Negotiation by Mike Gregory

State Bar of Texas - Collaborative Law Course

Dallas, Texas - March 10-11, 2011

CHAPTER 9

I. Introduction:

John F. Kennedy said, “Let us never negotiate out of fear.  But let us never fear to negotiate.”   Negotiation: lawyers do it all the time.  Lawyers are negotiators. We negotiate with ourselves, family members,   sales people, law partners, clients, opposing lawyers, unrepresented opposing parties, mediators, judges and others.  “Kids play their parents off each other. Whether you’re arguing with your spouse, buying a car, or selling a product or a house, you’re negotiating. Yet few have ever learned the strategies and techniques of effective negotiation.  Even fewer have mastered them.”  Martin Latz, Gain the Edge! Negotiating to Get What You Want (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2004).  Most of the time these negotiations are haphazard, without adequate preparation.

This paper will explore concepts learned at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School  with special focus on three-dimensional negotiation  developed by and  explained exceedingly well by David A. Lax and James K. Sebenius in their 2006 book,  3-D Negotiation (Boston, Harvard Business School Press, 2006).  I encourage all to buy and seriously study 3-D Negotiation and to attend the negotiation courses at Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School.

Future reference in this paper to the Lax and Sebenius book will simply be cited as, 3-D Negotiation.   Other references will be made at the appropriate time to other books written by leading negotiation experts.

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Table of Contents

I. Introduction

Ii. 3-D Negotiation

A.        tactics, the first dimension

B.        deal design, the second dimension

C.        setup , the third dimension

d.        staples example

IIi. value, creating and claiming

A.        what is value?

B.        creating and claiming value

C.        long term approach

IV. preparation, preparation, preparation

A.         latz on preparation

B.         ury on preparation

C.         fisher and shapiro on preparation

D.         lax and senius on preparation

V. barriers audit

A.         lockstore case study

B.         assessing setup barriers

C.         determining the real parties

VI. focus on interests not positions

A.         interests define the problem

B.         getting the interests right

C.         evaluate interests early and often

D.         fluffy case study

E.         letting someone have it your way

VII. assess no-deal options

A.         deal/no-deal balance

B.         walk-away power

C.         batna, zopa and more alphabet soup

VIII. emotion, ego, perceived fairness

A.         research, divide $100

B.         research $20 auction

C.         neglected noneconomic interests

1.     Relationships

2.     The Social Contract

3.     The Negotiation Process Itself

4.     Ethics

ix. avoid psychological traps

A.         the mythical “fixed pie”

B.         self-serving role biases

C.         partisan perceptions

x. turning adversaries into partners

A.         treat your opponent with respect

1.     Go to the Balcony

2.     Step to Their Side

3.     Reframe

4.     Build Them with a Golden Bridge

5.     Use Power to Educate

B.         turn adversary into a partner

C.         jointly solving problems to create value

xI. summary

xI. Appendix

a.  List of Negotiation Books

b.  List of MEdiation Books

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