If you are heading to the AALS conference in New Orleans later this week, I want to bring your attention to the ADR Section’s panel on negotiation ethics on Friday afternoon from 4:00 to 5:45pm.  The program is entitled, Overcoming the Difficulties of Teaching Negotiation Ethics, and a short description is below.  This is going to be a great panel, and since I put the panel together and will act as it’s moderator, I have to admit that my description of the program as “great” is self-serving.  However, I do believe that this is an both an important and under appreciated topic.  See you Friday in New Orleans.

Overcoming the Difficulties of Teaching Negotiation Ethics

Speakers:      Charles B. Craver, The George Washington University Law School,  Bob Dauber, Arizona State University, O’Connor College of Law, Rebecca Hollander-Blumoff, Washington Univeristy Law School

Moderator:   Art Hinshaw, Arizona State University, O’Connor College of Law

Many law professors find teaching negotiation ethics to be particularly dissatisfying and disappointing.  The Model Rules set such a low ethical floor that anything short of making a fraudulent misrepresentation is deemed “ethical,” and as a result, students believe that distasteful tactics pushing that line are appropriate.  Furthermore, many students, unaware of what constitutes a fraudulent misrepresentation, willingly engage in them.  What’s worse is that it’s not clear that our lessons about the topic stick as recent research shows that a significant minority of attorneys also run afoul of this low standard.

Approaching this topic from three separate fields – professional responsibility, negotiation, and clinical teaching – this program takes a deeper look at the hurdles inherent in teaching attorney negotiation ethics and suggests various methods for overcoming these difficulties.