Cardozo’s ADR Competition Honor Society’s team, which included 3L Geena Caporale and 2L Victoria Sadosky, won “Best Negotiation” and “Best Overall” at this year's UCLA Transactional Law Competition on February 26, during which 18 schools and 26 teams competed.

3Ls Marisa Masters and Michael Silbert served as coaches. 

“The win was incredibly exciting for us considering this was the first time the ADR Competition Honor Society participated in a transactional competition,” said Sadosky. “There was a steep learning curve in such a short period of time, so it was a true team effort for us, and in the end I think it was the ADR sensibility that helped us succeed. We were also very fortunate to have Professor Jill Gautier assist us in preparing for the competition. She not only helped us in the drafting and mark-up stages, but also provided great insight so we could develop the best negotiation strategy and focus on the most important issues.”

The competition is based on the national LawMeets competition, and challenges students to draft and negotiate a simulated M&A transaction. Students, representing either the buyer or seller, draft an acquisition agreement, mark up an opposing team’s draft of the acquisition agreement, and finally partake in two rounds of negotiations against other teams. Each round was scored by three judges who were M&A practitioners and partners from prominent law firms. This year, the case statement concerned a medical device company acquiring a manufacturer focused on the development of medical diagnostics for the treatment of diabetes.

The ADR Competition Honor Society has had a fruitful year, despite the transition to virtual competitions. Last semester, 2L Tae Joon Chang was a semi-finalist in the University of Houston Law Center Mediation Competition. Later this month, the team will be competing at two more virtual competitions: the CPR International Mediation Competition in São Paulo, Brazil and the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot in Vienna, Austria.