Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-19-2020

Abstract

This post responds to Debra Berman’s piece, Is Our Over-Emphasis on Integrative Negotiation Pedagogy Falling Short of Reality? My answer is “yes.” Much – perhaps most – negotiation and mediation of civil cases these days in the US involves a counteroffer process where lawyers focus almost exclusively on allocating money based on a zero-sum assumption. So if our courses focus too much on interests-and-options processes, students get a misimpression about the frequency of what happens in the real world. If we don’t prepare them to operate effectively in practice, they will be in for a rude surprise after they graduate. The problem is not just the over-emphasis but the concept of integrative negotiation itself and our reliance on short simulations. When faculty use longer simulations, especially simulations with students playing clients, students can get a more realistic experience of negotiation.

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