Building on Past Success
This year’s participation figures highlight the growing importance and reach of the competition.
“This year, we had eighty-nine applications,” said Thaddeus Chase, a member of the M&A Committee subcommittee that runs the MAC Cup. “This represents a 75 percent increase in submissions. And our targets will be even more aggressive for MAC Cup III.”
Other members of the MAC Cup subcommittee are O’Bryan, Wilson Chu, Glenn West, Tom Romer, Caroline Shinkle, and Sacha Jamal. All are members of the M&A Committee and practicing M&A attorneys, though Romer recently left the practice to form Dexterity, a digital negotiation platform designed for M&A (and now hosting the MAC Cup documents). Curtis Anderson, a professor at BYU Law School and former practicing outside and in-house M&A counsel, also is on the subcommittee and brings experience in organizing law school competitions.
“This year, by expanding the field, we’ve provided more students/law schools the opportunity to gain experience from the competition and the chance to compete,” said Chase. “It allows for more students to become connected and build a network across law schools and the M&A Committee. We’ve also built in the wrinkle that students may need to switch sides (i.e., from Buyer to Seller or from Seller to Buyer) with a week’s notice—we think this pushes students to think critically and drives home the point that the best outcome for a deal is usually somewhere in the middle (not everyone wins every point/issue).”
Learning New Skills
What do students learn?
M&A concepts; critical thinking; understanding the meaning of a “win” in M&A transactions; and the knowledge that this competition is not done in isolation: students can leverage the advice, guidance, and support of participating legal practitioners.
“The synergy between the law students and our members (whether as judges or coaches) is really dynamic and reflects the M&A Committee’s commitment to provide practical training to a new generation of M&A lawyers,” said Caroline Shinkle, a subcommittee member who has witnessed the excitement and rewards of this competition.
“Without a doubt, there is a level of seriousness that permeates student participation,” said Shinkle. “And yet this seriousness is tempered by the excitement created by the coaches and judges—generating a level of interaction rarely seen at this level.”
