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Lawyers, business persons, government officials, economists and sociologists
have learned a great deal in the last decade about how negotiations and
settlement agreements can be improved. However, much of their advice
remains unused -- theories on the bookshelf rather than improved settlements.
My efforts in settlement are to bridge the gap between theory and practice so
that clients receive better negotiations and improved settlements. I have
served as an instructor in courses involving both mediation, ADR, settlement and
advanced negotiations.
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The key elements of this are:
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Higher and mutual
levels of disclosure |
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Use of interest
based bargaining processes |
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Ensure that
negotiations involve both legal and business interests, not just
litigation risk avoidance |
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Improved
assessments of risks and opportunities |
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Avoidance of the
customary "settlement culture" |
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Explicit
discussion of and work to avoid the common settlement decision
making errors |
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Seeking optimal
settlement rather than the settlement that is minimally acceptable to all
parties |
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Where mediation is
used, aim to the highest
mediation goals |
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Recognizing and
therefore dealing with the difficulty
in settlement negotiations |
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