Southfield, MI – On March 21, 2025, twenty-two teams from law schools across the country gathered at the Southfield offices of Taft Stettinius & Hollister to compete in the 2025 Wayne State Taft Transactional Law Invitational. The event, a key part of Wayne State's comprehensive learning experience, was led by Wayne Law Professor Eric Zacks and Taft attorney and Wayne Law alumnus Justin Hanna.

The competition results are as follows:

Buyer’s Counsel:

• 1st Place Negotiations: University of Kansas School of Law
• 2nd Place Negotiations: Emory University Law School
• 1st Place Drafting: Lewis and Clark Law School
• 2nd Place Drafting: Charleston School of Law

Seller’s Counsel:

• 1st Place Negotiations: University of Nebraska School of Law
• 2nd Place Negotiations: American University Washington College of Law
• 1st Place Drafting: Washburn University School of Law
• 2nd Place Drafting: Baylor University School of Law

This year’s competition was chaired by third-year Wayne Law students Lydia Dunn, Erli Metko, Christian Sarafa, and Lena Vushaj. The program is funded by the Taft Transactional Law Competition Fund, established in 2018.

The invitational helps students develop drafting, negotiation, and counseling skills, with two-member teams representing buyers and sellers in a complex acquisition. After a semester of drafting and revisions, teams participate in two negotiation rounds, receiving attorney feedback after each session.

Justin Hanna remarked, "The Wayne State Taft Transactional Law Invitational continues to exemplify high standards of excellence in legal education. This year's competition showcased the exceptional talent and dedication of law students nationwide, providing them with invaluable practical experience in the transactional practice of law. Taft Law is honored to support this initiative, which bridges the gap between academic study and real-world legal practice. We commend all participants for their hard work and look forward to witnessing their future contributions to the legal profession.”

Attorneys serving as judges included Wayne Law alumni and other distinguished practitioners:

• Justin Hanna* ’15, Taft Detroit 
• Josh Borson* ’13, Taft Detroit 
• Marguerite Donahue* ’87, Taft Detroit 
• Bruce Kahn, Taft Detroit 
• Summer Moukalled, Taft Detroit 
• Evonne Xu, Taft Detroit 
• Lauren Lambert* ’24, Taft Detroit 
• Daniel Harwood* ’24, Taft Detroit 
• Connor Schram* ’24, Taft Detroit 
• Ahmad Sabbagh* ’19, Honigman 
• Steve Migliore* ’08, Honigman 
• Amy Smith* ’17, Wolfson Bolton 
• Kelsey Postema* ’21, Wolfson Bolton 
• Hillel Nadler, Wayne State University Law School 
• Brian Balow, Balow Law PLLC 
• Scott Carter* ’21, Barnes Thornburg 
• Chris Banerian* ’14, WorkForce Software 
• DeLone Dawisha* ’18, Dawisha Law, PLLC 
• Danielle Graceffa* ’06, Invest Detroit 
• Jeff Paulsen, Paulsen Law Firm PLLC 
• Jonathan Demers* ’18, City of Detroit 
• Chris Attar* ’14, General Motors 

* Wayne Law Alumni 

Professor Zacks expressed his gratitude, saying, “We were pleased to partner again with Taft to host so many wonderful schools at this national competition. Hosting 22 teams from 20 schools meant a lot of work behind the scenes, and our student chairs and Taft staff really did an incredible job organizing everything. We are appreciative of Taft's continued support of transactional law education and this program, and we are extremely grateful to the practitioner judges who devoted their day to educating the next generation of transactional attorneys."

The participating schools and students were: 

• Wayne State University Law School: Mackenzie Berenbrock, Elizabeth Miller, Katherine Koczak 
• University of Kansas School of Law: Alex Falk, Namisha Ajit 
• Charleston School of Law: Alexandra De Tardo, Mary Kate Paoli 
• DePaul University: Carrie Kruse, Austin Sulejmani, Gurkaran Bhatti 
• Widener University Commonwealth Law School (1st Team): Sophie Miller, Brian Poeschl, Anthony Brown 
• Widener University Commonwealth Law School (2nd Team): Riley Stoltenberg, Brianna Maia, Artem Arutiunian 
• University of San Diego School of Law: Jessica Kocinski, John DelMastro, Cesar Serrano 
• Baylor University School of Law: Walker Montjoy, Garrett Welch 
• American University Washington College of Law: LindaRose Piccolo, Tanner Burt 
• Washburn University School of Law: Melissa Hendricks, Jack Lewis, Madison Squibb 
• William & Mary Law School: Maggie Corbin, Sierra Johnson 
• Emory University School of Law (1st Team): Adji Ostin, Emma Shokeir, Jada Bowden 
• Emory University School of Law (2nd Team): Akosua Asafu-Adjaye Frimpong, Caroline Parks, Jasmine Mathis 
• University of Tennesse College of Law: Paul Henken, John Thomas, Nicholas Gomez 
• Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of Law: Yacob Abraham, Hunter Petlansky 
• University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law: Piper Christenson, Olivia Jabaley, Bijan Esfandiary 
• Lewis and Clark Law School: Brittany Mullen, Hollis Robb, West Aro 
• University of Nebraska College of Law: Steve Sherman, Ben King, Caden Erickson 
• University of Mississippi: Caleb Chambers, Sydney Harty 
• St. Thomas University: Alanis Diaz, Josh Monast 
• University of Miami School of Law: Andrew Schwartz, Patricia Herrera 
• University of Oregon School of Law: Michael Carnes, Natania Suryanata