Negotiation Theory and Practice

SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL

SPRING
Instructor:
David Gibbs

The purpose of this course is to understand the theory and processes of negotiation so that students can negotiate successfully in legal and other settings. Students will learn by negotiating in role-plays provided in advance, class discussion, short lectures, audio-visual demonstrations and background readings in the theory and structure of negotiation in practice. Students will learn to understand and broaden their negotiation styles, to recognize the manner and techniques of other negotiators and will work on developing practical bargaining skills. In addition, students will be asked to accept and offer feedback on negotiations done in the course. Students will maintain a negotiation journal, be asked to conduct an email negotiation outside of the class and may be asked to attend a 3 1/2 hour class on one day of a weekend for a complex multi-party negotiation. Students will be graded on their improvement, preparation, willingness to participate in class, and their journal. Registration in Negotiation for Lawyers and Alternative Dispute Resolution at the same time is prohibited. (Monday 6:00-7:40 p.m.)

Negotiation for Lawyers

SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW

FALL
Instructor:
Dwight Golann
617-573-8183

The course will focus on negotiation issues in lawyering, dealing with adversaries and allies, advising clients, resolving ethical issues, preserving professional relationships, understanding cooperation, competition, and compromise, and evaluating the strength and weakness of legal positions. Students will regularly engage in simulated negotiations. In lieu of one week of classes, students will be required to participate in a three to six-hour complex negotiation on a Saturday in the late fall. Enrollment is limited to 20 students. Grades will be based primarily on the content of journals kept by students and to a lesser degree on their participation in class discussion and exercises. There will be no examination. (Monday 6:00-7:15 p.m.)

Negotiation for Lawyers

SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW

SPRING
Instructor:
Richard Perlmutter
617-573-8153

The course will focus on negotiation issues and the lawyering process, including goal-defining and objective-setting; dealing with adversaries and allies; advising clients; ethical issues in negotiation; preserving professional relationships while acting on a client’s behalf; settlement; understanding cooperation, competition, and compromise; realistic evaluation of the strength and weakness of positions; settlement agreements and releases.

Students will have the opportunity to engage in negotiations in simulated settings and will be evaluated on the basis of their success. Guests and media sources will be utilized to explore a variety of settings and context, including special problems presented in negotiation by and with professionals of the opposite sex and the range of negotiation styles and strategies commonly utilized in legal and business activities. Cross-cultural and international communication and negotiation issues will be examined through readings and exercises. Readings primarily support practical and realistic negotiation exercises. Enrollment limited to 16. Students may not be registered in Alternative Dispute Resolution at the same time. (Tuesday and Thursday 6:00-7:15 p.m.)

Mediation Seminar
SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL

SPRING

Instructor:
R. Lisle Baker
781-643-8186

Mediation is becoming an increasingly important vehicle for resolving disputes that might otherwise go to court, or if in court, to trial. While the framework of litigation is well established, mediations often are shaped by both the nature of the dispute the nature of the disputants and the nature of the mediator.

This course helps students understand mediation as a form of consensual dispute resolution that assists the disputants in negotiating a resolution that is preferable to the litigation alternative. To that end, students begin learning basic negotiation theory and practice and then move to applying that learning in the mediation context. Students keep an extensive journal about their readings and their experiences in course simulations that form the basis of a brief paper on their own mediation skills. In lieu of an examination, students also write a paper that can involve both library and field research on some aspect of dispute resolution which they present to the seminar. The course writing is not available to satisfy the legal writing requirement. Enrollment is limited to 18 students and not available to students who have taken other mediation or negotiation courses. (Tuesday 4:00-4:50 p.m.; Thursday 4:00-5:50 p.m.)

Mediation
SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL

FALL
Instructor:
Ericka Gray
781-643-3577

This course introduces you to the theory and skills of mediation, examines current legal and policy issues in the field, surveys the practice of mediation in a range of areas including family, public policy, and commercial, and provides the opportunity to practice techniques as mediators and advocates in the mediation process through simulations. Students will complete a research paper in lieu of a final examination, which will fulfill the upper-level writing requirement. Grading is based on class participation, short writing and other assignments, and a research paper. Enrollment limited to 24. (Wednesday 4:00-5:40 p.m., plus one Friday and Saturday training workshop early in the semester.)

Labor and Employment Arbitration
SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW

SPRING
Instructor:
Marc D. Greenbaum
617-573-8369

This course will examine arbitration as a dispute resolution mechanism in two related, but distinct, contexts. First, the course will study the legal principles applicable to the widely accepted use of arbitration as a means of resolving disputes arising under public and private sector collective bargaining agreements. Thereafter, it will examine the dynamic, changing and controversial legal principles governing arbitration as a means of resolving disputes arising under employment regulation statutes like Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and under individual contracts of employment. The course will make extensive use of simulations designed to assist students in developing the practical skills necessary to represent clients in labor and employment arbitration. Students will be required to write a final course paper that may be used to satisfy the Legal Writing Requirement. Enrollment limited to 15 students. Prerequisites: Students enrolling in the course must have taken or be concurrently enrolled in Labor Law, Employment Law, or Employment Discrimination Law. (Tuesday and Thursday 4:00-5:15 p.m.)

Alternative Dispute Resolution Seminar
SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL

SPRING

Instructor:
Terence Downes
Suffolk Law School
617-573-8183

This seminar examines the role of lawyers as societal problem solvers employing various methods of analyzing, reducing and resolving legal and other forms of dispute without resort to formal trial. Although some disputes can only be properly resolved through trial and appeal, the vast majority of cases and controversies confronted by lawyers can be—and routinely are—resolved without trial. Through the semester, students become familiarized with negotiation, mediation and arbitration, the three major components of ADR and with methods of their usage common in law practice. Essential to the seminar is regular and active class participation, a willingness to think clearly and with disciplined creativity, and the further development of each student’s ability to both constructively analyze and confront opposing views and to articulate one’s own. Through a combination of readings, regular short writing assignments, role plays and class follow up discussions, students begin the development of the professional skills essential to problem solving. May fulfill legal writing requirement. Students may not enroll in both Alternative Dispute Resolution and Negotiations. (Wednesday 7:50-9:30 p.m.)

Alternative Dispute Resolution
SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL

FALL

Instructor:
Robert Smith
Suffolk Law School
617-573-8155

One of a lawyer’s primary tasks is to resolve disputes. Most controversies are never decided by a court, but instead are settled by agreement. The ability to negotiate and mediate effectively is thus crucial for litigators as well as lawyers practicing in other contexts. This course focuses on the processes of negotiation and mediation, and to a lesser degree on arbitration and dispute resolution design. It uses a mixture of lecture, discussion, role-playing and video to give students an introduction to the theory and practice of ADR, including how to use such processes effectively on behalf of a client. There will be a final examination, as well as short writing assignments and in-class exercises. Enrollment may be limited. Students may not enroll in both Alternative Dispute Resolution and Negotiation or Negotiation for Lawyers. (Tuesday and Thursday 6:00-7:15 p.m.)

Alternative Dispute Resolution
SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL

FALL
Instructor:
Dwight Golann
Suffolk Law School
617-573-8183

This course emphasizes study of negotiation and mediation in a legal context, but also includes short treatments of arbitration, hybrid systems and techniques for representing clients in mediation. Most classes will include role playing or video analysis, together with brief lectures and class discussion. The course grade will be based in part on short written assignments and the results of negotiations and in part on a final examination.(Tuesday and Thursday, 10:00-11:15 a.m.)