Because the lawyers on both sides understood and acknowledged the emotions enmeshed in the case, they were able to lead their clients to a successful resolution, said Wofford. Those lawyers were very helpful acknowledging the huge hurt that this family was feeling, but also getting the clients to move away from that feeling of I want to kill these people, he said. The lawyers, Wofford added, devised a buyout and rent structure to provide an incentive for one feuding branch of the family to move out. These lawyers were also very creative in developing new options. While Mnookin says negotiations behind the table are every bit as important as those across the table, he also highlights other factors that can complicate and muddle the negotiation process.
Many negotiations involve more than a lawyer and client negotiating with another lawyer and client.
In real estate development projects, for example, Surkin works with government agencies, politicians, neighborhood groups, and corporations. The more people and disparate interests involved, the more difficult it is to forge agreement, he says. I think everybody knows now that it is easy to make a mess and to hold things up, and they are willing to risk various things to do that, which often seems an abuse of the process, but it becomes one of the negotiating forces, Surkin said. Some big deals simply cannot be accomplished because of the many constituencies involved, according to Surkin. Yet he has also seen deals improved by input from different interested parties.