Coming to Bilzin, I knew my primary interest was litigation. But even as a second year law student, I still felt I didn’t fully understand what transactional work looked like. So much of our legal education is so heavily litigation focused that sometimes it’s easy for me to forget that there are whole other avenues of the legal profession to explore. Bilzin’s Mock Real Estate Transaction helps bridge that gap by giving us the chance to role play a full real estate transaction from start to finish, starting with the initial offer all the way through the closing.
Although we’ve only just negotiated our initial terms—and finalized what I now know is called a Letter of Intent—I’ve already learned a lot about what it’s like to practice real estate law. My team represents the fictitious seller “Mattel,” who is selling their property to “Barbie” so she can build her dream theme park experience.

To prepare for our negotiations, we met with our coach, Senior Associate Salomé Bascuñan. Salomé made sure we understood all of the real estate specific terminology, talked us through which terms we should prioritize, and introduced us to several negotiation tactics. After getting her expert opinions, our team devised a negotiation strategy that ensured our “client’s” most important needs were met. We were ready to make a deal when we met with “Barbie’s counsel.” After some tough negotiations, we reached final terms that all parties were happy with.

The Mock Transaction has been great not only because of what I’ve learned, but also because it’s been an excellent opportunity to spend more time with my co-Summers, who I have been enjoying getting to know over the past few weeks. I’m looking forward to getting to know my colleagues better, learning more about real estate, and the closing party to come as we continue with the Mock Transaction!