GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works Faculty Scholarship 2003 The Negotiation Process Charles B. Craver George Washington University Law School,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.gwu.edu/faculty_publications Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Charles B. Craver, The Negotiation Process, 27 Am. J. Trial Advoc. 271 (2003). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. THE NEGOTIATION PROCESS1 By Charles B. Craver2 I. INTRODUCTION Lawyers negotiate constantly. They negotiate on the telephone, in person, through the mail, and through fax and e-mail transmissions, They even negotiate when they do not realize they are negotiating. They negotiate with their own partners, associates, legal assistants, and secretaries; they negotiate with prospective clients and with current clients. They then negotiate on behalf of clients with outside parties as they try to resolve conflicts or structure business arrangements of various kinds. Most attorneys have not formally studied the negotiation process. Few have taken law school courses pertaining to this critical lawyering skill, and most have not read the leading books and articles discussing this topic. Although they regularly employ their bargaining skills, few actually understand the nuances of the bargaining process. When they prepare for bargaining encounters, they devote hours to the factual, legal, economic, and, where relevant, political issues. Most lawyers devote no more than ten to fifteen minutes on their actual negotiation strategy.