Shark Week Recap
Posted By Graham Hoerauf, Sep 24, 2013
The King Hall Negotiations Team hosted our annual “Shark Week” from September 9th through September 13th, widely considered to be a huge success this year. The week is intended to provide informational and educational opportunities for students at UC Davis School of Law to learn more about the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution and application of negotiation tactics in a wide variety of professions. With the ever increasing congestion of the court systems, ADR and negotiation skills are essential skill for any attorney to be familiar with, regardless of their area of practice. This year we were extremely fortunate to have very talented speakers who are widely recognized as among the top of their fields, and had record turnout for these fantastic events.
On Monday, faculty member Professor Donna Shestowsky hosted a lunch event during which she provide in-depth insight regarding how to prepare for negotiations. Whether negotiating for the purchase price for a cell phone or navigating a large scale corporate transaction, preparation is key to any successful negotiation. Audience participation was great as Professor Shestowsky led a mock negotiation for the crowd.
On Tuesday Professor Michael Colatrella from McGeorge School of Law lead a great discussion entitled Embracing Your Role as Conflict Manager. Professor Colatrella stressed the importance of lawyers learning to embrace their role as conflict managers in order to resist the over-reliance on adjudicatory processes in resolving dispute. The illuminating presentation definitely provided a fresh perspective and highlighted seldom analyzed considerations of the role of attorneys in the dispute resolution arena.
Mediator, Facilitator and Negotiation Coach Jessica Notini led a highly interactive lecture on Understanding Leverage and the Psychology of Influence on Wednesday, September 11. Understanding the party on the other side of the negotiating table is just as important as understanding your clients’ needs in order to conduct a successful negotiation. By eliciting fantastic levels of audience participation, Jessica Notini highlighted the fact that sometimes how you ask for something can be equally or more important than what (or when) something is asked for.
The Thursday event was led by Captain Rex Osborn, the Northern California Director of the California Association of Hostage Negotiators. Speaking to a packed house, Captain Osborn employed his engaging and entertaining speaking style to highlight the fact that hostage negotiators are problem solvers like lawyer but with life and limb hanging in the balance. Bringing 28 years of experience in the field, he spoke on his experiences as a hostage negotiator and some of the changes he has seen in the procedure and handling of hostage situations over the past few years. The talk truly was one of the highlights of week.
Shark Week concluded with an Introduction to Negotiations Competition led by members of the King Hall Negotiations Team. Largely targeted to 1L students interested in competing in the 2nd Annual 1L Negotiations Competition, KHNT gave a live demo of an actual negotiation round and provide tips and insight on being a successful negotiation team in a competition setting.
Many thanks to all the fantastic speakers and members of the faculty and student body that were able to attend the events. A lot of effort went in to planning and executing the lunch time meetings, and we hope it was a rewarding and educational experience for everyone involved.