Negotiation Skills for Lawyers

This negotiation skills for lawyers’ course is exceptionally practical. The first half focuses on the main principles of win-win negotiation techniques, and it also incorporates a negotiation self-assessment questionnaire to determine everyone’s preferred negotiating style. Day two then consists of a series of practical negotiation case studies which are tailored to the needs and commercial backgrounds of the negotiation skills for lawyer’s course delegates. All participants will receive feedback on how they come across during the role plays.

On completion of this negotiation skills for lawyers’ course, delegates will:

• Be able to define win-win negotiation techniques in a commercial context
• Recognise their preferred negotiating style, and state the pros and cons of all these styles
• Be able to detect the preferred style of the other side’s lead negotiator, e.g. the lawyer representing the other side
• Be able to state the four stages of commercial skills for negotiations
• Be able to formulate a clear negotiation strategy, both with your own client and for meeting the other side and their legal negotiation skills representatives
• Be able to prepare thoroughly using a perspective-taking approach
• Use an “if... then…” formula to trade concessions assertively
• Use open questioning techniques to uncover needs and challenge entrenched positions
• Recognise body language tells and project confidence through your own body language signals
• Recognise commonly used tactics in commercial negotiations skills and how to deal with them
• Identify professional conduct issues which may, for example, influence the legal negotiation skills for lawyers

Admitted in 1988, the trainer has many years of experience as a practising solicitor in planning and environmental law. He has worked at the Treasury Solicitors Department and three City Law firms, including Dentons. Since 2006, he has been in business negotiation tactics as a trainer and consultant.

The trainer has worked across Europe and Asia to assess and deliver training for a variety of organisations including Baker & Mackenzie, Reed Smith, Addleshaw Goddard, Hogan Lovells, WS Atkins, Cambridge University, & the Civil Service.

The trainer has designed and delivered a range of courses including; Negotiation skills, writing and drafting, presentation skills, project management & negotiation skills for lawyers, people management (including appraisals), managing across cultural boundaries, recruitment and interviewing, & equal opportunities.

 

Negotiating is something that everybody does day to day. The focus of this course is, of course, the effective business negotiation tactics in the business world but we all negotiate socially and domestically too. There may be times when a win/lose outcome is inevitable, such as settlement negotiations, when the commercial relationship is effectively dead. However, in general, transactional negotiations should aim for a win/win outcome where both parties are satisfied with the deal. If one side feels taken advantage of, then the deal probably won’t work well in practice – and they certainly won’t want to do business with the other side again if they can help it.

This training course therefore focuses on how to get the best win win outcome using negotiation techniques and explores a number of commercial lawyer skills and strategies to make commercial negotiations as quick and profitable as possible. A lot of time is wasted in meetings by people dancing around the issues, so the idea is to set an agenda and deal effectively with tradable issues in an assertive but constructive way. Commercial negotiations do not have to be pitched battles, with the commercial negotiation skills you will learn on this training course, they can also take the form of a problem-solving discussion, seeing the win-win outcome as a result of your new negotiation techniques, constructive engagement and dialogue.

Commercial negotiations are a serious business, of course, and therefore so are commercial negotiation skills but this course also aims to be interactive and enjoyable.