From GFOI Debra Berman:

As you begin to prepare your syllabus for next semester, please consider incorporating our Inter School Negotiation Practicum.

Last year, I organized a nationwide “Inter-School Negotiation Practicum” that included 623 students from 23 law schools.  And we are gearing up to offer it again this fall.

If you choose to involve your class, all you need to do is provide your students with the registration link which will be available on our website late August.  We then pair the students up between schools, select the actual court case along with the relevant pleadings, draft confidential settlement memos, and provide a comprehensive post-negotiation questionnaire for students to complete.  Students will have 30 days to complete the exercise (during the month of October) and they must use email, phone, and video conferencing at least once.  Other than that, they can communicate using any method they wish.

After reviewing the results of the post negotiation questionnaires, it appears that students communicated with their opposing counsel an average of 7.7 times last year.  Click here to see the court documents and settlement memos from last semester and to read comments from participating students.

Please let me know if you have any questions about the exercise.  If you think you may be interested, let me know and I will add your name to our notification list to alert you once registration opens.

I hope you are staying well.

Sincerely,

Debra Berman
Assistant Professor of Clinical Studies
Director, Frank Evans Center for Conflict Resolution
South Texas College of Law Houston