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Teaching lawyers to play nice?
It's not as hard as it sounds, some pros say
February 19, 2007
By Steve Hendershot
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Everybody likes to win — especially lawyers. So how do you teach them the art of compromise? That job falls to Lynn Cohn, 45, director of the Program on Negotiation and Mediation at Northwestern University School of Law. Every Northwestern law student attends a first-year "Lawyer as Problem Solver" seminar, and Ms. Cohn's negotiation classes are among the school's most popular. Crain's asked her how she gets students to stop thinking like lawyers.

It's a radical shift for an advocate to think like a mediator. How do you teach that?First I show a live demonstration. We get a trained mediator and a real dispute and work with the actual parties. Or we have people act it out: We get lawyers to play the lawyers and business people to play the clients. It's unscripted, and the law students think it looks easy. Then we start teaching the communications skills: how the mediator can reframe the discussion by removing inflammatory language and asking questions that help the parties move from their stated positions to their underlying needs.

What's an example of a case you've used?We use a sexual discrimination case where a woman who didn't make partner in a law firm blames a partner on the hiring committee whom she had an affair with. "I want him fired" is her position. Then you talk to her about why she wants that: "Then he couldn't be dismissive and rude to me in meetings and make me look bad in front of the boss." Then you start working with those issues.

What skills tend to be especially challenging for your students?There are two areas where lawyers struggle: learning not to act as a fact finder and not pushing people to take a solution the lawyers think is best, but to let the parties make that decision. In a landlord-tenant dispute, for example, it's appropriate for the mediator to ask questions like, "Where did you drop off the check?" But for the mediator to say things like, "Show me proof. You don't have a case unless you have a canceled check," that's fact-finding. Instead, you say, "This is the information you have. What would you like to do about this?" Because in mediation you may never agree on the truth.

How do you get students to stop acting like lawyers?When they are first learning this, it's like learning a different language. But we do a lot of simulations with a coach in the room, and eventually the wheels start to turn. The key is learning they don't need to know everything; they're there as a guide. When they realize that, they start asking the right questions.

Mediation requires a lot of managing emotions. How do you teach students to uncover the underlying issues that drive a conflict?First, you have to understand that emotions are appropriate. Mediation is a safe place for letting people talk about how frustrated they are. I keep Kleenex in my bag, because people cry. Instead of asking them to step outside and collect themselves, I ask them to keep telling the story while they cry. It can really open up a dispute. Until you unblock emotions, you don't get the chance to solve problems.

Is mediation a viable career option for law students?My guess is that only a handful will pursue mediation as their career. But it's not just about training students to be mediators. Anyone who is going to represent clients in litigation needs to understand the mediation process and how to use it.

copyright 2007 by Crain Communications Inc.My Scalar==1


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