February 2009
Communique - February 2009
Negotiation Tip: Ease into the Tough Topics
Find comfortable ways to raise challenging issues.
By Grande Lum, originally published in the Huffington Post
No matter how well you ease into a tough topic the person may still react strongly. Avoid using that reaction to blame the other party or to not raise the issue at all. You can likely remember a time where you avoided a conversation only for it to rear its head at the most inopportune time. Easing into tough topics is about making progress rather than perfection.
I remember telling a business partner and a close friend how I had concerns about working with him. I asked permission e.g. “Can we talk about this now?” I first shared how much I valued the relationship as sincerely as I could. I also revealed my own challenges in working with friends and then directed the conversation to his actions and their impact upon me. While not easy, I look back now and recognize that the open discussion helped preserve our friendship.
No ideal time often exists for difficult topics, but there are better times. Consider setting a future time, to allow the other person to prepare for such a discussion. Send a signal that the topic is manageable to reduce anxiety.
Initially share your contribution to the situation. Going into your own mistakes is rarely easy but uniquely powerful. Share the deeper reasons for raising the topic to frame the conversation positively.
People only see what they are prepared to see. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Northern California ADR Faculty Conference
On Saturday, February 28th, faculty who teach negotiations, mediation and other forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution in Northern California will convene at Hastings to learn more about the latest in the field of ADR, and ways to constructively present those topics to their classes. Included in the day's agenda will be Russel Korobkin discussing his latest article, "Against Integrative Bargaining", and presentations from Marta Vides Saade on Restorative Justice, and Jan Martinez and Stephanie Smith on ADR Systems Design. For more information, and to register for the conference, click here.
ADR Externship Program Grows
In spring 2008 CNDR launched its externship program, placing two advanced ADR students at ADR related worksites. Just a year later, CNDR has five students at five different placements, with plans for growth in the near future. The present placements vary from advanced mediation opportunities to court systems design projects to labor negotiations. The field placements are coupled with advanced readings in ADR theory and research, deepening the experiential learning potential.
For the fieldwork component, students work 16 hours a week at their placement. This semester, students are doing some exciting work. Molly Kirk is doing system development for limited civil cases in conjunction with the SF Superior Court. Her work involves working with community stakeholders to make sure the system addresses their needs and concerns. Also at the Superior Court, student James Hurst is working with a group of judges and practitioners to evaluate data (3,000 surveys) and generate ideas for ways of dealing with asbestos cases within the ADR spectrum. At Marin Mediation Services, student Colin Alexander does client intake and works in a wide variety of mediations, including victim offender, business partnerships, employment and multi-party issues.
According to Erica Feldman-Boshes who is working at the California Mediation and Conciliation Service where she assists with public employee labor disputes, “It has been eye-opening to see people who are so committed to helping people resolve their disputes.” For Christine Edwards, working in SF Small Claims Court, “It is so gratifying to see people progress from not being able to look at each other to making an agreement to giving each other a ride home!”
Looking to the future, we hope to generate more and more varied opportunities for students to pursue their interest in ADR. Our expectation is that these experiences will better prepare students for their legal careers which increasingly require fluency in ADR theory and practice.
CNDR Helps CPUC Reach Resolution
Late last month CNDR presented the third in a series of trainings to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Daniel Bowling and Dana Curtis engaged Administrative Law Judges, managers and other employees for five days in the art of facilitation, helping them to create safe, problem solving environments for the various constituencies that they work with.
The facilitation training is the final training in a two-year contract with the CPUC. In August of 2005, the Commission committed itself to a new and invigorated program to encourage the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in formal proceedings. In approving Resolution ALJ-185, it endorsed the policies behind ADR, and paved the way to take additional steps to encourage its more frequent and systematic use in formal proceedings (and selectively to avoid the filing of formal proceedings). In a comment associated with the Resolution, the Commission said, "We believe ADR offers great potential to the Commission, and all who practice before the Commission, for improving decision-making processes in formal proceedings and certain other disputes."
CNDR contracted with the CPUC in June of 2007 to provide “customized, quality instruction to meet the Commission’s goals for training in the field of ADR which specifically include Negotiation, Mediation and Facilitation course topics.” CNDR has also provided supplemental seminars and presentations at the CPUC on ADR related topics.
Providing these trainings and seminars to the CPUC has truly been a team effort, with full time professors, adjuncts, staff and students pitching in to present different modules in Negotiation, Mediation and Facilitation and to coach the CPUC trainees in their simulations as they try out their newly acquired skills.
CNDR is currently working with the CPUC to provide more trainings in the future, as this relationship has proved to be a “win-win” for both parties.
Student Spotlight: Ellen Alleroedder
When asked what she liked most about Hastings’ ADR classes, LLM student Ellen Alleroedder responded enthusiastically, “The role plays!” Her experience in Germany with role plays had not been particularly positive, and she was dreading her U.S. experience with the added challenge of English as her second language. Happily, she has found the role plays at Hastings to be more serious – in a way that everyone really gets into their role. As a result, she has learned a tremendous amount, and actually enjoys the simulations at Hastings. This is just one of the contrasts Ellen describes between her Germany and U.S. experience.
Having graduated from the University of Cologne, with what is the equivalent to passing the bar, Ellen worked as the Managing Director of the Center for Transnational Law, practicing commercial law, as well as arbitration and mediation. Wanting to learn more about alternative dispute resolution, she began investigating U.S. schools that she could continue her studies at. “In Germany it’s just common sense to go to the U.S. to study ADR.” She wanted to be on the West Coast, and given the choice between Pepperdine and Hastings, she chose Hastings. “The variety of ADR classes available at Hastings and its high standard of instruction made Hastings my first choice.”
Ellen has made the most of her time at Hastings. She has taken Negotiations & Settlement, International Commercial Arbitration, International Negotiations, and Mediation. In addition she works as a research assistant for CNDR’s Director Grande Lum, evaluating strengths and weaknesses in the field of negotiation, and how education or training can improve a negotiator’s outcome. She finds the work both challenging and interesting.
Ellen is very appreciative of how open and encouraging her professors at Hastings have been. Unlike her experience in Germany, the atmosphere is friendly and non-hierarchical. Ellen runs in her free time, and loves running through Golden Gate Park, ending up at the ocean. “Arriving at the ocean, I can clear my head and get a clean perspective. I really love it.”
Ellen plans to return to Germany once she completes her degree at Hastings. She hopes to continue practicing commercial law and to teach Negotiations at the University of Cologne.