Law Commons^™

Primer On Competitive Bargaining, A, Gary Goodpaster

Journal of Dispute Resolution

The aim of this Article is to explore the competitive bargaining strategy in depth. Because competitive negotiation behavior is common, and sometimes advisable, one must understand it well to master negotiation practice. Knowing how competitors operate enables a negotiator to recognize competitive bargaining when it occurs and to deal with it affirmatively by transforming a competitive negotiation into a cooperative one or defensively by countering competitive moves. Furthermore, even parties who negotiate cooperatively sometimes compete. For example, negotiators may create a win-win situation by cooperating to "increase the size of the pie" to be divided between them. Nonetheless, they still …

Using Decision Trees As Tools For Settlement, Marjorie Corman Aaron

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

While experienced lawyers can some­ times develop an intuitive sense of what a case is worth, their intuition may not be sufficient in a case of considerable complexity. Furthermore, intuitive "gut sense" valuations are hard to support or explain to clients.

Decision trees allow the parties and their lawyers to see more clearly how the strengths and weaknesses of their positions on specific issues will affect the overall value of a case. Long popular in the business community, deci­sion analysis has evolved as a tool for lawyers to help make decisions in complex litigation.

Negotiation As A Healing Process, Gerald R. Williams

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Beginning in the late 1970's and continuing even today, there has been intense criticism in the media and elsewhere that Americans are too litigious, that people and institutions are too frequently going to court against one another. While the criticism may be partly merited, when considered from a more personal perspective, what seems remarkable is not how much litigation there is, but how little. For example, most members of society suffer harms, inconvenienses, and injustices that infringe on their legal rights and could be, if they chose, grounds for legal action. Most individuals recognize, however, that if they made a …