Polsinelli Transactional Law Center

The Due Diligence in Business Transactions workshop exposes students to the due diligence process that is critical to every business transaction. The experiential course teaches students why due diligence matters and how to properly conduct due diligence review in a simulated acquisition, using hands-on document review and insights from Polsinelli attorneys. The course puts students in the shoes of junior associates working on a deal and gives them a chance to develop practical and professional skills. 

In a realistic due diligence setting, students:

• Learn the fundamental scope and goals of the process
• Identify typical issues that must be analyzed
• Practice using a framework for systematically accumulating information
• Understand how that information may affect the structure of the transaction and the content of the agreement that memorializes it

KU Law faculty and experienced transactional attorneys teach the course.

During the Deals course, students walk through the life of a deal, working on drafting, negotiation and client interview skills based on a simulated fact pattern and deal documents. Polsinelli attorneys join KU Law faculty to share their insights, model best practices and train students on the nuts and bolts of deal practice.

Deals is offered as a simulation and professional writing course. It is an optional lab component for students who are concurrently enrolled in Mergers and Acquisitions or who have previously completed it.

Contract Drafting is an intensive skills course designed to teach the principles of contemporary commercial drafting. Students learn how to:

• Translate a business deal into contract concepts
• Draft each part of a contract
• Draft with clarity and without ambiguity
• Add value to a deal
• Work through the drafting process
• Review and comment on a contract

This course introduces students to energy law with a focus on renewable energy. The course emphasizes the practice of renewable energy law, from land use and siting for renewable energy facilities to transactional and finance issues that are key to the success of large-scale renewable energy projects. The course will be an excellent introduction to students interested in transactional practice in a regulated legal environment.

KU Law students regularly compete in national transactional law competitions. The Transactional Law Meet course is part of a national competition, the goal of which is to provide participants with a meaningful and realistic simulation of transactional practice.

The competition involves regional rounds followed by a national round of regional winners. Each round consists of three distinct phases.

• First, students work in teams of two or three to prepare a proposed draft agreement on behalf of one of the two parties to a business transaction.
• Second, each team prepares mark-ups to draft agreements prepared by the opposing teams they will encounter at the regional or national site. 
• Finally, the teams meet to negotiate the final contours of the deal.

KU Law students also regularly compete in several other national transactional law competitions.