Legal Negotiations Summer 2015 Grades: Preparation

Transcript:Legal Negotiations Summer 2015 Grades: Preparation:
Legal Negotiations Summer 2015 Grades: Preparation & Professionalism = 15% Class Performance* = up to 5% of total grade Final Exam = 30 points 1st Scored Negotiation = 20% 2nd Scored Negotiation = 30% Some Initial Thoughts on Negotiation in Nelken’s Understanding Negotiation (2001), Schelling states that bargaining power “has been described as the power to fool and bluff, the ability to set the best price for yourself and fool the other man into thinking this was your maximum offer” (p. 77). More thoughts on Negotiation Fisher and Ury (1981) say it very well: When negotiators bargain over positions, they tend to lock themselves into those positions. The more you clarify your position and defend it against attack, the more committed you become to it. The more you try to convince the other side of the impossibility of changing your opening position, the more difficult it becomes to do so. You now have new interest in “saving face” – in reconciling future action with past positions – making it less and less likely that any agreement will wisely reconcile the parties’ original positions (p. 5). More thoughts on Negotiation Bazerman and Neale (1992) state that people fail to solve problems because of the assumptions they place on them and that this is the most critical barrier to creative problem solving (p. 18). More thoughts on Negotiation Mnookin, Peppet and Tulumello (2000) addressed this question directly. Given a choice, most of us clearly would choose to do good. So why don’t we? The answer is often something along the lines of “The system won’t allow it.” People place the blame on the culture of law firms, the adversarial nature of our judicial system, the temptation to act out of self-interest, the rewards of playing hardball, the inflated expectations of clients, and the constraints of bargaining in the shadow of the law. The incentives to act combatively, selfishly, or inefficiently can be compelling. As we all know, however, the costs of adversarial tactics can be ruinous…And opportunities to create value – to make both sides better off – slip away (p. 3). And, one more thought on Negotiation… How can I help you get what you want so I can get more of what I want? Negotiation Ethics Restatement (Second) of Torts §525 Restatement (Second) of Contracts §164 Restatement (Second) of Agency §348 ABA, Model Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 4.1 Negotiation