June 2005

News Feature: Connecticut Legal Services Brings "Effective Meetings" Home

The February Consortium training “Leadership and Justice II: Effective Meetings and Facilitation” inspired Connecticut Legal Services managing attorneys Steve Eppler-Epstein and Nadine Nevins to share what they learned with their fellow managing attorneys. Working with Training Programs Coordinator Randi Smith, they ran a mini-training on meeting facilitation on May 11th. Nadine and Steve presented the main topics covered at the training, including stakeholder analysis, levels of involvement, types of decision-making, agenda planning, group formation, and Edward de Bono’s “Six Hat Thinking” methodology. After a scrumptious lunch of Tibetan cuisine, Randi Smith facilitated an afternoon of consensus-building facilitation practice, which used a role-play that was based on a real situation — what to do with potential additional funds.

Participants in this session reacted very positively, and found the subject matter highly relevant: people spend a lot of time in meetings, and it was very clear how these tools would help increase meeting efficiency and effectiveness — while at the same time strengthening relationships and helping people work together better.

The on-site follow-up training was a first for the Consortium, and is part of a larger strategy to help programs better integrate learning and practice.

Online Negotiations Pilot Launched

Legal Aid University’s first Negotiations Skills Training Online ran from Monday, May 16th to Friday, May 27th. The pilot course aimed to improve participants’ understanding of interest-based negotiation and their effectiveness as negotiators, with particular attention to the legal aid context. Participant Alicia Aiken, a Supervisory Attorney at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, commented: “I think it is useful, especially for new attorneys, to emphasize the way that interests-based thinking is applicable to more than just negotiations, and to emphasize that interests-based negotiations does not mean you HAVE to settle; it just means that when you stop negotiating, you know why it is better for your client to do so.”

Participants applied a negotiations framework and tools for negotiating more effectively to exercises and their legal practices. They also observed and critiqued practice negotiations, and received tailored feedback from experienced facilitators. "It's affected all that I've done since starting Getting to Yes,” said Aiken. “When a supervisee comes to me with a case, I ask about the parties' interests. I am driving my husband and other staff attorneys insane!"

Profile: Toby Rothschild

Legal Aid University was delighted to have Toby Rothschild from the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles as a lead facilitator of Negotiation Skills Training Online. Toby is the General Counsel of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, after serving as the executive director of the Legal Aid Foundation of Long Beach for 28 years. He has been the president of the Long Beach Bar Association and was the founding chair of MIE and of the Legal Aid Association of California, and still serves on the boards of both organizations. He also serves on the board of NLADA and is Vice Chair of the California Commission on Access to Justice. Toby served as a Teaching Fellow for the Harvard Law School Program of Instruction for Lawyers 1992 Negotiation Workshop. He has taught dispute resolution skills to legal services lawyers, administrators and staff, and to pro bono coordinators, and has used the skills as a mediator and consultant. He has also taught management skills to new program directors, middle managers, and other legal services managers.

Practice Tip from Negotiation Skills Training Online

Before going into a negotiation, it's important to know your BATNA -- your Best Alternative To Negotiated Agreement. Knowing your BATNA ensures that you never get a worse deal than you would have if you didn't negotiate at all.

There are ways to improve your BATNA -- for example, by actually being ready to go to court. As advocates for people who may have unattractive BATNAs, it's also important that we think creatively and expansively about potential alternatives, including non-legal ones. Develop political or social levers if negotiations fail, and you'll strengthen your hand in the negotiation itself.

There are many ways to wield power in a negotiation. One of the most basic is the power not to negotiate at all.