Who can participate?
The UCLA Transactional Law Competition is an invitation-only competition. An invited school can send up to two teams each of which may consist of two to four members and may include second or third year full time law students in a JD program, or students in a legal graduate program such as an L.L.M. First year students are generally discouraged from participating. Only two students may negotiate in any single round.
If your school would like to be considered but did not receive an invitation, please fill out this form and we will let schools know by the end of November if we can admit your team.
What is the format?
The 2025 UCLA Transactional Law Competition is an in-person competition held on February 28, 2025 from 12:00-5:00 p.m. with an optional award and cocktail reception from 5:00-6:30 p.m.
What are the requirements for participating in the Competition?
On or before December 2, 2024 each team must (a) pay the required registration fee and identify a judge for the competition. The judge may be the team’s coach. No team’s coach will judge their own team. Failure to timely pay the registration fee or provide the name and contact information of the team’s judge may result in disqualification. Failure to provide either in one year’s competition may disqualify the school from participating in subsequent years. Each school is required to provide one judge per school and not per team – in other words – schools sending two teams are only required to provide one judge.
How do I register?
If your team received an invitation, you may use the link in the invitation to register anytime before November 18. If your team did not receive an invitation you may use this form to request to participate in the Competition. We will let all requesting teams know if they are admitted on or before December 15, 2024.
Is there training provided by the Competition?
It is highly recommended that each team have a faculty or practitioner coach. While the final work should be that of the students, advice, comments and direction from an experienced transactional lawyer is encouraged. UCLA will not provide any direct training or coaching to participating teams.
How does the Competition work?
All teams will receive a Case Statement of shared, public information. The Case Statement provides general background information on the transaction and the parties’ prior dealings. Each team will then be provided client specific confidential information. Teams will be asked to draft portions of an acquisition agreement in order to address the open issues and the client’s desires. Prior to finalizing the Draft Agreement teams will have an opportunity to pose questions to their client.
After submitting a Draft Agreement, teams will receive a Draft Agreement on which they will need to make comments (the “Mark-Up Agreement”). Teams will have a second opportunity to communicate with the client prior to submitting a Mark-Up Agreement. The Draft Agreements and Mark-Up Agreements are distributed in a daisy chain fashion. For example, Seller 1 will send a Draft Agreement to Buyer 1 to mark-up, Buyer 1 will send its Draft Agreement to Seller 2 to mark-up, and Seller 2 will send its Draft Agreement to Buyer 2 to mark-up, etc.
Prior to the February 28 Competition, Judges will receive the Draft Agreements and Mark-up Agreements for the teams they will judge. Judges will score these agreements prior to the Competition. The judges’ scores and comments will be available to teams at the conclusion of the Competition.
On February 28 teams will engage in two rounds of negotiation. Each round will last approximately 80 minutes. Teams will negotiate during the first 50 minutes of the round. The last 30 minutes of the round each team will have a private 15 minute debrief with the judges to explain the team’s approach and their expected resolution (if one has not been achieved) and judges will provide feedback on the team’s performance. In one round student’s will negotiate as the side that created the base Draft Agreement. In the other round teams will negotiate as the side that submitted comments or a Mark-Up to a Draft Agreement. Thus each team will negotiate either as the first drafter or as the commentating party. Students will receive scores from two judges in each round of the Competition.
How is the Competition judged?
The Competition is judged by experts. Each team’s Draft Agreement will be evaluated by 4 judges and the Mark-Up Agreement by 2 judges. During each round of negotiation teams will be evaluated by two judges, for a total of 4 judge evaluations for the negotiation portion.
How is a winner selected?
Teams are eligible to win up to 3 awards. Each side of the problem (e.g., Seller’s Counsel and Buyer’s Counsel) may be awarded Best Draft, Best Negotiation and Best Overall. Awards are made based on the judges’ comparative ranking of each team’s performance. If there is a tie in ranking, the tie will be resolved in favor of the team with the highest raw score.
Do I need to know all the team members when I register?
No. A team may register without providing all required information (e.g., student names, judges or coaches). Teams should update information as needed by using the link in the registration confirmation. The registration confirmation email should be kept by the team so that any updates can be made. Emails updating teams cannot be accepted.
What is the cost to participate in the Competition?
Each team must pay a $250 registration fee by check on or before December 2, 2024 or the team may be removed from the competition. Invoices available upon request. Checks should be made out to: UC Regents. Checks should be mailed to:
Attn: Rachel Estrada
Lowell Milken Institute for Business Law and Policy
UCLA School of Law
385 Charles E. Young Drive East
1242 Law Building
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1476
When your check is mailed, please send an email to estrada@law.ucla.edu to let us know. All questions regarding invoices or payments should be directed to Rachel Estrada at estrada@law.ucla.edu.
What is the timeline for the Competition?
The proposed timeline for the Competition is as follows:
| November 18: | Registration Closes for Invited Teams |
| December 2: | Requesting Teams Notified |
| December 13: | Case Statement Published to all teams |
| January 31: | Client Conference Call |
| February 7: | Drafts Due |
| February 14: | Client Conference Call |
| February 21: | All Mark-ups due |
| February 28: |
Competition 12:15 pm – 5:00 pm Awards Reception 5:00 – 6:30 pm |
What if I have questions?
If you have any questions about participating in the Competition please contact karlsson@law.ucla.edu.
Questions about invoices or payment must be directed to Rachel Estrada at estrada@law.ucla.edu.