Business, Law, and Innovation

Negotiation 101

Lecture 6Spring 2014

Professor Adam Dell

The University of Texas School of Law

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Lawyers, Business & Negotiation

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Virtually every interaction in business is a negotiation.

It would serve you well to read and understand: “The Art and Science of Negotiation” by Howard Raiffa

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Lawyers and Business

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Business people make deals. Lawyers “paper” them.

A big knock against lawyers is their lack of a fundamental understanding of business.

It would serve you well to try to understand the underlying business models of your future clients.

It’s important to strip away the “noise” in transactions, contracts, partnerships and businesses.

Focus on the key drivers of success.

The rest will take care of itself.

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Lawyers, Business & Negotiation

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1) You must be willing to walk away

2) Know in your mind what you want / need; don’t be so clear to the other side.

3) Remember that everyone wants to “feel” like they got a good deal.

4) Do not give up something without getting something of equal value. Always work in the context of the entire transaction.

5) If you think you got an extraordinary deal, you probably didn’t.

6) If there are not realistic & fair incentives on both sides, things will likely go bad.

7) Working with great people is more important than working with a great contract.

8) Put yourself in the shoes of the opposite site before you sit down.- Try to understand their alternatives- Try to understand what is important to them- Do not empathize; focus on objective facts- Try to anticipate their arguments- Look at the prism from all sides