Negotiation Skills (LAWS70468)
Graduate coursework level 7Points: 12.5Not available in 2025
About this subject
Overview
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|---|
Irrespective of their speciality, lawyers must negotiate. Litigators resolve far more disputes through negotiation than by trial. Business lawyers in every domain negotiate on behalf of their clients. Commercial litigators, public interest lawyers, in-house counsel, government lawyers, criminal lawyers, and tort lawyers all share the need to be effective negotiators. However few lawyers have any systematic understanding of why negotiations often fail or have suboptimal results, of the dilemmas inherent in negotiations, or of the characteristics of effective negotiators The same can be said for most non-lawyers who negotiate in business or other contexts.
By combining theory and practice, this subject should enhance students’ understanding of negotiation and their effectiveness as negotiators. The subject should improve their ability to prepare for a negotiation, to engage others in joint problem-solving, and to select appropriate strategies when negotiations don’t go well. Above all, this subject will equip students to continue refining their skills as they gain more experience.
Florrie Darwin has taught negotiation skills to students, as well as a broad range of professionals, around the world.
Principal topics include:
- Introduction to negotiation principles
- Basic framework for preparing, conducting and reviewing a negotiation
- Giving and receiving feedback
- Creating value in negotiations
- The challenge of distribution
- Effective listening
- Managing interpersonal differences
- Negotiating via email
- Effective responses to difficult negotiation tactics
- Dealing with structural complexity in negotiation/multi-party negotiations.
Intended learning outcomes
A student who has successfully completed this subject will:
- Have an advanced and integrated understanding of the complexity of negotiation and the principles relevant to effective negotiation;
- Be able to critically examine, analyse and interpret the behaviour of parties to a negotiation;
- Have significantly enhanced his or her negotiation skills and developed a broader and more sophisticated repertoire of negotiation strategies;
- Have an expanded capacity to deal efficiently with differences and conflicts that arise in the context of negotiation;
- Have significantly improved his or her ability to develop and maintain working relationships with others, particularly in relation to interpersonal, communication and feedback skills;
- Have a set of tools with which to make better deals and agreements;
- Have an advanced capacity to learn effectively from his or her own negotiation experience; and
- Be able demonstrate autonomy, expert judgment and responsibility as a practitioner and learner in relation to negotiation.
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
None
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
| Code | Name | Teaching period | Credit Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| LAWS50131 | Negotiations |
Summer Term (Online)
July (On Campus - Parkville)
Summer Term (Online)
|
12.5 |
| LAWS90062 | Business Negotiations and Deal-Making |
August (Online)
December (Online)
|
12.5 |
| LAWS90080 | Negotiation and Dispute Resolution |
April (On Campus - Parkville)
May (On Campus - Parkville)
|
12.5 |
Recommended background knowledge
Applicants without legal qualifications should note that subjects are offered in the discipline of law at an advanced graduate level. While every effort will be made to meet the needs of students trained in other fields, concessions will not be made in the general level of instruction or assessment. Most subjects assume the knowledge usually acquired in a degree in law (LLB, JD or equivalent). Applicants should note that admission to some subjects in the Melbourne Law Masters will be dependent upon the individual applicant’s educational background and professional experience.
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Assessment
| Description | Timing | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
Class participation | Throughout the teaching period | 40% |
Short classwork-related written assignments
| During the teaching period | 15% |
Analytical journal
| February Class: 10 March March Class: 24 March | 15% |
Preparation memo for a negotiation
| February Class: 21 April March Class: 5 May | 30% |
| Hurdle requirement: 100% attendance | Throughout the teaching period | N/A |
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Quotas apply to this subject
Dates & times
Not available in 2025
What do these dates mean
Visit this webpage to find out about these key dates, including how they impact on:
- Your tuition fees, academic transcript and statements.
- And for Commonwealth Supported students, your:
- Student Learning Entitlement. This applies to all students enrolled in a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP).
Subjects withdrawn after the census date (including up to the ‘last day to withdraw without fail’) count toward the Student Learning Entitlement.
Additional delivery details
Classes will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and attendance at all meetings of the subject is required. Participants will watch videos of short lectures, prepare for their negotiation simulations, and prepare occasional brief written assignments outside of class time.
This subject has a quota of 24 students per offering.
Enrolment is on a 'first in' basis. Waitlists are maintained for subjects that are fully subscribed.
Students should note priority of waitlisted places in subjects will be given as follows:
- To currently enrolled Graduate Diploma and Masters students with a satisfactory record in their degree
- To other students enrolling on a single subject basis, eg Community Access Program (CAP) students, cross-institutional study and cross-faculty study.
Please refer to the Melbourne Law Masters website for further information about the management of subject quotas and waitlists.
Melbourne Law School may reserve places in a subject for incoming international cohorts or where a subject is core to a specialisation with limited alternate options.
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Further information
- Texts
- Related Handbook entries
This subject contributes to the following:
- Links to additional information
- Available through the Community Access Program
About the Community Access Program (CAP)
This subject is available through the Community Access Program (also called Single Subject Studies) which allows you to enrol in single subjects offered by the University of Melbourne, without the commitment required to complete a whole degree.
Please note Single Subject Studies via Community Access Program is not available to student visa holders or applicants
Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.
Additional information for this subject
If subject coordinator approval is required prior to enrolment, or for further information about the pre-requisites for Community Access Program study, please contact us:
- prospective CAP student enquiries;
- existing CAP student enquiries (if you have a current Unimelb login).
- Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
Last updated: 4 March 2025