But you will never know unless you try. Settlement should be attempted in every case, no matter how remote the prospect might seem. Yet, it is amazing how often the gap narrows dramatically during a negotiations session. Sometimes it is because the gap was there at the beginning only for positioning. Sometimes a party recognizes the weakness of his or her position.
Clients sometimes are reluctant to schedule a negotiations session.
It might be helpful to remind them that several years ago, Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat shook hands on the White House lawn after spending years swearing eternal hostility. Much of what is happening in a divorce, of course, is personal between the parties. It should never be personal between the lawyers, no matter how sensitive or important the issues. Usually, this is not a problem. The vast majority of the lawyers I deal with are pleasant, and I consider many to be friends.