Curriculum Guide · Courses

Professor White

J.D. Seminar 317 | 3 credit hours

According to the American Bar Association’s Vanishing Trial Project, 98.2% of civil cases filed in federal courts are resolved through negotiated settlement rather than by jury verdict or judicial order. Anecdotal accounts suggest a comparable statistic for the state courts. Similarly, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Bureau of Prisons report that 93.6% of criminal cases are resolved through the plea bargaining process. The empirical data underscores the importance of learning to negotiate within the context of litigation and its principal discovery devices.

This course will begin with a consideration of leading scholarship. Is settlement the most appropriate means of conflict management? Are there instances in which negotiated compromise vitiates the litigants’ true interests? Do broad public policy implications and precedential value trump the expedience of individual resolution?

Set within the framework of Principled Negotiation, seminar participants will engage in videotaped role plays created by the American Bar Association and the Harvard Program on Negotiation. Students will hone their ability to meet the varied interests of stakeholders without acquiescing to positional demands. Participants will receive peer commentary through the use of a 360-degree feedback model.

Drawing upon his experience as a commercial litigator and white-collar criminal defense attorney, the instructor will present case studies to elucidate salient aspects of the process.

Prerequisite: Completion of all first year courses, except Property and Criminal Justice (or the equivalent Democracy and Coercion, or Criminal Procedure), is required.

Part time students, including those transferring to the full time division in Fall 2013, must have completed all first year courses with the exceptions of Criminal Justice and Property.

Students may not receive credit for both this seminar and the Mediation Seminar offered in the Summer 2013 semester; or the Negotiations and Mediation Seminar; or Negotiations and Drafting Seminar.

In Summer 2013, this seminar meets from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the following days: June 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, and 16. Full attendance and participation is required at all six sessions. All enrolled and waitlisted students must attend the first class in order to be enrolled in this seminar.

This course will be enrolled via waitlist.