This course is an elective subject of the Professional Skills Course for trainee solicitors. It is a one day course which we deliver in-house at the premises of client law firms. We do not run public courses in this subject.

Lawyers are rarely trained to negotiate. 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. Delegates learn the principles and then apply them to real negotiations.

Objectives

The aim of this course is to enable the delegates to learn how to:

•          appreciate the importance of planning a negotiation;

•          recognise and become familiar with successful techniques of negotiation;

•          identify the number of negotiable issues in a negotiation;

•          consider a range of settlement options for each negotiable issue;

•          appreciate the importance of questions in negotiation;

•          avoid behavioural pitfalls in a negotiation;

•          learn how to handle difficult or unprincipled opponents; and

•          understand the principles of interests negotiation.