Note: This course is restricted to first-year J.D. students only.

The drop deadline for 1L January Experiential Term (JET) classes is TBD. Students may not drop a course if they do not have an offer to enroll in a different JET course.

Successful completion of the Negotiation Workshop will satisfy pre-requisite requirements for upper-level courses and clinics.

1L JET courses are intensive learning courses. Class attendance is required in each course every day of the term, beginning (TBD). Students should plans accordingly and should not take on other work commitments during the term.

Exam Type: No Exam

You already negotiate every day: with friends about where to go to dinner; with classmates about their world views; and with family members about holiday plans. Anytime you are trying to influence someone else, anytime you have a problem to solve or a decision to make, you are negotiating. In fact, you may be negotiating with yourself right now as you try to decide what you want to learn, and how hard you want to work during the January term.

The same is true in your professional life. As an attorney, your ability to influence others determines your success. You will negotiate for assignments, for (more) humane working hours, and for equitable pay. With clients, your ability to deeply understand their interests and priorities will be crucial to negotiating successfully on their behalf with prosecutors and regulators; with counterparts in litigation; or in the course of exploring a possible deal. And, if you want to have sustained impact in society, your ability to thoughtfully collaborate with other organizations, influence decision-makers, and engage the public turns on your ability to negotiate skillfully.

This workshop is an immersive experience designed to provide you with the analytical tools and skills necessary to increase your self-awareness and reach better negotiation outcomes. You will engage in simulations daily that prime you to reflect on the choices you made while negotiating, notice the impact your choices had, and experiment with different approaches. To help you in this process, you will receive consistent feedback through a variety of means: from your peers following each simulation, from the teaching team in class and during negotiation video reviews, through written assignments, and through an intensive exercise that invites you to consider a difficult conversation from your own life. You will also discuss how your identities and various sources of power impact your negotiations.

Above all, this Workshop will equip you with the skills necessary to continue refining your negotiation practice throughout the rest of your personal and professional life.

The Workshop is intensive and time-consuming. Participants should have no other work commitments during the winter term. Class attendance is essential and full attendance is required at all sessions including the first and last days of the workshop. Any interviews for summer employment should be scheduled outside of class time.

On most days the workshop runs from 9am to 4pm. There may be days throughout the winter term that require attendance beyond the scheduled times. You should expect that you will spend additional hours beyond scheduled class time debriefing 1-on-1 with classmates and preparing to negotiate the next day. Students also will be expected to keep a daily journal and write a final reflection piece synthesizing their learning from the term.

The 1L Negotiation Workshop was created by Michael Moffit, Gillien Todd, and Alonzo Emery and is led this year by Alonzo Emery with Ariel Eckblad, Debbie Goldstein, Sheila Heen, Pedro Spivakovsky-Gonzalez, Samuel Straus, and Gillien Todd, along with six Teaching Fellows. Enrolled students will be divided into working groups of 24 students each led by one of the faculty members listed here and a Teaching Fellow. Students will also engage with the entire Workshop faculty during larger group plenary sessions and lectures delivered by faculty members on a rotating basis.