Prerequisite: None

Exam Type: No Exam

*Cross-Registrants: Please note that cross-registrants interested in taking the Workshop must participate in the online application process for the Workshop. The deadline to apply is noon on October 4. For more information please visit the course website: http://hnmcp.law.harvard.edu/application-crossreg/.

Most lawyers, irrespective of their specialty, must negotiate. Litigators resolve far more disputes through negotiation than by trials. Business lawyers – whether putting together a start-up company, arranging venture financing, or preparing an initial public offering – are called upon to negotiate on behalf of their clients. Public interest lawyers, in-house counsel, government attorneys, criminal lawyers, tort lawyers, and commercial litigators all share the need to be effective negotiators.

This Workshop, by combining theory and practice, aims to improve both the participants understanding of negotiation and their effectiveness as negotiators. Drawing on work from a variety of research perspectives, the readings and lectures will provide students with a framework for analyzing negotiations and tools and concepts useful in negotiating more effectively. Participants will spend much of their time in a series of negotiation exercises and simulations, where as negotiators and critical observers, they will become more aware of their own behavior as negotiators and learn to analyze what works, what does not work, and why.

The Workshop is intensive and time-consuming. Participants should have no other work commitments during the winter term. Specifically, participants should be available each day from 9:00am until 5:00pm (although class will often end earlier). There will be simulations and videotaping on some evenings and some weekends. Class attendance is essential and required at all sessions including the evening and weekend sessions. Students may not take the Workshop if they have other courses or any other significant obligation during the winter term that conflict with the required course sessions of the Workshop.

Class attendance is required at all sessions, and please particularly note participants cannot miss any of the first day. The Workshop will begin at 9:00 am sharp on Monday, January 6, 2025. No one will be admitted to or allowed to complete the course who is not present when the course begins. Participants should adjust their travel plans accordingly. Please also note that the Workshop will have class on Saturdays (specific dates TBD). The Workshop will meet for its final class on Friday, January 24, 2025.

The Workshop will be limited to 144 students who will be divided into six working groups of 24 each.

Plenary sessions of the full class will be devoted to demonstrations, discussion problems, lectures, video and film. Much of the time devoted to exercises and simulations will take place in the smaller working groups, each of which will be led by an experienced instructor and a teaching assistant.

In addition to participating in the daily activities, students will be expected to keep a journal and write a short paper. The journal is submitted weekly. This course has no final examination.

During the first week of the Workshop, JD and LLM students will be given an opportunity to elect to take the Workshop on a credit/fail basis. For cross-registrants, the availability of the credit/fail option is dependent on the policies of their home school.

Note – Early Drop Deadline: The Workshop has an early drop deadline: Friday, November 8th. The course may not be dropped after this date without the written permission of the instructor and students who drop after this date will receive a WD on their transcript.