Why Take a Negotiation Class in Law School?
(pictured, Harvard law School's winning Negotiation Team)
I could write an entire book on why law students should study negotiation as well as an entire chapter on why they should study texts written for MBA students rather than law students. The latter topic I will cover in a future post. The former has already been written succinctly as an article -- link and excerpts below.
From Why Take ADR Courses In Law School by Cathy Cronin-Harris from the March 2008 issue of the Just Resolutions eNewsletter.
Cathy Cronin-Harris is Co-Chair of the Advocacy Committee of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution. She's a Senior Consultant to the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR) and teaches Negotiation at Columbia Law School. She has taught at Georgetown and Fordham Law Schools, and has been an Administrative Law Judge and litigator. She can be reached at chadr5@aol.com.
Familiarity with Negotiation Approaches
[N]egotiation is a . . . . complicated process and demands a . . . . mind set that recognizes the inherent tension in negotiation: you must engage the other side in order to get to agreement while both sides are in a seeming struggle to achieve apparently conflicting objectives. That tension demands more subtlety than pushing [your opponent] into submission.
[E]xposure to negotiation theory and practice will help you understand "when to hold 'em," "when to fold 'em" and when and how to develop other feasible options and approaches beyond just holding out or giving in.[Negotiation] courses stress the collaborative mode of negotiation or mutual gains bargaining popularized by Fisher and Ury in Getting to Yes. Its fundamental concepts stress objective standards, creativity, option development, respect for opponents and satisfying parties - genuine underlying interests rather than their positions.
Such exposure will expand your repertoire and allow you to negotiate with agility. You'll appreciate varying approaches people take to negotiation, discover ways to lessen competitive tendencies, become more conscious of options you can use rather than relying on raw intuition, appreciate the significant human elements impacting negotiation success, and learn the value of planning. As you become familiar with the broad brush approaches, you'll be enhancing the key skills below.
a. Expanded Communication SkillsIn adversarial settings, assertion skills dominate: lawyers use logic, well-developed statement and presentation skills, tightly orchestrated cross-examination questions, and tools to connect with the trier-of-fact, such as compelling language, analogies and themes, to win the day. But when you negotiate, an additional set of communication tools comes into play along with asserting. Those skills focus on enhancing dialogue to solve the problem.
It's usually a challenge for lawyers to move from assertive statements to a wider band of communication skills. So negotiators learn to use better listening skills which includes confirming understanding of the other side's statements. They use open-ended questioning rather than restricted cross-examination formats to understand and dig out relevant information. They focus on body language and other signals embedded in communications that can provide information indirectly. They also refine assertion skills by ratcheting down the tone and format of statements to express needs compellingly without rancor. So negotiation will complement any communication skills learned in adversarial settings.
But beyond improving your negotiating ability in disputes, these skills will assist you in conducting your daily practice interactions including interviewing clients, unearthing their real needs and interests, advising them of your evaluations, enlarging their view of solution potential, calming them down, and in a host of other ways both professionally and personally.
b. Enhanced Persuasive SkillsThe persuasion studied in most courses emphasizes logical rational analysis. Appellate judges apply it in every case based on the lawyers' logical presentations. Needed in negotiation? By all means. But persuasion to induce another to make a deal requires more. It includes your credibility, command of the subject, astute use of reasonable demands, varied questioning, and relationship building with the other side. We also persuade by showing our willingness to be persuaded: by meeting the other's needs and concerns and exploring a variety of options that might satisfy both entities rather than only pushing our agenda. And some psychological insights come into play about framing our requirements and anticipating likely reactions so we can make our offers more acceptable. While adversarial persuasion involves many of these tools, they are used to convince an outsider that you're right. Negotiation persuasion seeks to embrace your opponent, from whom you want something for yourself, and requires persuasive approaches we ordinarily don't consider.
c. Appreciation of the Role of PerceptionsEvery trial lawyer knows that perception plays a role in the court room: it's not just about facts. Trial advocacy aims, in part, to shift the judge or juries' perceptions in your favor. In negotiation, we also deal with perception change efforts since negotiators, like everyone else, bring misperceptions to the negotiation table. They make assumptions, they suffer from partial or selective perception, and they tend to view the opposing side with suspicion. So, we seek to amplify those perceptions to remove the negative conclusions the other side draws from their misperceptions which impede willingness to find solutions. We clarify our intent that may have been misperceived; we demonstrate we're not just competing which they might have assumed; and, we suggest solutions to demonstrate regard for their concerns as well as our own. We explore hypothetical outcomes to induce a broader view of settlement potential. Even in making offers, we account for perception barriers in the way we state offers and use rationales to caste new light on their justifiability. We recognize that the way we use actual leverage or power can alter the other's perceptions toward or against us. Exploring these concepts underscores the important role that perceptual awareness plays in negotiation success.
d. Appreciation of the Human DynamicOne can't effectively negotiate or help orchestrate it as a mediator without recognizing the human emotions at play in disputes. Emotions greatly affect receptivity to settlement proposals. Anger at past events, negative reactions to offers deemed insulting, absence of control over a situation or perceived lack of respect, attention or appreciation can derail deals. On the other hand, creating a positive emotional environment by building trust, building relationships across the table, and acknowledging the other's emotional state can alleviate some of the negative feelings in negotiation. These courses will highlight the need to consider the human element whenever you deal with clients or others in conflict.
e. Expanded Problem Solving AbilityMany lawyers went to law school to help people solve problems. Then, the adversarial adjudicatory system gets ingrained in their blood. That system and the rule of law it's built upon are still the best route to justice I know, when you can't settle matters. But, to function well as a twenty-first century lawyer, you need to complement your adversarial skills with problem solving abilities that support the mutual search for solutions when conflict exists. The negotiation skills you'll garner in the consensual ADR courses will prepare you to engage in collaborative problem-solving whenever possible and apply many of its tenets and skills even in extremely competitive situations.
While I've only touched on the key benefits of gaining negotiation training by enrolling in one of the consensual ADR courses, I hope I've helped you appreciate the need to treat those elective courses as part of your personnel core curriculum. Rounding out adversarial advocacy courses with vital settlement skills will pay vast dividends in every area of law practice despite your chosen field. You'll be more confident and prepared for the challenges ahead and more successful as you join us in the near future.
