation-based writing," said Weldon, director of the program and faculty coordinator of the Business Compliance & Sustainability Concentration and a Lecturer in Law. "The program enhances law students' traditional legal education and teaches the professional skills they must develop to be effective lawyers, preparing them for what they will face as new lawyers in any legal setting and to contribute on Day One."
Students have enthusiastically embraced the program.
Third-year law student Chelsea Olivera recently completed a summer associate position at McDermott Will & Emery's Miami office with the firm's healthcare M&A practice and has received an offer to return to the firm full-time after graduation. She wrote to Weldon "to express [her] gratitude for [Professor Weldon’s] leadership in the transactional skills program at Miami Law.” Last semester, Chelsea took Transactional Skills II with Benjamin Wolkov, and couldn’t say enough about what a great course Transactional Skills II was.
"I felt extremely prepared for my summer associate position largely because of the course. There was not one assignment that I could not figure out how to tackle," Olivera wrote. "Every assignment was relatively familiar. I drafted many closing checklists and matrices summarizing seller contracts (mostly vendor and health care payor agreements). I was able to follow and understand the nuances of the Purchase Agreements and focus on the key provisions. I was able to follow along on negotiation calls, and key terms like "earn-outs," "working capital adjustments," and "indemnification" were familiar. These were all topics discussed in length in Transactional Skills II. I received only positive reviews at McDermott, and I truly believe taking Transactional Skills II made all the difference."
Third-year law student Blanca Alcaraz was a summer associate at Greenberg Traurig in the corporate group. "The skills I learned in your class were extremely useful to me," she wrote to Weldon. "I was able to follow along in M&A negotiations, read and redline asset purchase agreements, employment agreements as well as provide preliminary feedback on many other documents.
"Most of the skills I used were from your class alone and because of that I have decided to take Transactional Skills II in the fall. I truly enjoyed my time at Greenberg Traurig, and I felt prepared for most of the assignments I worked on because of this class. I will be returning to the firm as a first-year associate next year and I couldn't be more excited about that opportunity! During my last year of law school, I am working as a research assistant for the general counsel of Crypto.com. I just wanted to update you on how everything is going because you are one of the professors that truly made an impact in my law school career. Thank you again for all your guidance," she wrote.
Josh Sloan, '21 J.D./LL.M. program in Entertainment, Arts, Sports Law, worked as a summer associate in a corporate M&A role at Greenberg Traurig and wrote to Weldon, "The knowledge you provided me this past spring so the knowledge you provided me in Business Associations [a feeder course to transactional skills taught by Weldon] this past spring gave me a huge edge. I spent the first month of my job reading and interpreting shareholder agreements, joint written consents, and amendments for due diligence purposes — so you really had me covered! Your class was definitely one of the most important I've ever taken in my life, and so I thank you for how effectively and passionately you taught."
Read more about Miami Law’s Transactional Skills Program
