Advanced Negotiation and Mediation Theory and Practice: A Realistic Integrated Approach

This book presents a strategic planning and integrated systematic approach to negotiation. This approach, as presented by Thomas F. Guernsey and Paul J. Zwier, claims both adversarial and problem-solving strategies have distinct advantages and that lawyers need to combine styles and strategies to achieve the best results for their clients.

The book provides attorneys with an outline to plan and implement effective negotiating techniques. Guernsey and Zwier use up-to-date situations throughout the book to demonstrate how understanding negotiation theory and practice can help lawyers teach their clients to make better strategic use of negotiation. It breaks the counseling process into stages and shows what information the client needs in order to make an informed decision.

The approach Guernsey and Zwier describe also serves as an organizational tool allowing attorneys to simplify a complex process sufficiently to view it as a whole. Advanced Negotiation and Mediation Theory and Practice describes four stages of negotiation:

•  Icebreaking and Setting the Agenda
•  Information Bargaining
•  Exchange, and
•  Crisis and Outcome

The book then focuses on the planning and strategic decision making process involved when negotiating in an international setting. In an increasingly global marketplace, it is vital that lawyer negotiators understand the role that cultural differences play in conducting negotiations. According to Guernsey and Zwier, your ability to implement your client's ends will often depend on the lawyer's ability to anticipate these differences and choose the right approach for the right setting.

The authors examine multiparty negotiations and using a mediator to reach the client's goals. Guernsey and Zwier claim that one of the most important factors in choosing a mediator is the mediator's reputation for being prepared and invested in the process. The book concludes by focusing on the rules of professional responsibility.