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Conflict is inevitable, in both deals and disputes. Yet when clients call in the lawyers to haggle over who gets how much of the pie, traditional hard-bargaining tactics can lead to ruin. Too often, deals blow up, cases don't settle, relationships fall apart, justice is delayed. Beyond Winning charts a way out of our current crisis of confidence in the legal system. It offers a fresh look at negotiation, aimed at helping lawyers turn disputes into deals, and deals into better deals, through practical, tough-minded problem-solving techniques.
In this step-by-step guide to conflict resolution, the authors describe the many obstacles that can derail a legal negotiation, both behind the bargaining table with one's own client and across the table with the other side. They offer clear, candid advice about ways lawyers can search for beneficial trades, enlarge the scope of interests, improve communication, minimize transaction costs, and leave both sides better off than before. But lawyers cannot do the job alone. People who hire lawyers must help change the game from conflict to collaboration. The entrepreneur structuring a joint venture, the plaintiff embroiled in a civil suit, the CEO negotiating an employment contract, the real estate developer concerned with environmental hazards, the parent considering a custody battle-clients who understand the pressures and incentives a lawyer faces can work more effectively within the legal system to promote their own best interests. Attorneys exhausted by the trench warfare of cases that drag on for years will find here a positive, proven approach to revitalizing their profession. Observing that today's tough, adversarial legal negotiations preempt mutually beneficial problem solving between parties, Mnookin and his coauthors urge lawyers to adopt a proactive, optimistic and realistic mindset to transform their practices...[Although] aimed...at attorneys who want to serve clients' broader needs better as well as to protect their interests, the authors' practical, straightforward and jargon-free style makes this a valuable resource for anybody who is about to hire an attorney, file a lawsuit or sign a contract. Publishers Weekly Conventional negotiating strategy often requires adversarial positions, but the authors propose viewing negotiating as a problem-solving task...They explain that creating value is the key to successful negotiating. The goal should not be to win the biggest piece of the pie but to make the pie bigger! -- David Rouse Booklist [Beyond Winning] rallies all of the [Harvard Negotiation Research Project's] prior gems of wisdom on negotiation around the central theme of creating value. [The book] should be required reading for all lawyers and law students, for all mediators and judges. It is a book that every lawyer should ask his or her client to read (or reread) prior to commencing any important transaction or dispute, negotiation or mediation. Crafted in a reader-friendly style, the book energetically promotes an interdisciplinary approach to problem-solving in negotiation...In contrast to other experts' advice to be reactive initially in a negotiation, the authors here encourage a proactive, 'take charge' approach to engaging negotiators across the table in problem-solving. This approach is not initially directed to the substance of the dispute or transaction, but rather to the nature and structure of the negotiation process that the parties might together design...This is a book for everyone who negotiates--a universe that includes all of us. Inevitably, it will move lawyers into a new paradigm of thinking about higher-quality solutions in negotiation and mediation, and about how to achieve the best possible results for their clients. It is bound to change the world of negotiation in this new millennium. -- John W. Cooley ABA Journal 20001102 The practice of law has become more contentious and competitive, not less. The authors of [Beyond Winning]...advocate that parties [instead] practice 'value creation' (i.e., the attempt to 'enlarge the pie') so that both parties to a negotiation receive bigger returns...The book does an excellent job of breaking down relationships, players, tensions and organizations to lay bare the inner-workings of the actors in a negotiation and the situations they create. Because of its unique objective of educating attorneys and clients, Beyond Winning is a good addition to any library on negotiation. -- William J. Estes New York Law Journal 20001128

Beyond Winning: Negotiating to Create Value in Deals and Disputes

Preface Introduction I. The Dynamics of Negotiation 1. The Tension between Creating and Distributing Value 2. The Tension between Empathy and Assertiveness 3. The Tension between Principals and Agents II. Why Lawyers? 4. The Challenges of Dispute Resolution 5. The Challenges of Deal-Making 6. Psychological and Cultural Barriers III. A Problem-Solving Approach 7. Behind the Table 8. Across the Table 9. Advice for Resolving Disputes 10. Advice for Making Deals IV. Special Issues 11. Professional and Ethical Dilemmas 12. Organizations and Multiple Parties Conclusion Notes Index