Add Your PerspectiveNovember 18, 2008

“Blink”: Why No One Starts with a Clean Slate

The call comes in from out of the blue.  You don’t know her;  it’s Jen Spaziano, and she represents the company your client is — or perhaps was — merging with.  Apparently there is a problem, and she is proposing to mediate before litigation.  Your fingers work the keyboard to figure out who she is while she’s still talking:  Skadden.  Partner.  Woman.  Pepperdine Law 1995, summa cum laude.  Boston College undergrad.  You begin to react.  Do you respond any differently than if the call came from Bill Adams?  Of course you do.

Blink:  One Professional Starts with a Clean Slate

In negotiation no one starts with a clean slate; we file that lawsuit, we walk into that conference room, or we place that call, and our identities are immediately revealed.   More…

Categories: Communication,Fundamentals,Negotiation,Strategy

2 PerspectivesNovember 14, 2008

One Secret the Two Million Miler Club Has Taught Me

I’ll never forget a presentation by the Chief Litigation Counsel of a well-known tool company who complained about how long it takes to learn whether a newly-alleged product defect is really unsafe or not.  He told us that the first lawsuit outlining the defect takes time to serve, the charges take time to digest, and interrogatories and depositions can take months to complete before he can get to an answer.  All these delays prevent him from learning whether his product is really dangerous.

There is a better way.  As I write this I’m in seat 20B.  Perhaps he should be sitting next to me.

$24 Can Buy a Lot These Days

A few years ago one of my clients called to tell me a lawsuit was on the way.  After several years of efforts to unwind a joint venture, my client and my client’s partner had broken off negotiations.  The other side would wait no longer to get their money out of the deal, and five minutes with the file told me why.   More…

Categories: Communication,Negotiation,Settlement,Tactics

Add Your PerspectiveOctober 28, 2008

Putting the Checklist into Action: Early Case Assessments Part III

In Part II of this series we outlined the 15 elements of the Early Case Assessment checklist, but a checklist alone isn’t enough.  How an ECA works in practice — actually getting what’s on the ECA checklist done — isn’t quite the paint-by-numbers exercise it might seem to be.  The following are 4 important ideas, admittedly based on mistakes I have made, that will make your ECA efforts more effective.

1.  Agree on the Goal

The logical starting point for any case assessment is to gather the facts, but I have learned the hard way that a quick dash for the facts isn’t really where to start.  Since the effort will require information, documents and cooperation from a number of people, the first step in an Early Case Assessment is to educate witnesses and stakeholders immediately that delay is no longer the strategy. Whether the client is a first-time litigant or frequently defends cases, everyone involved needs to understand that the company will be giving management, or the firm will be giving its client, a full report on the case by January 12th (or whatever date you pick). We won’t be waiting for three months for the “legal wrangling” this time. More…

Categories: Communication,ECA,Fundamentals,Miscellaneous

1 PerspectiveOctober 14, 2008

The Most Important Word in Negotiation

High-stakes deals attract some of the best negotiators, and it’s always fun to see the latest techniques in action.  Many of the most sophisticated dealmakers and lawyers are eager to show that they’re on the cutting edge of the negotiating game, impressing their clients with advanced moves from Getting to Yes to Start With No to countless others.  Sadly, they often miss the point.

Why Credibility Is Critical to Negotiation

Somehow the audience for all our efforts is forgotten. No matter how little we actually see one another, negotiation still happens between people.  People take positions, people make decisions, and people close deals.  And much of what they do results from what you say and do. More…

Categories: Communication,Fundamentals,Negotiation,Settlement