Set Up, Design, and Tactics for Value-Driven Negotiation

A very large percentage of the matters lawyers handle result in settlements or other agreements, and far more cases involve negotiation than trial. Therefore, litigators should focus on gaining or improving their negotiation skills with at least as much enthusiasm as they show for programs on sharpening trial skills. This article offers some basic practice pointers about the set up, design and tactics for value-driven negotiation for those who may be new to negotiation, or may not have considered any approach other than traditional adversarial negotiation in the past. Anyone can further strengthen their negotiation skills by recognizing the importance of negotiation planning, appreciating the differences between adversarial and value-driven negotiation, and focusing in particular on set up, design and tactics for negotiation.