Negotiation and Mediation

Negotiation

This popular course has been run in London, Belfast, Dublin and Brussels. Lawyers are rarely trained to negotiate. Most of them learn on the job. Yet the practice of law involves daily negotiations ranging in seriousness from requests for information to settlement discussions. This course introduces delegates to the techniques of successful negotiators and to the negotiation methods which were created to bring about the most principled agreements.

The course deals with subjects such as effective planning and handling difficult opponents, the course teaches delegates how to achieve the best and most efficient agreements for their clients. 

Mediation

The court is obliged to encourage ADR. It may stay proceedings so that ADR can take place. There are costs penalties for parties who unreasonably refuse to consider ADR.

This course concentrates on mediation as a form of ADR with particular reference to how to take a client through mediation. Mediation is not something to which lawyers are normally suited. They are trained to take up positions on behalf of clients and defend them. They are also trained to attack the positions of their opponents or at least look for weaknesses in their opponent’s case. Mediation is about resolving the dispute by concentrating on interests rather than positions. It focuses on solving the problem rather than prolonging it.

Delegates are introduced to the format and procedural rules of a typical mediation. Importantly, the course covers what a lawyer should plan for and does in mediation; how to manage a client’s expectations and how to choose the right mediator for the dispute.

It is strongly recommended that the delegates have completed the Negotiation course before attending this course.