Blog 23: Senior Project Reflection

(1) Positive Statement

I was most proud of the fact that I was able to articulate the more difficult concepts well so that everyone for the most part understood them. I was also proud of the amount of research I was able to cite and talk about in my presentation because  my topic is strongly dependent on research whether it be from published sources or my mentor, in order to understand the ideas of my topic and those mentioned in my presentation.


(2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation (self-assessment)? I would assess myself at a P

AE       P          AP       CR       NC

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)? P

AE       P          AP       CR       NC

(3) What worked for me in my senior project was implementing research I found during research count in my mentorship in order to give me a better understanding of certain aspects of my topic which I was able to convey in my project.

(4)  If I had a time machine, I would go back and find a better way of implementing my activities, I feel that why they did reflect the content I taught there was some confusion on what to do.

(5) Finding Value

I think the senior project has definitely aided my in my future endeavor because I do want to pursue law as a career so I think that the experience I had through mentorship gave me a taste of what that would be like so it sealed my decision of pursuing a career in law. I also feel the Senior Project gave me valuable skills such as researching skills that I got from the many research count , presentation skills I obtained from the actual hour lesson, and many more that are only attainable by going though the the whole process of the senior project. 

Blog: 22 Mentorship

LIA Response to blog:

    Literal

·    The log of my hours is up to date

·     I completed my mentorship hours with Federico Blanco at The Collective in Beverly Hills

    Interpretive

      The most important thing I have gained from my experiences at mentorship  has been the hands on knowledge and practice that my mentor was able to give me. I am and always will be a hands on learner, as much as I researched, the information didn't really make sense until I practiced it with my mentor. When the year first began, the research I had supplemented what I was learning in mentorship, as the year progressed, I learned much more through the practice and tasks I was completing at mentorship that I began to research those which eventually lead me to my Essential Question and two of my answers.

   Applied

     Mentorship has helped me answer my EQ by allowing me to see various ways people practice answering my EQ in a real life setting. By this I mean , my essential question is basically focused on the best way for a deal to be negotiated and I got to see my mentor and his associates implement different methods of negotiation and from there deduce which ones were more efficient than the rest. Also through the hands on experience I obtained, I was able to see the importance of certain aspects that lead me to picking them as on of my answers. For example, in a deal I was revising I made the common mistake of leaving certain provisions slightly vague. It was then that my mentor lectured me on the importance of clear language and when I researched it, I found how important the aspect of clear language is in a deal and chose it as one of my answers and now it's my best answer to my EQ.

Blog 21: Exit Interview

Content:

(1) My essential question is, what is the best way for a lawyer to negotiate a transaction between two parties? The first answer to my EQ is, the best way to negotiate a transaction between two parties is to know your client's interests. My second answer is to use clear language and avoid legalese  and my third answer is to maximize your leverage. Of my three answers, I choose my second answer as my best answer because it the most applicable to both verbal negotiation as well as written documents. In addition,  the only way a transaction can be negotiated is if both parties can read and understand the deal. Thus, the language in a deal is what allows it to be interpreted and best negotiated.

(2) I arrived at this answer through many discourses with my mentor as well as through the research I conducted. Through mentorship I began looking at the actual structure of deals and how they were worded and it wasn't until my mentor discussed his experiences with having to litigate and negotiate terms that were unclear to the opposing party, that I realized  how important the language and context in a deal is. I took this fact that I had initially heard with my mentor and researched it, what I found was that many professionals in the field of law or writing did support the fact that clear and concise language is essential in drafting a deal.

 

(3) They main issues I faced were with finding research that passed the C.R.A.P. test. Unfortunately most of the articles that supported this answer and for my topic in general were written nine to ten years ago which makes them unreliable to cite. I as able to overcome this issue by asking my mentor for more contemporary sources and by refining me searches so that when I did find an article it was relevant or applicable to mt topic and was published recently .

 

(4) One of my most significant sources I have had throughout my senior project, my mentor. My mentor has given me insight on the idiosyncrasies of the profession as well as allowed me to work on deals with him that expanded my view and knowledge on the topic through hands on experience. My second most important source is the article written by Scott, Robert E, and George G Triantis. "Anticipating Litigation in Contract Design."  This source explains the issues that can arise from unclear language and offers steps to prevent the problems before it ever occurs which gave me a much better understanding of the importance of implementing clear and concise language and why it was the best way to negotiate a transaction.

April Post

I remember this time last year when I had to sign up for presentations, and I can't believe people will be signing up for mine. I'm excited as well as nervous for these next few weeks of school but the summer will definitely be worth all this hard work. I feel that I am prepared for my presentation as well as my exit interview all I need is practice. I'd like to thank my friends for their support and wish Alan, Vince V, Victor, and Chris good luck on their presentations and interviews. Although we aren't done yet, the remaining work that needs to be done such as the I-Search paper  will and lesson plans will be extremely important in the following weeks, I can't wait!

EXCITED

Blog 19: Independent Component 2

LITERAL
(a)  I, Aaron Ramos, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
 
(b) For general knowledge and advisement, Mentor- Federico Blanco, while constructing the contract for the deal- Scott, Robert E, and George G Triantis. "Anticipating Litigation in Contract Design." The Yale Law Journal, 115.4 (2006): 845-856. And finally the article I referred to most when in negotiations was Ertel, Danny. "Getting Past Yes: Negotiating as if Implementation Mattered." Harvard Business Review, 82.11 (2004): 60.
 
(c) Update your Independent Component 2 Log (which should be under your Senior Project Hours link) Done
 
(d) In this independent component I negotiated  a deal from start to finish. Meaning I  drafting the legal documents, conferred with the clients, sent initial offers and revised deals that the counter part has sent us.
 
INTERPRETIVE  
This component allowed me to actually do the work that my mentor does on a regular basis and therefore gave me a better understanding of the field and all the work that is done in it. This component gave me the opportunity to decide whether or not I would be interested in pursuing this area of law this as a career. This component demonstrates 30 hours of work in that the process conducted in the  component such as conferring with a client to drafting the document for one deal can a long time. Unfortunately due to privacy reasons I can't post pictures of the deal I drafted or the clients I worked with (they didn't let me take pictures) I can only post the cover page of the deal.

 
APPLIED 
The component helped me answer my EQ by allowing me to experience the work of a lawyer in my field which made me think about the best way  to get my client what they wanted. Throughout the component, especially when it came to negotiating compensation and the time the deal would be implemented I found that the best way to negotiate these terms was through using cleat language and being direct. Not only did this component help me answer my EQ it also supported one of my answers.

March Post

After closing his most recent deal, my mentor is going to be featured in the Hollywood Reporter as Hollywood's Top 100 Entertainment lawyers.
He and I have been working closely on my independent component and a few other deals during my mentorship, my mentor has also been helping me in creating an activity for my final presentation. We have recently made new connections with one of our old deals, Epic Meal Time, so you will be seeing those actors in a few more media platforms.My mentor has also been giving me previous deals to study and applying that knowledge in current deals he lets me sit in on. Other than that, work at the Collective has been the same.

Epic Meal Time host Harley Morenstein

Blog 18: Fourth Interview Preparation

Content: Post 20 open-ended questions you want to ask an expert in the field concerning your senior project. The focus of your questions should be on your answer to your EQ.

1. What different negotiation tactics have you used to negotiate a deal?
2. Which strategies have worked for you in the past? 
3. Are there other methods of negotiation?
4. How do you deal with clients that have very different interests?
5. Is lying ever present in a negotiation? When and Why?
6. Does leveraging actually work for the client you represent?
7. How well must you say you have to know your client to represent them accurately?
8. What are the circumstances in which a third party is included in a deal?
9. What other entities might be present throughout a negotiation?
10. How can a contract help negotiate a transaction?
11. What are key points to look at when reviewing a deal?
12. How can one identify phrases that might lead to litigation in the court room?
13. In your opinion what is the best way to negotiate a transaction?
14. How would one go about setting up a deal for more than two entities?
15. How can you push for a clause in the deal without being too aggressive?
16. What would be defined as too aggressive of a rebuttal or counter offer?
17. In instances where deals have been taken to court, what/how is that process like?
18. What can you do to stop one of your deals from reaching the court room?
19. How do you calculate the royalties a client will earn and present it to them in a way the will understand?
20. What is the process of closing a deal?
• What comes after?