About the competition
The Halloum Negotiation Competition aims to develop real world negotiation and business transaction skills and is open only to first-year students. The competition gives students an opportunity to experience being corporate lawyers: making business deals and working cooperatively with individuals both alongside and across the negotiation table. It is a great way to become involved with the Board of Advocates, as participants will be scouted for the competitive Transactional/ADR Team.
Typically 48 students participate, requiring approximately 20-30 practitioner judges and 12 student judges. This competition tests the raw talent and skill of the participants. Students work in paired teams of two, with each team representing a side in a complex business deal. Corporate law practitioners from the Bay Area and experienced Berkeley Law Transactional/ADR Team members judge each round of negotiations. We especially welcome students who have no prior negotiating experience!
“I learned a lot, felt my negotiations skills improve over the course of the competition, and enjoyed having the chance to try something new.”
“I loved the opportunity to concretize some of the knowledge that we’ve learned in class. I also enjoyed the networking opportunities.”
For more information, please contact the Competition Directors at HalloumNegotiation@berkeley.ed
Joseph Halloum
Berkeley Law alum Joseph Halloum (’10) created and generously funded both the Fall and Spring Halloum competitions, which provide a unique opportunity for students to get a taste of deal negotiations.
Joseph is a corporate partner in the Silicon Valley office of Freshfields. He represents a wide range of transactions, corporate governance issues and securities law matters, including mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments, activist investor situations, strategic sales and joint ventures, domestic and cross-border transactions, debt and equity financing, and SEC reporting obligations. Joseph regularly represents companies and private equity firms in the U.S. and in cross-border deals. Joseph was recently ranked in 2021, 2020, and 2019 as a Super Lawyers “Rising Star” for M&A, recognized with a 2019 California “Trailblazer” award by The Recorded and has been consistently named in ILFR1000. He was also recognized by The Daily Journal with a 2016 California Lawyer “Attorney of the Year” award.
A Huge “Thank You” to Our Law Firm Donors!
The Halloum Competitions are made possible with generous support from the following firms:
