Everyone talks about knowing one’s BATNA in negotiation and mediation. But that’s a lot easier said than done. In litigated cases, the value of the BATNA usually is the expected trial outcome, but that is notoriously hard to predict for many reasons. The outcome of numerous legal and factual issues may depend on the evidence, … Continue reading How to Calculate and Use BATNAs and Bottom Lines with LIRA
Now as an annual tradition, here’s a reminder of some of my favorite things you might require or recommend that students read as you gear up for the new year. My short “Letter to Kelly” provides advice for new 1Ls. If you teach a 1L course, you might assign it even though it doesn’t focus … Continue reading Readings and Resources for Teaching
Litigation offers many potential benefits. It can help people solve difficult problems, make relationships and institutions function properly, and promote justice. It enables people to enlist legitimate, independent government officials to resolve disputes when the parties can’t resolve disputes themselves. Indeed, litigation provides mechanisms for structuring dispute resolution processes that enable most parties to ultimately … Continue reading Reality-Testing Questions for Real Life and Simulations – and Ideas for Stone Soup Assignments
As you gear up for the new year, here’s a reminder of some of my favorite things you might require or recommend that students read. My short “Letter to Kelly” provides advice for new 1Ls. If you teach a 1L course, you might assign it even though it doesn’t focus on any particular 1L subject. … Continue reading Readings and Resources for Teaching
Michaela Keet and Heather Heavin (Saskatchewan), have been studying “litigation interest and risk assessment” (LIRA), something you probably teach using different names. You probably emphasize the importance of analyzing BATNAs and preparing for negotiation and mediation, which are basic elements of LIRA. Building on their own and others’ research, they developed a simple but comprehensive … Continue reading Keet and Heavin on Why Litigation Interest and Risk Assessment is So Darn Important for Lawyers and Mediators – And How You Can Make Stone Soup With It
From George J. Seidel, Williamson Family Professor of Business Administration and Thurnau Professor of Business Law at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business: Many thanks to John Lande, Hiro Aragaki, and Sanda Kaufman for their recent posts that have clarified the meaning of “BATNA.” BATNA is an important concept because it is often a … Continue reading George J. Siedel: Are Negotiators Subject To Liability For Using Their BATNA Power?
In response to my question, “Do you use “BATNA” wrong?,” I plead guilty, with an explanation. With the patient tutelage of my friends, Hiro Aragaki and Sanda Kaufman, I have come to see the error of my ways. I was concerned because BATNA – the Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement – has become part of … Continue reading Confusing Dispute Resolution Jargon
From Hiro Aragaki: First off, thanks to John Lande for pursuing this issue and calling attention to the real imprecision that sometimes attends our use of the term “BATNA.” If anything, I have learned through my off-line exchange with him and Sanda Kaufman that there is more confusion out there among scholars and practitioners than … Continue reading Hiro Aragaki: Things We Know and Think We Know About BATNA and WATNA
Here’s Sanda Kaufman’s response to my conversation with her and Hiro Aragaki. (Click the title of this post to see her piece.)
If so, you have a lot of company. Having reviewed negotiation publications and listened to colleagues, I can confidently assert that most of us grossly misuse the term “BATNA.” This is one of my pet peeves, which drives me crazy – an admittedly short excursion. I discussed this in my top-notch post, BATNA, MLATNA – … Continue reading Do You Use “BATNA” Wrong?
At the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution conference last month, Rishi Batra, Noam Ebner, Rebecca Hollander-Blumoff, Sanda Kaufman, and I led a session entitled, “Making Negotiation Theory More Helpful for Practitioners.” This session grew out of the Tower of Babel symposium last fall. We presented some of our own thoughts about negotiation theory and spent … Continue reading What Theory Do Practitioners Want?
This is part of the “virtual book club” discussing readings for the symposium at the University of Missouri on October 7: Moving Negotiation Theory from the Tower of Babel Toward a World of Mutual Understanding. This is the last post in the book club series, at least for now. It is a compilation of a … Continue reading Symposium Book Club – Summary of Negotiation Frameworks