Everyone knows that a bottom line in a lawsuit is an immutable “line in the sand” that is accurately reported to mediators and counterparts as the least that a plaintiff would accept or most that a defendant would pay. Not really. During the life cycle of a case, lawyers start with vague and tentative bottom … Continue reading What’s a Bottom Line?
Everyone loves BATNA. It has more than 16 million hits on Google. I have loved BATNA too. Of course, people should consider alternatives to a negotiated agreement when negotiating or mediating. Unfortunately, people have loved BATNA so much that it has become a cliché that is widely misunderstood, even by some dispute resolution experts. When … Continue reading BATNA May Be Less Important Than You Think – and Teach
My career has focused on helping disputants by analyzing and promoting helpful lawyering and other dispute resolution techniques. The ABA book, Litigation Interest and Risk Assessment: Help Your Clients Make Good Litigation Decisions, is the culmination of my scholarly career, combining Michaela’s and Heather’s excellent research on litigation risk assessment and my work on planned … Continue reading LIRA Book Tour
We’re in a serious jam. Washington Post columnist Paul Waldman writes that the legislative stalemate over coronavirus disaster relief deals with a complex and thorny negotiation problem. Enhanced unemployment benefits have now expired, leaving over 30 million Americans who have lost their jobs in a precarious economic position. The program providing loans to small businesses … Continue reading Wanted: Master Negotiator
Jim Coben’s wife, Barbara Freese, recently published a fascinating book, Industrial-Strength Denial: Eight Stories of Corporations Defending the Indefensible, from the Slave Trade to Climate Change. I haven’t read it, but I assume it’s a fascinating book based on a wonderful video interview of Barbara by Joe Rogan (and this link contains some clips). Here’s … Continue reading Industrial-Strength Denial
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 … Continue reading Inter-School Negotiation Practicum in the Fall
During the summer, faculty plan their courses for the fall. This is a good time to consider including Stone Soup assignments in your courses, especially clinical and externship courses. Faculty who used Stone Soup assignments found that they and their students almost invariably were very enthusiastic, feeling that this was a valuable contribution to students’ … Continue reading Consider Cooking Up Stone Soup in the Fall – Especially in Clinical and Externship Courses
If you have problems with BATNA theory (best alternative to negotiated agreement), you aren’t the only one. Some people have privately shared their concerns with me, and I suspect that there are a lot of others who are “in the closet” and don’t express their concerns publicly because BATNAs are so widely taken for granted … Continue reading BATNAs and the Emotional Pains from “Positional Negotiation”
In a recent DRLE listserv colloquy, I threatened to save for another day an extended rant about why we are so doggone attracted to using confusing jargon. That day has arrived. What’s Wrong with BATNA and All the Other ATNAs? My mania was stimulated by an exchange of listserv posts about the use of BATNA … Continue reading BATNA’s Got to Go — and Here’s a Better Idea
If you teach students that it’s important to analyze their BATNAs, consider including material in your course on litigation interest and risk assessment, aka LIRA. Virtually every negotiation, mediation, and ADR survey course teaches students that they should figure out their BATNA when negotiating or mediating. That is sooooo much easier said than done, as … Continue reading Resources for Teaching About BATNA, Bottom Lines, and LIRA
