Day 7 was an exercise in the discovery of interests.

It may amaze some that it took six days to get to what the parties were really after, but let me assure you that is not unusual in complex disputes.

Begin wakes up to the fact that the Egyptians came with a proposal, the US has now prepared one, and the Israelis have nothing to offer except intransigence.

Cautions, Errors and Notes on Lunch in Baltimore Case Study

Medcorp approaches sixty-five year old Doctor about buying his practice for several million dollars (price TBD)

Background:

The issues all resulted from Israel’s stunning victory in the Six-Day War of 1967.

8:30 am – Carter meets with the US team.

Lesson 1: When things are not working, stall.

Carter seemed unsure of what to do in light of Sadat’s aggressive opening move.

After a disappointing meeting with Begin at the end of Day One, Carter started Day Two with a 10:00 a.m. meeting with Sadat.

Consider the planning: the menus, the accommodations of the teams with their “secretarial staff, physicians, personal chefs, communication specialists, and ‘bullshit artists'”, more than 100 people, all told.

One of my negotiation study groups is covering “13 Days in September” by Lawrence Wright.

YOUR TRIAL DATE IS LOOMING, ABOUT FORTY DAYS FROM NOW.

You owe opposing counsel some supplemental responses to discovery, which you know are due thirty days before trial.

One school of thought among expert negotiators is that emotion is the enemy in any negotiation.

Take a Mason Jar.

Create a somewhat cheesy label, nothing word-processed, more like child-with-crayola, that says, “Tip Jar.”

John Gottman is the predominant guru on the subject of why marriages survive or fail (see, e.g., The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work).

I call it “the Texas Two-Step.”

You go to mediation, reach an agreement to settle a divorce, and set it in concrete with a Mediated Settlement Agreement (MSA).

Failing to deal with others sensitively as human beings prone to human reactions can be disastrous for a negotiation.

Fisher and Ury begin their seminal work, Getting to Yes, by stating the problem: positional bargaining.

We all like rules of thumb.

They conserve mental energy.

Negotiation, like wisdom, seems especially prone to rules of thumb, shortcuts to success.

Here we are. But, why?

Both parties have made fundamental negotiation errors. Allow me to pontificate about a few (I waited until I couldn’t stand it anymore) and offer some purely subjective comments.

Why do so many lawyers believe that negotiation is innate or just a matter of learning a few well-worn aphorisms like “Never make the first offer”; or, even worse, they simply fake it?