One cardinal rule of negotiation is that one should not bid against herself. That is, negotiation should be a two-way conversation in which party A makes an offer to which party B responds with a counter offer to which party A responds with a new offer and so on. But [Read More]
 I recently read a blog post entitled, How To Make Decisions Like a Leader in 2019 appearing on the Leadership Freak website.  While the article talks in terms of making decisions as a leader, its strategies apply equally well to any negotiation. For example, first and foremost, the author [Read More]
One Sunday (October 23, 2016), I was glancing through the Los Angeles Times and came upon an article by Robert Cialdini, a behavioral scientist and author of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion published more than thirty years ago. He has published a new book entitled, Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to [Read More]
Perception and transparency. Both are very importantin mediations and negotiations but can be so easily overlooked. This was brought home to me recently in a lengthy mediation that I conducted. It involved a commercial lease and the issue was whether money was owed by the tenant to the landlord for [Read More]
Negotiation strategy and legal malpractice claims have much in common. This point struck me as I read an article in the California state e-bar journal dated May 2, 2013, listing ten items that can lead to a legal malpractice claim. Looking through them, I realized that many of them will [Read More]
Last week, I conducted a mediation in which the Plaintiff was quite angry at what had happened to her. As I learned, she owns an auto body repair shop. Someone had brought a vehicle in for repair. However, that person abandoned the vehicle, never coming to pick it up. So, [Read More]
Recently, I read an article posted on the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation's website discussing the similarity of improvisation and negotiation. (Improv pp.4-8.) In both, one must be quick on her feet- ready for anything at any moment. In both, one must be ready "... to seize unexpected opportunities [Read More]
Last week, there was a pretty important mediation. It involved a lot of parties - 20 to be exact - on a very important issue- the global economy. It took place in London and was co-mediated. The primary mediator - Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain- seemed to be doing [Read More]
