You Are A New Negotiator
Your quiz results show that you are probably new to negotiation and have not been in practice long. The good news is that you are poised to accelerate your career with the right kind of knowledge not taught in law school. The bad news is that you will probably have to do this on your own as the senior lawyers around you do not have the time, temperament, or skill to teach you.
More good news...You are in the right place to grab the skills you need to be a lawyer in demand.
Here's The Problem:
- Law jobs are hard to get and keep
- Trial skills and mundane research skills are not in demand
- The skills sets for a successful law career are not taught in law school
The Solution:
You must develop new skill sets around
- Business development
- Emotional intelligence
- Decision making
- Problem-solving
- Negotiation
- Client relationships
- The economics of law practice
"Although lawyers were historically called upon and trained mainly to identify problems, they are increasingly being called upon to help solve them. To do this, especially in a world where the problems have grown more intricate, lawyers need to understand what their clients do at a much more sophisticated level than can be taught through the existing law school curriculum or in the traditional law school classroom."
Wanda Woods, senior attorney recruitment administrator in Nixon Peabody's New York office.
Emotional Intelligence
The law curriculum philosophy is to train you to be a detached, analytical thinker. While that philosophy has some merit, you must develop three essential skills: emotional self-awareness, emotional self-regulation, and empathy. Without these skills, you cannot communicate, make clear decisions, or listen for what is really important to your clients and colleagues.
Negotiation
You may be starting out on the litigation path. The reality is that you will probably not see the inside of a courtroom for many years, if at all. Less than 2% of all civil cases actually go to trial. The rest are settled through negotiation. Learning advanced negotiation skills and accelerating your experience curve is therefore critical to your career success.
Decision-Making
The decision-making skills you learned in law school were basic. IRAC taught you how to look at a pre-defined set of facts and tease out possible conclusions. You learned how to look at problem from several different perspectives. However, you did not learn how to make decisions...in law school, that was the province of the judge or jury. 21st century lawyers are called upon to make difficult decisions under VUCAR conditions. VUCAR means Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous, and Risky. This requires a completely different set of skills than what you gained in law school.
Problem-Solving
Law school taught you legal analysis; it did not teach you how to solve problems. Clients bring you problems to solve. Your path to success is learning how to solve those problems efficiently and at least-cost. Sometimes, the answer is litigation. Sometimes not. Your toolbox has to contain a lot more than legal analysis if you want clients to return to you time and again for assistance.
The first skill to develop is negotiation. Here are the 10 steps you must master:
- Understand Your Client’s Needs
- Do a Thorough Damages Analysis
- Research Verdicts & Settlements
- Do a Non-Monetary Costs Assessment
- Do a Litigation Budget Analysis
- Do an Expected Value Analysis
- Do Concession Pattern Modeling
- Perform an Intangibles Assessment
- Talk It Over with Your Boss or Client
- Prepare a Written Negotiation Strategy
If none of these steps seem familiar to you, you are not alone. You see, most law professors that teach legal negotiation do not have real-world experience. They teach negotiation from an abstract perspective. However, if you really want to be a kick-ass negotiator, you have to master these 10 steps.
Introducing Negotiation Mastery For the Legal Professional.
An advanced, online legal negotiation course.
Watch this video to learn more.
When you’ve completed Negotiation Mastery for the Legal Pro, you’ll know exactly how to:
- Correct the mistaken belief that settlement negotiation is "just about the money"... and how this myth can cost you a lot.
- Recognize how negotiation differs from ordinary conversation… from arguing in front of a jury… from preparing a legal brief… or any kind other kinds of legal communication that you might encounter (WARNING: you MUST use these success-building tweaks in your approach if you ever hope to win challenging negotiations)
- Structure your negotiations properly, and prevent them from spiraling out of control... before they become an all-out contest of wills to be won at all costs (sacrificing your client's best interests while you battle it out with your unyielding pit-bull opponent)
- And much, much more!
50% Discount Off The Tuition
Because you have read this far, you are obviously interested in leveling up your negotiation skills. We applaud you for that, and you just earned a 50% discount off the full tuition. Use discount code MASTERNEG at the checkout.
WARNING: There are only 25 seats discounted at this price, so grab yours now.
