In the aftermath of a large-scale catastrophe or disaster in the United States—such as 9/11, the opioid epidemic, and mass shootings—the courts can be ill-equipped to take on the complex task of negotiating a compensation offer for large numbers of claimants. Instead, “special masters” are often assigned to create and administer victim-compensation programs, a job that typically requires thousands of negotiations on emotionally wrenching issues. Program on Negotiation chair Guhan Subramanian spoke with with special masters who have overseen many mass-disaster programs: Kenneth Feinberg (9/11 ..read more

If you tend to leave contract drafting and review to your lawyers, you might think twice about doing so in the future. While learning how to write a contract may not sound like fun, leaving the job to someone else could work against you. For proof, just look at this example of a legal dispute that blew up over a comma—or, rather, the lack thereof. Claim your FREE copy: Dispute Resolution Discover how to improve your dispute resolution skills in this free report, Dispute Resolution: Working Together Toward Conflict Resolution on the Job and at Home, from Harvard Law School. In 2014, the Ne ..read more

Dispute resolution can sometimes take years and lead to costly litigation if opposing sides can’t reach a settlement. The dispute process can become frustrating when you try to be fair and reach efficient settlements, but your counterpart fails to reciprocate. What can you do in a situation where the other party is unreasonable? Rest assured, you aren’t alone. Most people negotiating in the shadow of the law have this dilemma. Reasonableness on both sides reduces litigation costs and uncertainty, and resolves disputes more efficiently. But when one side is reasonable and the other is not ..read more

The television industry has undergone seismic changes in recent decades, first with cable TV joining broadcast TV, followed by the rise of digital streaming companies such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. In today’s “peak TV” era, companies are producing hundreds of shows to fill viewers’ binge-watching appetites. In some ways, it’s a golden age for TV writers, as more opportunities to create and work on scripted series are available than ever before. But because of changes the writers’ talent agencies have made to their business model, writers’ wages are stagnating at a time when they sho ..read more

Leonardo da Vinci’s painting Salvator Mundi has long been shrouded in mystery. The 16th-century portrait of Jesus Christ periodically disappeared over hundreds of years before being mistakenly sold at auction as another artist’s work for just £45 in 1958. In 2005, art dealers purchased the damaged painting for approximately $10,000 in an estate auction. After it was painstakingly restored, an anonymous buyer bought it at auction in 2017 for a record-breaking sum, more than $450 million. But is the painting truly a Leonardo? Who owns it? And why wasn’t it in the blockbuster Leonardo retrospect ..read more

When disputes arise, negotiators face the difficult question of whether to try to reach a settlement on their own or hand decision-making power over to a judge, a jury, or an arbitrator. Parties often benefit from settling their disputes before going to court, write Robert H. Mnookin, Scott R. Peppet, and Andrew S. Tulumello in their book Beyond Winning: Negotiating to Create Value in Deals and Disputes (Harvard University Press, 2000). Yet disputants and their lawyers typically overlook the potential costs of a legal battle. We review why that is so and how you can increase your odds of sett ..read more

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, mediators and other negotiation practitioners often insisted on meeting in person, convinced that online methods of dispute resolution lack “the human touch”—the warmth, energy, body language, and other subtle factors that build essential ingredients in conflict resolution, including trust, empathy, and rapport. But when lockdowns and social-distancing restrictions took hold in the spring of 2020, “resistance to online practice of negotiation and mediation was swept away in a heartbeat, and the entire field shifted online,” writes Creighton University professor N ..read more

Alternative dispute resolution examples often highlight relatively cheap, quick, and efficient alternatives to litigation, such as mediation. Within the criminal justice system, cases increasingly are being resolved through a form of alternative dispute resolution called restorative justice. A recent news story has prompted discussion of how restorative justice is defined—and how it can be implemented fairly. An Arresting Video In May 25, 2020, a video went viral of a white woman, Amy Cooper, arguing with a Black man, Christian Cooper (no relation), in New York City’s Central Park and then ca ..read more

Many times in our lives, we will encounter an ultimatum in negotiation. Sometimes the ultimatum is real, and often times it is not. However, there are ways to approach an ultimatum in negotiation to get past this sometimes burdensome hurdle. Professor Deepak Malhotra answers this week’s Dear Negotiation Coach column: QUESTION A counterpart recently made a “take it or leave it” offer during our negotiation. I wasn’t ready to accept the offer, but I didn’t want to walk away, either. Any advice on how to respond? ANSWER In my recent book, Negotiating the Impossible, I look at the many ways in wh ..read more

Have you ever heard of the door in the face technique? In a classic and rather amusing study from 1975, Arizona State University professor Robert Cialdini and his colleagues sent research assistants around campus posing as employees of the county’s juvenile detention center. They stopped people randomly on walkways and asked them if they would consider chaperoning a group of juvenile delinquents on a day trip to the zoo for no pay. What do you think was the most common answer? That’s right: 83% of those asked passed on this unusual request. Next, the research assistants approached different p ..read more