HARVARD LAW SCHOOL
COURSE MATERIALS
WINTER 2023
PACKET INFO
Instructor:
Robert Mnookin
Course Title:
Negotiation Workshop – Winter 2023
Readings Title:
General Memorandum and Preliminary
Assignment
Notes:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------All articles within are reproduced with permission of the copyright holders as necessary.
PRE-WORKSHOP ASSIGNMENT
•
Required Preliminary Reading Assignment. The primary text for this course is:
Robert H. Mnookin, Scott R. Peppet & Andrew S. Tulumello, Beyond Winning: Negotiating
to Create Value in Deals and Disputes (2000).
Before the Workshop begins on January 3d, it is essential that you read the Introduction &
Chapters 1-6 (pp. 1-172), and Chapter 11 (pp. 274-294). During the first week of the course,
the remainder of Beyond Winning will be assigned as required reading, with the exception
of Chapter 12, so please feel free to get a head start on those chapters as well. Beyond
Winning is available at the Harvard Law School COOP, Amazon, and in many bookstores.
•
Additional Suggested Reading Before the Workshop. Chapters 4, 5, and 9 of:
Roger Fisher, William Ury & Bruce Patton, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without
Giving In (3d ed. 2011).
•
General Memorandum. Read and familiarize yourself with the General Memorandum for
the Workshop, which is included with this packet.
•
Workshop Goals. Think about your negotiating strengths and weaknesses, as well as your
goals for this Workshop. Fill out the Preliminary Workshop Goals sheet and bring it with
you to the first day of class.
•
Oil Pricing Exercise. Prepare for the Oil Pricing exercise, which will be the first exercise
on January 3d. Read the attached instructions carefully. Consider what strategy you will
recommend to the other members of your nation’s Oil Pricing Board.
•
Other Required Text. In addition to Beyond Winning, you should also obtain:
Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton & Sheila Heen, Difficult Conversations: How to
Discuss What Matters Most (2d ed. 2010).
•
Recommended Texts. We strongly recommend that you read portions of the following
books, as noted in the syllabus.
Robert Mnookin, Bargaining with the Devil (2010).
Rebecca Subar, When to Talk and When to Fight (2021).
Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen, Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of
Receiving Feedback Well (2014).
We look forward to seeing you on January 3, 2023 at 9:30am in Milstein East.
The Winter 2023 Teaching Team
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WINTER 2023 NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP: GENERAL MEMORANDUM
GENERAL MEMORANDUM
Purposes and Structure of the Workshop
Lawyers and other professionals, regardless of their specialty, must negotiate. Litigators resolve
far more disputes through negotiation than by trial. Business lawyers — whether putting together
a start-up company, arranging for 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. Even those rare lawyers who do not conduct external negotiations will
negotiate within their own firms for salaries, work assignments, resources, or benefits. Yet not
enough attorneys have studied the negotiation process or have any systematic understanding of
why negotiations often fail, the dilemmas inherent in the process, or the characteristics of effective
negotiators. The same can be said for most non-lawyers who negotiate in business contexts or in
public interest contexts, such as government administration, international relations, business
consulting, etc.
This Workshop, by combining theory and practice, aims to improve both your conceptual
understanding of the negotiation process and your effectiveness as a negotiator. This Workshop
should help you improve your ability to prepare for a negotiation, engage others in joint problemsolving and decision-making, and diagnose what is going wrong and what to do differently when
negotiations break down. Above all, this Workshop will equip you to continue refining your skills
as you gain more experience.
More specifically, our goals are:
A. To increase your awareness about negotiation and negotiating behavior:
• The pervasiveness of negotiation;
• The importance of process (how we negotiate): its effects on the progress of negotiations
and the relationship between negotiators;
• The implicit working assumptions that underlie your behavior;
• Understanding others’ perceptions and reactions.
B. To enhance your understanding of negotiation theory by providing:
• An exposure to social science research related to negotiation;
• Some basic organizing concepts;
• A common vocabulary to enhance preparation, negotiation, and review;
• Analytic tools for diagnosing problems and developing strategy.
C. To enhance your skills:
• To assess the skills you have as a negotiator;
• To broaden your repertoire, learning effective techniques that others use;
• To allow you to practice and experiment with skills in relative safety;
• To work on bridging the gap between theory and practice, between what you say and what
you do.
Copyright © 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WINTER 2023 NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP: GENERAL MEMORANDUM
D. To help you develop some guidelines for your negotiation practice:
• There is no “best” way to negotiate in all circumstances, but you may be able to develop
some rules of thumb to structure your preparation for, conduct of, and review of
negotiations. We will offer our own best advice and encourage you to develop your own
guidelines.
E. To learn from experience, and from each other, so we all keep getting better:
• To practice a cycle of plan, act, and review;
• To apply what you learn during the Workshop to the Workshop itself, so that you can keep
improving after the Workshop ends.
The Workshop will integrate intellectual and experiential learning by combining readings, lectures,
and discussions with frequent exercises, extensive review, live and filmed examples, on-line
experiments, individual and small group reviews, and careful analysis of the negotiation process
and the process of learning from experience. We ask that each of you approach the Workshop with
a mind that is open to learning about yourself and about others. We hope that you will welcome
surprises.
The Workshop typically consists of 144 participants. The teaching team consists of six Faculty
members and seven Teaching Fellows. Some Workshop sessions—“plenary” sessions—will
involve the entire class. Most of these sessions will take place in the Langdell North classroom.
Every participant has also been randomly assigned to a small section, consisting of 24 participants
each. Each section will be taught by one Faculty member and at least one Teaching Fellow. All
sections are working from a common syllabus that has been developed collaboratively by the
teaching team.
Requirements of the Workshop
A. General Schedule
The class begins at 9:30am on Tuesday, January 3rd, in Milstein East and ends after a final class
party on Friday afternoon, January 20th. Class will generally run from 9:30am to 4:00pm with an
hour for lunch, though some days will end early. Because the end time will vary, students are
expected to be available for class until 4:00pm for every class day.
Please note: anyone not present when the course begins at 9:30am on January 3rd will be dropped
from the course and a replacement admitted. It is your responsibility to plan your travel
arrangements accordingly, including planning for pending inclement weather by traveling early if
necessary.
B. Attendance and Participation
Attendance at all meetings of the Workshop is required. Full attendance is essential to achieving
the aims of the Workshop for you and others. Most exercises depend on every participant playing
a certain role. Every day you will be teamed with one or more participants for one or more
exercises. Any absence is likely to cause significant inconvenience and loss of opportunity to
others.
Copyright © 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WINTER 2023 NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP: GENERAL MEMORANDUM
If you must be absent or late due to sickness or a family emergency, it is important that you leave
a message in advance with the Faculty member teaching your section and email the Workshop
Coordinator at HLSNegotiation@law.harvard.edu. Teaching Fellows cannot excuse absences or
tardiness from a class. Only a Faculty member may do so. Absences will be excused only for
illness, family emergency, or to take one three-hour examination. All other absences are
unexcused. One unexcused absence will lower your grade by two steps (e.g., Honors to Low Pass),
and for those taking the course Credit/Fail may result in failure. Two unexcused absences will
result in failure.
C. After-Hours Sessions
To accommodate the logistical requirements of video recording, you may be scheduled for some
after-hours class sessions.
On Thursday, January 12th and Friday, January 13th everyone will be partaking in two intensive
exercises at various times. On one of these two days, you will participate in the Golden Gate
Symphony Orchestra Negotiation, a complex team negotiation that takes between three and six
hours to complete, in addition to time spent preparing with your team members. On the other day,
you will be scheduled to do the Empathy Assertiveness Skills Exercise (EASE), a video-recorded
exercise facilitated by one of your instructors.
We cannot determine the specific times of these exercises until a few days before the exercise.
Consequently, you should not make unalterable plans for these days until you receive your
schedule assigning you to a time slot.
D. Use of Laptop Computers
Use of laptop computers is prohibited in both plenary and working-group sessions. If you have a
medical or health-related reason why you need to take notes using a laptop computer, please speak
with your Faculty member about this need.
E. Workshop Journal
One of the most important requirements of the Workshop is that you keep a journal for each class
session. We expect you to write your journal entries every evening after class. All entries will be
kept confidential. They will be read only by the Faculty member and Teaching Fellow leading
your section.
Why do we require you to keep a journal? Journal writing in the Workshop can be an excellent
means of helping you to achieve a heightened level of awareness of yourself and others, and can
lead to deeper understanding of the negotiation experience. Your journal should contain reflections
about your experiences in the Workshop, your interactions with others, the lessons you learn from
class and negotiation simulations, what you like and do not like about these experiences, what you
might do differently next time, and what unanswered questions you still have. You should view it
as an opportunity to engage in ongoing self-examination and personal growth. As such, journal
writing can provide a critical complement to your participation in the Workshop.
You should treat journal writing as something you do for yourself. It will allow you to follow your
progress and serve as a useful reference for the future. We urge you not to hold back on thoughts
and feelings that you would like to express in your journal. In fact, we urge you to identify ideas
and feelings that you wish to understand better, discuss lessons of which you may want to remind
Copyright © 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WINTER 2023 NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP: GENERAL MEMORANDUM
yourself, ask questions and try to answer them or hold them open for future exploration. In short,
you are encouraged to “dig deep” in terms of your reflections about your experiences and focus on
analytical issues, psychological issues, process issues, and skill-centered issues.
How should you set about writing your journal entries? While there is no single correct way to
keep a journal, your entries should avoid simply reporting the day's events. A brief description is
appropriate to illustrate the experiences that have intrigued, interested, or troubled you, so that the
reader will understand the context and so that you will remember if you are reading it after some
time has passed. However, your main focus should be on the difficulties and successes you
experienced, tactical questions about which you are unsure, feelings you have of satisfaction or
disappointment, and especially reflections and analysis of why you experienced what you
experienced. Track your insights and ideas about negotiation and dispute resolution issues over
time and, whenever possible, tie these ideas and insights to the readings we assign for the course.
On some evenings, we may ask you to focus your journal entry on a particular theme. You should
also feel free to discuss “real world” experiences that you have had prior to the Workshop, during
it, or that you are preparing for in the future. Your daily journal entries should also regularly seek
to bring to bear the analytic framework and ideas found in the required readings.
Daily journal entries should be written each evening following the conclusion of the Workshop.
Timeliness in writing your journal will ensure that the events on which you are reflecting are fresh
in your mind. The more promptly you examine your experience and put your thoughts and feelings
into words, the sooner you will be able to put the lessons of your self-examination into practice
during the Workshop.
LENGTH: The norm for journal length is two to three double-spaced, typewritten pages per day.
On occasion your entry may be only two pages and on another it may be longer than three. We wish
to emphasize here that quality of insight is far more important than length. So if on some days you
feel you've cracked the nut in two pages, that's fine. If on other days you need more than three pages
to do so, that's fine as well.
FORMAT: We ask that all daily journal entries be double-spaced (with a one-inch margin) and
submitted as Word documents. Submit them by email to your Faculty member and, for the first
two sets, to your Teaching Fellow. Keep a copy of all entries submitted.
DUE DATES:
•
Your first set of journal entries – for Tuesday/3rd and Wednesday/4th -- should be
submitted to your Faculty member and TF by:
Thursday, January 5th at midnight.
•
Your second set of journal entries – for Thursday/5th through Thursday/12th -- should be
submitted to your Faculty member and TF by:
Friday, January 13th at midnight.
•
Your third set of journal entries – for Friday/13th through Thursday/19th -should be submitted, to your Faculty member only, by:
Monday, January 23rd at 9am.
Copyright © 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WINTER 2023 NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP: GENERAL MEMORANDUM
FREE DAYS: You are allowed two “free days” (no more than one per week) during the term for
which no journal entry need be written. The Journal Timeline (p. 43) indicates which entries are
eligible for a “free day.” To exercise your “free day” you must so note in writing when you submit
journal entries.
REQUIRED JOURNALS: Please note that the following journal entries are required:
(1) Journal Entries on January 3 and 4: These cover the first two days of class.
(2) Golden Gate Negotiation Journal Entry: This journal will be part of your third journal
submission on Monday, January 23
(3) EASE Journal Entry: On January 12th or 13th, you will participate in a special exercise called
Empathy Assertiveness Skills Exercise (EASE). This is a video-recorded exercise. You will leave
this session with a copy of your video. To complete the EASE exercise, you will be asked to view
the video of your work in EASE and write a three- to five-page journal entry relating to the
experience that captures lessons learned, challenges for the future, and open questions. This journal
will be part of your third journal submission on Monday, January 23, 2023.
(4) Ellsworth Negotiation Journal Entry: This journal will be part of your third journal
submission on Monday, January 23, 2023.
The required entries are also noted in the syllabus.
We will review and comment on your journal submissions during the Workshop. Our purpose in
doing this is not to judge the “rightness” or “wrongness” of your reflections or your competence
as a negotiator. Rather, we will seek to gauge whether your journal entries are digging deeply: that
is, whether they are sufficiently reflective and analytic. We may also raise questions for your future
reflection and offer you “coaching” advice that may help you improve your future journal entries
or cope with a challenge you are having in the Workshop.
The journal-writing process will culminate in your Final Journal, which is explained further below.
F. Other Written Assignments
In addition to the regular journal assignments, there are three other required writing assignments
for the course:
(1) Ellsworth case: The Ellsworth case is a major divorce negotiation that will come at the end
of the Workshop. There will be a preparation memorandum due on Wednesday, January 18.
Descriptions of the outcome and process, plus a draft of certain critical clauses, are due on
Thursday, January 19, 2023 by 4:00pm.
(2) Final Journal: The Final Journal consists of all your original journal entries plus Reflection and
Analysis that you add later. You will be asked to re-read your journal entries, combine them into
one document, and annotate them based on your thoughts after the workshop is over. The purpose
of this exercise is to give you a chance to reflect on your experience with a bit of distance and to
assess your growth and continued challenges as a negotiator. You may add your comments as
footnotes, comments, or track changes in the text, as long as you clearly differentiate the original
entries from the Reflection and Analysis. This assignment is due on Friday, February 24, 2023
by 12:00 noon, emailed to HLSNegotiation@law.harvard.edu. NB: Unlike the daily entries, please
Copyright © 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WINTER 2023 NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP: GENERAL MEMORANDUM
submit this as a single PDF document according to the file naming convention
“Last name, First name_WG[letter]_Final Journal.pdf.”
(3) Final Paper: The Final Paper should be a minimum of 3,000 words and should concern some
aspect of negotiation that interests you. You must submit all proposed topics to your Faculty
member by Monday, January 30 at 9:00am. Like the Final Journal, the Final Paper is due on
Friday, February 24, 2023 by 12:00 noon, emailed to HLSNegotiation@law.harvard.edu. Please
submit it as a single PDF document according to the file naming convention
“Last name, First name_ WG[letter]_Final Paper.pdf.”
G. Extensions on Written Work
Extensions on assignments will rarely be granted, and ONLY when the reason is substantial and
unanticipated. Requests for an extension on any assignment should be made to your Faculty member.
These requests must be made in writing and must include an explanation. If you cannot request the
extension in advance and the assignment is late, please hand your assignment personally to your
Faculty member, along with a written explanation of the reason for failing to make the deadline
and for failing to make the request beforehand. Teaching Fellows cannot accept late assignments
or grant extensions. Only a Faculty member may do so.
Copyright © 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WINTER 2023 NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP: GENERAL MEMORANDUM
Other Aspects of the Learning Process
A. Participant-to-Participant Coaching
You and your fellow participants stand to learn a great deal from one another. To help facilitate
this learning, we ask you to offer feedback to your co-negotiators and yourself after each
negotiation simulation in the Workshop. Class time is sometimes set aside for this purpose; in
other cases, you will want to find time outside of class. We urge you to be open, honest, and frank,
both with other participants and with yourself. The Faculty members will be available to help with
any questions that arise as a result of this feedback. Note that giving feedback helps you practice
many of the key skills required to be an effective negotiator.
B. Video Review
You will have an opportunity during the Workshop to improve your negotiating skills and selfawareness by seeing yourself negotiate on video and getting feedback on two short segments of your
choice. This opportunity should be used to see what you can learn or what questions are raised in
your mind by watching your negotiation style and skills, etc. Your journal entries on this day may
be devoted to these observations, analyzing what you did, did not do, and why, and how you would
want to change your performance and why.
C. Empathy Assertiveness Skills Exercise (EASE)
Each of us can identify strengths and weaknesses with respect to our interpersonal skills relevant
to negotiation. We will conduct an intensive workshop on interpersonal skills to give you the
opportunity to focus on your repertoire and work on those skills you consider to be underdeveloped
in a context that you find important and challenging. You will work with two other members of
your section, and a member of the teaching team.
D. Diversity and difference in the Workshop
The Workshop includes some participants from outside the Law School as well as people from
different countries and cultures. We believe this diversity of experience provides many
opportunities to learn from and coach each other and we urge you to take full advantage of this.
We realize that some differences — whether they arise from gender, gender identity and
expression, race, sexual orientation, religion, or cultural background — may become relevant to
your experience in the Workshop and may be challenging to discuss. We encourage you to raise
with us and with your classmates any issues that are important to you and that may affect your
interactions with others; we will make every effort to be supportive and use inclusive examples
and questions. In addition, you may find that some of the tools and techniques discussed in the
Workshop can be applied to these difficult discussions to make them more productive. Helpful
suggestions about how to raise, discuss, and approach differences in the Workshop are always
welcome.
Copyright © 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WINTER 2023 NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP: GENERAL MEMORANDUM
Grading
You have the choice of participating in the Workshop on a credit/fail basis or for a letter grade.
(Note to cross-registrants: Check with your Registrar on whether you are permitted to take the
credit/fail option). Whether you take the Workshop credit/fail or for a letter grade, the course
requires the same work, both in class and out.
If you elect to take the course credit/fail, you must notify the Law School Registrar of your
choice by submitting a form that we will make available to you on the first day of the
Workshop.
Whether you take the course credit/fail or for a grade, please note (as described in Requirements
of the Workshop, part B, page 15 of this Workbook) that two unexcused absences automatically
will result in a failing grade.
Those taking the course for a grade. Graded evaluation of your performance in the Workshop
will be as follows: 30% on your class preparation and participation, including the quality and extent
of your effort in the various exercises as well as the sophistication of your comments and analysis;
40% on the quality of your journal, including your Final Journal; 30% on the Final Paper.
Those choosing the credit/fail option. You will receive “credit” if you: (1) arrive promptly for
and participate fully in plenary sessions and class meetings, out-of-class meetings with fellow
participants or Faculty members, video-recording, and any other necessary assigned activities
(absences and tardiness will be noted); (2) hand in written work on time; (3) prepare
conscientiously for class and exercises; and (4) do competent and thoughtful work.
Failure to meet any of these requirements may result in a failing grade. Be assured that you will
not fail if you are ten minutes late to one class or if you hand in one written assignment a day late.
However, unexcused absences, patterns of tardiness or absence, repeated poor work or preparation,
or combinations of infractions will result in a failure. In all events, we will be straightforward with
you. If your performance is unsatisfactory, a member of the teaching team will make every effort
to alert you to the problem so you can take timely corrective action. Much to our dismay, almost
every year one or more students who take the Workshop on a credit/fail basis do manage to fail
the course. Consequently, it is important to treat the above guidelines seriously.
A Note on Confidentiality
A. Your Privacy and the Privacy of Others
A feeling of openness and trust among participants will increase our ability to share with and learn
from each other. Because of this, we ask that you exercise higher than normal discretion in
discussing the experiences, conduct, or comments of others. This is particularly important when
you are speaking to those outside the Workshop. We will do the same.
Copyright © 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WINTER 2023 NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP: GENERAL MEMORANDUM
B. The Integrity of Our Negotiation Simulations
In the various negotiation exercises, you will typically be given confidential instructions. It is
critical that you not share these instructions with participants who have different roles in an
exercise. There will often be an opportunity, after the completion of the exercise and the class
review, to share these instructions with those on the other side and to evaluate the experience
together. Please do not share your confidential instructions with other students in the class until
a Faculty member has indicated you may do so.
In addition, we ask that you refrain from discussing the details or structure of the negotiation
exercises with persons outside the Workshop. To invent and refine a case is an arduous task,
sometimes taking several years. If either the structure of a case (its basic challenge) or the
substantive facts of one or both sides should become widely known, the case would be of little
use to participants in future Workshops.
We appreciate your cooperation. We are looking forward to a challenging and enjoyable Winter
Term!
Copyright © 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WINTER 2023 NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP: Preliminary Workshop Goals
Setting Preliminary Workshop Goals
As with most things in life, you will get much more out of the Workshop if you have in mind a set
of goals. With a clear set of goals, you'll be better able to focus your attention and efforts and to
direct your colleagues and Faculty members as we all try to help each other improve. For these
reasons, we will ask you to set goals for yourself.
At one level, it's easy to set goals. Five-year-olds do it all the time. (“I'm going to be an astronaut.”)
It's a bit more difficult, though, to set goals that will serve as useful, operational guides for you
during the Workshop. We suggest a multi-layered approach -- one that has you examining your
negotiating behavior from a variety of perspectives, and at different points in time throughout the
Workshop.
A few tips for thinking about your skills and goals:
Adopt a broad time frame. Think back over the spectrum of interactions you've had over a
moderate period of time, say, somewhere between six months and two years (longer if you're
inclined to deep reflection). Also, think forward to the next few years, and the types of situations
you expect to encounter.
Define “negotiation” broadly. Consider any interactions in which you and at least one other person
were trying to persuade each other. Include both formal occasions (lease negotiations, car
purchasing) and such informal occasions as deciding with a friend where to go for dinner or
persuading your significant other that working in New York after graduation won't be so bad.
Consider a wide range of negotiation skills. There are many ways to describe and categorize
negotiation skills. Consider the following list in the context of your past and expected future
negotiation experiences:
Copyright © 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WINTER 2023 NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP: Preliminary Workshop Goals
COGNITIVE SKILLS
Understanding own feelings and needs
Adopting another’s perspective
Analyzing from an objective standpoint
Understanding another’s intent
Identifying own contributions to a situation
Recognizing ethical issues
Being self-aware about strategic choices
Being open to new information
Distinguishing positions and interests
Distinguishing between the substance and
the process of a negotiation
NEGOTIATION SKILLS
Developing self-help alternatives
Being creative, creating options and value
Setting goals and being purposive
Remaining flexible
Managing time effectively
Disclosing information
Seeking information
Being persistent, firm
Claiming what is on the table
Identifying and using standards
Managing and securing commitment
Developing self-agency—representing your
own feelings and needs effectively
COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Asking “open” questions
Asking clarifying questions
Paraphrasing to check understanding
Speaking for yourself
Expressing ambivalence
Sharing observations and reasoning
Framing statements effectively
Remaining calm in emotional situations
Being honest with yourself or others
Hearing the underlying issues, interests
Expressing feelings
Being congruent in your thoughts and
actions
RELATIONSHIP SKILLS
Negotiating with strangers
Negotiating with friends or family
Expressing appreciation
Giving good coaching advice
Evaluating performance
Receiving feedback
Repairing a friendship
Creating consensus
Building rapport
Consulting others before committing
Expressing empathy
Establishing trust
Distinguishing between the substance of
the negotiation and the relationship
Copyright © 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WINTER 2023 NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP: Preliminary Workshop Goals
PRELIMINARY WORKSHOP GOALS
(To be turned in on the first day of class)
Name:
Phone Number:
E-mail:
1. How might you describe your negotiating strengths? What data leads you to think that you
are good at that?
2. How would you describe the areas in which you feel weak or would like to
improve? Where do you get stuck or have trouble when you negotiate?
3. What would you like to accomplish by taking this course?
Copyright © 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
PROGRAM ON NEGOTIATION AT HARVARD LAW SCHOOL
AN INTER-UNIVERSITY CONSORTIUM TO IMPROVE THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION
OIL PRICING EXERCISE
Alba and Batia are two less developed countries. Each produces oil at a cost of less than $10 per
barrel. Their neighboring country, Capita, is a land-locked, highly developed country that
consumes a large amount of oil. Capita must buy all its oil from Alba or Batia unless it wants to
pay an overland transportation charge of $25 per barrel.
Currently, Alba and Batia each are selling oil to Capita at a price of $20 per barrel. So long as
they both sell at the same price, each country can expect to retain about half of the Capitan oil
market. If one sells at a lower price than the other, it will expand the market share and increase
its profits at the expense of the other. However, neither can put the other permanently out of the
oil business by undercutting the other's price on sales to Capita.
You are a member of the Oil Pricing Board of Alba or Batia. Like other members of the Board,
you were appointed by your country's Minister of Commerce and have eight months remaining
in your current term of office. Each month the Board will be asked to set that month's price for
your country's oil sales to Capita. Your goal as a Board is to maximize your country's profits on
oil sales to Capita. Oil revenues are an important part of your country's Gross National Product.
You are entirely indifferent to the oil profits of the other country.
Market research has demonstrated that the monthly profit for your country on oil sales to Capita
will depend on the price you set and on the price set by the other country that sells oil to Capita.
However, the possibility of overland delivery of oil from other producers makes it impossible to
sell oil to Capita at a price of more than $30 per barrel.
By long-term agreement with Capita, the price that each country charges must be $10, $20, or
$30. Historically, despite occasional short-term demand swings, the Capitan oil market has been
relatively stable, and the normal monthly profit that Alba and Batia each can expect to make on
their oil sales to Capita is indicated in the following chart. The figures inside each box indicate
the profit made during that month. The figure in the lower left of each box represents Alba's
profit in millions of U.S. dollars. The figure in the upper right of each box represents Batia's
profits in millions of U.S. dollars.
This case was written by Roger Fisher, and revised by Bruce Patton and Andrew Clarkson. Copies are available at
reasonable cost from the Clearinghouse, Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School, 501 Pound Hall, Cambridge,
MA 02138. Telephone: 617-495-1684, Fax: 617-495-7818. This case may not be reproduced, revised or translated in
whole or in part by any means without the written permission of the Director of the Clearinghouse. Please help to
preserve the usefulness of this case by keeping it confidential. Copyright © 2020 by the President and Fellows of
Harvard College. All rights reserved.
PROFIT SCHEDULE
KEY:
BATIA’s Price
Batia
Profit
$30
Alba
Profit
$30
$20
ALBA’s Price
$10
11
18
15
11
2
2
$20
2
8
15
$10
18
8
3
2
3
5
15
15
5
Alba and Batia have a history of hostility and recently broke diplomatic relations. Hence, each
Board will have to set its price on the next month's sale of oil to Capita without knowing what
price the other is going to charge. In the current volatile political climate (national elections in
each country are only three months away), any attempt to confer with the other country would
certainly result in your being dismissed from the Oil Pricing Board, and might result in your
prosecution for treason.
PROFIT RECORD
Month
Price Chosen
Alba Batia
Profit for Month
Alba Batia
Cuml. Total Profit
Alba Batia
1
_____ _____
2
_____ _____
3
_____ _____
4
_____ _____
5
_____ _____
6
_____ _____
7
_____ _____
8
_____ _____
Copyright © 2020 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WINTER 2023 NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP: THE SYLLABUS
SYLLABUS
(Draft as of December 5th)
INTRODUCTION
Tuesday, January 3
9:30
INTRODUCTION TO THE THREE TENSIONS (Milstein)
10:00 Oil Pricing Exercise (Milstein East)
12:30 LUNCH
1:30
Introductions (Working Group)
Read & Negotiate UPod
Review UPod
Logistics and Course Requirements
4:00
End of day
Assignment for tomorrow:
o
Read in Short Readings: “Guidelines for Doing Negotiation Simulations.”
o
Watch VALUE CREATION and VALUE DISTRIBUTION videos.
o
Read and prepare to negotiate Sally Soprano.
o
Read Beyond Winning, pp. 173-271 (by week’s end).
o
Read and prepare Value Creation and Distribution exercise (local option).
o
Before writing your journal, please reread the journal instructions in the General Memorandum, as
well as Short Readings: “Some Thoughts on Journal Writing,” “Sample Journal Entries,” “The Circle
Chart,” “How to Observe a Negotiation,” and “The Ladder of Inference.”
o
Write your journal entry (required entry).
Copyright © 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WINTER 2023 NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP: THE SYLLABUS
I. CREATING AND DISTRIBUTING VALUE
Wednesday, January 4
9:30
Discuss CREATING VALUE videos (Working Group)
10:00 Negotiate Sally Soprano (Working Group)
10:45 Review Sally Soprano (Working Group)
12:00 LUNCH
1:00
Discuss DISTRIBUTING VALUE videos (Working Group)
1:15
Value Creating and Distribution exercises (Working Group)
3:30
Video: The Fight (Working Group)
3:45
End of day
Assignment for tomorrow:
o
Watch DRIVE YOUR OWN LEARNING and PREPARATION videos.
o
Read and prepare to negotiate and video-record HackerStar. Read Short Readings: “Video-recording and
Review Instructions.” Take notes using the Three Tensions Preparation Sheet distributed with the case. Bring
the prep sheet to class tomorrow.
o
Read Short Readings: “Giving and Receiving Feedback Well. ”
o
Review Chapter 4 and Chapter 9 of Beyond Winning.
o
Write your journal entry (required entry).
o
The first two days of journals must be submitted by midnight tomorrow, January 5.
Copyright © 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WINTER 2023 NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP: THE SYLLABUS
Thursday, January 5
9:30
PREPARING TO NEGOTIATE (Langdell North)
10:15 Prep-by-side for HackerStar (Working Group)
11:30 Meet with Clients (Cross Working Group)
12:30 LUNCH
1:30
Negotiate & Record HackerStar (Working Group)
2:45
Review HackerStar (Working Group)
3:45
Discuss DRIVE YOUR OWN LEARNING videos (Working Group)
4:00
End of day
Assignment for tomorrow:
o
Watch DEALING WITH DIFFICULT TACTICS video.
o
Watch your HackerStar video and pick one to two short segments you would like to discuss during
tomorrow’s video review. Review Short Readings: “Video-recording and Review Instructions.”
o
Check your HackerStar video review grid; know your review time for tomorrow.
o
Write your journal entry (required entry).
o
Your first set of journals – for Tuesday and Wednesday – must be submitted by midnight tonight. Please
combine them into one Word document and email it to both your Faculty member and TF.
Copyright © 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WINTER 2023 NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP: THE SYLLABUS
Friday, January 6
9:30
Opening (report to Working Group)
This morning you will spend 50 minutes reviewing your HackerStar video in groups of
four.
Video review sessions (see grid for your time slot and room):
9:50 – 10:40
Session 1
10:45 – 11:35
Session 2
11:40 – 12:30
Session 3
12:30 LUNCH
1:30
DEALING WITH DIFFICULT TACTICS (Langdell North)
2:45
Dealing with Difficult Tactics labs (Working Group)
4:00
End of Day
Assignment for Monday, Jan 9:
o
Begin negotiating THE JOB OFFER (make contact by Saturday noon; finish negotiating by 8:00pm Tuesday).
o
Read and prepare to negotiate Bullard Houses.
o
Watch DECISION BIAS, EMPATHY and EFFECTIVE ASSERTION, and DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS 1 videos.
o
Read Difficult Conversations, Introduction and Chapters 1-10 (by Tuesday).
o
Read Bargaining with the Devil, pp. 1-50, 261-268.
o
Write your journal entry.
Copyright © 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WINTER 2023 NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP: THE SYLLABUS
Monday, January 9
9:30
Discuss DECISION BIAS video (Working Group)
9:45
Negotiate Bullard Houses (Working Group)
10:30 Review Bullard Houses (Working Group)
II. EMPATHY AND ASSERTIVENESS
11:45 EMPATHY and EFFECTIVE ASSERTIVENESS (Langdell North)
12:30 LUNCH
1:30
MODE exercise (Working Group)
2:45
Active Listening exercises (Working Group)
4:00
End of day
Assignment for tomorrow:
o
Continue negotiating The Job Offer. You must conclude by 8:00pm Tuesday.
o
Watch NEGOTIATION AND IDENTITY 1 & 2 videos.
o
Read in Short Readings: “Empathy Assertiveness Skills Exercise (EASE).” Start thinking about a skill you want
to work on. Half of you will conduct this exercise on Thursday and the other half on Friday.
o
Read and prepare to negotiate Sibbing Riflery. Take notes using the Difficult Conversations Preparation
Sheet distributed with the case. Bring the prep sheet to class.
o
Write your journal entry.
Copyright © 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WINTER 2023 NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP: THE SYLLABUS
Tuesday, January 10
9:30
Negotiate Sibbing Riflery (Working Group)
11:45 Review Sibbing Riflery (Working Group)
1:00
Lunch
2:00
Negotiation, Identity, and Difference (Working Group)
4:00
End of day
Assignment for tomorrow:
o
Finish negotiating The Job Offer by 8:00pm tonight. Send your results, if any, and your full email exchange by
email to the Instructor and TF noted on your grid for review. Bring to class 2-3 samples of email
exchanges that influenced your decision-making.
o
Watch DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS 2 video (Feelings and Identity).
o
Read and prepare to negotiate Author! Author!
o
Choose your scenario for EASE. Form a triad with two other participants in your Working Group. Follow any
further instructions given by your instructor and TF.
o
Check the EASE/Golden Gate grid to find out which day you are doing each of these exercises.
o
Write your journal entry.
Copyright © 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WINTER 2023 NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP: THE SYLLABUS
Wednesday, January 11
Note: Students start the day in “Job Offer” room
9:30
Review The Job Offer (Cross Working Group)
10:45 Negotiate Author! Author! (Cross Working Group)
12:00 LUNCH
1:00
Review Author! Author! (Cross Working Group)
2:15
Local Option time & Logistics for Week 3 (Working Group)
3:45
End of day
Assignment for tomorrow:
o
If you are negotiating Golden Gate tomorrow, read and prepare with your partners tonight. This case will be
negotiated 3-on-3 (three people on each side).
o
If you are doing EASE tomorrow, complete your preparation with your triad.
o
Write your journal entry.
Copyright © 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WINTER 2023 NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP: THE SYLLABUS
Thursday, January 12
Half of you will negotiate the Golden Gate Symphony Orchestra case today and half will
do EASE.
For those negotiating Golden Gate, meet with your counterparts at least briefly at 9:00am to
create a negotiation schedule for the day. By agreement, you can defer substantive
negotiation to a later time to allow for additional prep.
Review will take place from 3:00pm to 4:00pm in Langdell North.
Assignment for tomorrow:
o
If you are negotiating Golden Gate tomorrow, continue preparing with your partners tonight.
o
If you are doing EASE tomorrow, complete your preparation.
o
Write your journal entry (required entry). If you did EASE today, watch the recording first.
o
Your second set of journal entries is due by midnight tomorrow, January 13. It should include all entries
written between Thursday, January 5 and today, January 12. Please combine these into one Word
document. Choose two journal entries on which you would like to receive comments and add the words
“Please comment” at the top of those two entries. Email the entire document to both your Faculty member
and TF.
Copyright © 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WINTER 2023 NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP: THE SYLLABUS
Friday, January 13
Half of you will negotiate the Golden Gate Symphony Orchestra case today and half will
do EASE.
For those negotiating Golden Gate, meet with your counterparts at least briefly at 9:00am to
create a negotiation schedule for the day. By agreement, you can defer substantive
negotiation to a later time to allow for additional prep.
Review will take place from 3:00pm to 4:00pm in Langdell North.
Assignment for Tuesday, Jan. 17:
o
Read and prepare to negotiate DONS for Tuesday.
o
Review the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct: Model Rules 1.2 (“Scope of
Representation”), 1.6 (“Confidentiality of Information”), 4.1 (“Truthfulness in Statements to Others”), and 8.4
(“Misconduct”).
o
Read and begin to prepare the Ellsworth case.
o
Sometime this weekend, meet with your Ellsworth partner and start drafting your Ellsworth Preparation
Memo for submission to your senior partner on Wednesday (see “The Ellsworth v. Ellsworth Case Simulation:
“General Instructions” in this Workbook). Prepare to meet and interview your client.
o
Write your journal entry (required entry). If you did EASE today, watch the recording first.
o
Your second set of journal entries is due by midnight tonight. It should include all entries written between
Thursday, January 5 and Thursday, January 12. Please combine these into one Word document.
Choose two journal entries on which you would like to receive comments and add the words “Please
comment” at the top of those two entries. Email the entire document to both your Faculty member and TF.
Copyright © 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WINTER 2023 NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP: THE SYLLABUS
Monday, January 16
Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday
III. PRINCIPAL-AGENT ISSUES
Tuesday, January 17
9:30
INTERVIEWING AND COUNSELING A CLIENT (Langdell North)
10:30 Client interviews for DONS Negotiation (Working Group)
11:15 Negotiate DONS (Working Group)
12:15 LUNCH
1:15
DONS PLENARY REVIEW (Langdell North)
2:30
Review DONS (Working Group)
3:30
End of day
Assignment for tomorrow:
o
Review Beyond Winning, pp. 173–271.
o
Meet with your Ellsworth partner and continue to work on your Ellsworth Preparation Memo for submission
to your senior partner tomorrow (see “The Ellsworth v. Ellsworth Case Simulation: “General Instructions” in
this Workbook). Continue preparing for your client counseling session and for your negotiation with the other
side. Check the grid for your time slots.
o
Write your journal entry.
Copyright © 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WINTER 2023 NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP: THE SYLLABUS
Wednesday, January 18
9:30
Ellsworth Senior Partner Meetings and Client Interviews (TBA)
This morning you will meet with your senior partner for 20 minutes and with your client for
an hour and 15 minutes, according to your assigned time slots. The remainder of your time
up to 2:15pm can be used for lunch, preparation, and coordination with your partner.
2:15
Begin Ellsworth negotiation
4:00
End of day
Assignment for tomorrow:
o
Final preparations for Ellsworth.
o
Write your journal entry.
Copyright © 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WINTER 2023 NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP: THE SYLLABUS
Thursday, January 19
9:30
Negotiate Ellsworth
4:00
End of day
All Ellsworth agreements must be submitted via online reporting form by 4:00pm. If you do not
reach agreement by 4:00pm, report “No deal” on your reporting form.
Assignment for tomorrow:
o
If you did not reach agreement, prepare for a brief appearance at the Ellsworth Courthouse, located in the
Conference Room on the 5th floor of Pound, at 8:30am tomorrow.
o
Read Bargaining With the Devil, pp. 211-231 (Chapter 9: “A Devilish Divorce.”)
o
Write your journal entry (required entry).
Copyright © 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WINTER 2023 NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP: THE SYLLABUS
Friday, January 20
8:30
ELLSWORTH COURTHOUSE (5th Floor Pound) (if you don’t reach agreement)
9:30
Ellsworth review
You and your co-counsel will review with your client for 30 minutes. In addition, you,
your co-counsel, and your negotiation counterparts will meet as a foursome to review
the negotiation with a Faculty member for 30 minutes.
11:15 ELLSWORTH: AN OVERVIEW OF THE RESULTS (Langdell North)
12:00 LUNCH
1:00
Bringing It All Together (Working Group)
3:45
FINAL PLENARY (Langdell North)
4:30
CLASS PARTY
Assignment for Monday:
o
Your third set of journal entries is due on Monday, January 23 by 9:00am. It should include all entries
written between Friday, January 13 and Thursday, January 19. Please combine these into one Word
document and email it to your Faculty member only, not to your TF. You will not receive feedback from
your Faculty member on this set of entries, but your Faculty member will read it thoroughly and will be
available to answer any questions you may have.
o
No journal required for today.
Paper topic:
Your proposed paper topic is due to your Faculty member on Monday, January 30 by 9:00am. Before you submit
a topic, you must do enough research to ensure that:
o the topic is well-focused for a 10-12-page paper. If your topic is too vague or too broad, it won’t work.
o there is enough material available in the public domain, online or otherwise, to support the paper.
Final Assignment:
Your Final Annotated Journal and Final Paper are due on Friday, February 24, by 12:00 noon. Please submit the
Final Journal as a single PDF. Email both documents to HLSNegotiation@law.harvard.edu according to these file
naming conventions:
“Last name, First name_ WG[letter]_Final Journal.pdf” or
“Last name, First name_ WG[letter]_Final Paper.pdf.”
Copyright © 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.