Effective Legal Negotiation and Settlement

Professor Charles B. Craver presents a half-day to full-day in-house course on the practical principles of effective legal negotiation and settlement.

Why Offer This Program?

The art of legal negotiation involves skills rarely taught in traditional law school curricula, even though practicing attorneys frequently encounter situations that require various forms of negotiation. The negotiating process not only applies to typical "bargaining" situations such as lawsuit settlements and contractual undertakings, but also affects relations with clients and colleagues. This program examines general negotiation principles and techniques applicable to a broad range of practice situations. Participants will engage in different types of negotiation exercises designed to help them identify the factors that most directly affect legal negotiations and learn how to make the most of their personal strengths for better results in future negotiations.

Training Techniques

Lively and informative lectures

Format

The program consists of lectures, group discussions, and short exercises to develop skills in legal negotiation and settlement. A full-day program also includes a review and critique of a taped negotiation session or a one-hour segment on ethics in negotiations. The program is available for up to 130 participants.

Topics
  1. Basic Factors Affecting Negotiations
    Personal and psychological influences; how to prepare for a negotiation; establishing a tone for negotiations.
  2. Negotiation Stages
    Information bargaining to focus upon opponents' needs and desires; competitive or power bargaining and cooperative or share bargaining.
  3. Importance of Nonverbal Communication
    Influence of nonverbal signals; examples of their impact on negotiations; interpreting your opponent's nonverbal signals.
  4. Negotiation Games
    Psychological games; recognizing and responding to games; utilizing game techniques and defending against them.
  5. Cultural Aspects of Negotiations
    Male-female negotiations; role of stereotypes and appearances; minimizing cultural conflicts.
  6. Specific Negotiation Issues
    Litigation settlement; presence of the client; diminishing the strength of a powerful opponent; enhancing a weak bargaining position; telephone negotiations; client acceptance of settlement against advice of counsel.
  7. Ethical Considerations
    Is "strategic misrepresentation" permissible? When must you disclose information?
What You Provide
Information

For more information, call ALI-ABA In-House at 1-800-CLE-NEWS (253-6397), ext. 1614, or e-mail in-house@ali-aba.org.