DRI Women Lawyers' Success Negotiation Seminar Part Three

Creating Value• Compatibility (identifying issues for which

parties don’t have a conflict of interest)• logrolling, or trading off concessions on low-

priority issues for gains on higher priority issues

• Trading differential time preferences, or allocating more initial outcomes to the more impatient party and greater profits over a longer period to the more patient party

• Adding issues, or adding to the agreement issues not inherent in the initial negotiation framework

Cognitive Biases

Why do we care? Because your belief about your bargaining partner’s bottom line and his belief about yours will exert a disproportionate degree of influence on the deal eventually negotiated.

The Statistics

• Judges estimating damages

• People estimating height, number, duration

• Frame/spin– $$$$– Loss/gain– Positional

weaknesses/strengths– Characteristics

affecting value

Impasse

Are they liars, cheats and thieves or do they have hidden interests.– Personal (unrelated to

you or deal)– Relational (related to

you but not to deal, i.e., “face”)

– Political, social, cultural

• Are they difficult or simply uninformed – Educate them about their true

interests, consequences of their actions, our BATNA

– Help them understand what is in their best interest

– Determine whether they’ve misunderstood or ignored a crucial piece of information

Are they irrational or are they operating under hidden constraints– Institutional– Precedential– Promises to others

• Hidden stakeholders

– Deadlines

Bracketing & Hypothetical Offers

Offer Contingencies

Be Prepared to Walk Away

• Demonstrate that – you will not be victimized– You will be reasonable– You will not be driven by

emotion

• Solicit more information than you give

• Tit for tat– Open with cooperation– Retaliate for lack of

cooperation• cooperation in face of non-

cooperation results in cycle of victimization

• Refusal to forgive results in escalating cycle of retalitation

– Be forgiving– Return to Cooperation

• Be conscious– Assume nothing– Guard vs. cognitive bias

• Ask questions– Be curious– Be receptive– Be skeptical

• Require cooperation– Name concessions– Demand

reciprocity• Problem solve

• Reiterate terms • Or…recapture the main

points, what’s left to resolve, and what’s needed to do so.

• Set day/time to reconvene• End on hopeful

note/congratulate both for progress made

• Nibbling . . .

Close