At Practice 360°, Solo & Small Firm Lawyers Explore New Tools of the Trade, Strategies
October 10, 2023
When it comes to negotiation, most people think of compromise. But negotiation is a much more complex and sophisticated process, especially in the context of practicing law.
“Everything revolves around interests,” said Max Bevilacqua, 波士顿咨询公司Mindful negotiation的创始人兼首席谈判官. “The metaphor we use is an iceberg. Positions are visible — things they will ask for. Interests are much more important, a substantive mass of things: our fears, values, motivations, drivers, needs, and concerns.”
“与其关注人们的要求，不如了解他们的动机. (你)想要得到这样的理解，”贝维拉夸补充说，他是D.C. Bar Practice Management Advisory Service将于10月4日举行第九届年度实践360°:澳门赌场官网和澳门赌场官网事务所的一天. The event, attended by more than 130 people, 探讨了从谈判策略到市场营销到负责任地使用人工智能的主题.
Bevilacqua的谈判模型是基于1981年哈佛法学教授Roger Fisher和调解专家William Ury的经典著作, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. Born out of the Harvard Negotiation Project, the book pioneered methods of principled negotiation by separating people from the problem; focusing on interests, not positions; inventing options for mutual gain; and using objective criteria.
Lawyers can assess their own negotiating style, whether it’s too competitive, controlling, or accommodating, and relearn new approaches to create ideal negotiation dynamics, Bevilacqua said. It requires self-reflection, or individual coaching, and sometimes may mean sending someone else to the negotiation table.
“这个想法是，让澳门赌场官网在法官面前变得强大的东西, or the critical mindset, sometimes come at the expense of doing other things — switching modes, getting out of competitive mode, maybe moving to the collaborative,” said Bevilacqua, 他曾是哈佛大学谈判项目的讲师，现在在塔夫茨大学弗莱彻法律与外交学院任教.
Strategic Vision & Marketing
In addition to tips on honing their negotiation skills, 与会者还听取了专家关于媒体策略的建议，以获得他们的名字, and that of their firm, out there.
“Lawyers are great at generating ideas, but there was some subject matter knowledge missing,” said Carlos Lastra, a partner at Cipriani & Werner, P.C. “We’re not marketers. We’re not taught to be marketers in law school.”
Lastra and fellow partner Tracey Coates, cochairs of their firm’s family law practice, 说他们利用自己在国内关系方面的知识获得媒体和电视采访. 他们的公司还聘请了Eleanor Kerlow公关公司的埃莉诺·克洛(Eleanor Kerlow)作为外部公关顾问，帮助他们进行媒体宣传，从而在电视上露面, elevating their practice and building their personal brand.
Working with news outlets matters in today’s digital media ecosystem, Kerlow said, because placements generate content and shares. The key is to be knowledgeable, prepared, and accessible when the media needs help with a story, she told attendees.
Marketing is important to Cipriani & Werner, 这家综合服务公司的总部主要设在宾夕法尼亚州，但在华盛顿开设了办事处, D.C., in 2014 and has expanded into Maryland and Virginia. The firm now has 20 offices in 10 states and the District.
“你必须做好工作，但一旦你做好了，他们就会信任你. They like you. They know that you know what you're talking about. 最终你会收到邀请，因为他们知道你每次都会成功,” Lastra said of his media engagements.
Coates created her own podcast, The Tracey Coates Show, 这给了她一个直接接触人们的平台，并通过处理关系建立自己的受众, marriage, and divorce issues. 她发现，播客是一种相对低成本的方式，可以建立自己的品牌，并在媒体和潜在客户中建立信誉.
Of course, skills and tactics need strategy, Gimbal的大卫·斯金纳(David Skinner)为与会者提供了一个研讨会，为他们的澳门赌场官网事务所制定目标驱动的战略愿景.
“Establishing a vision for what you want to achieve, even in the shorter term, 将有助于建立基础，以创建一致性，并围绕共同的目标将您的团队团结起来,” Skinner said. “这种共同的目标感将提高注意力和效率, 这将帮助你为客户提供更好的服务，同时提高你的底线.”
制定公司战略的愿景需要明确你的服务对象, how you serve them, and why it matters to them and to you, Skinner said. 关键是要创建一个声明，说明你希望你的公司在三到五年内实现什么目标, he added.
Keeping Up With AI
法律界对人工智能将如何影响法律实践既兴奋又担忧, 和Practice 360°涵盖了人工智能技术的一些问题，如ChatGPT.
The major question for the legal profession is, if lawyers are going to use AI tools, “how do we not fall prey to ethical pitfalls?在线法律研究服务公司Fastcase的首席执行官兼创始人埃德·沃尔特斯(Ed Walters)问道. Fastcase, a D.C. 澳门赌场官网福利，最近与使用人工智能的全球法律情报平台vLex合并.
The D.C. 《澳门赌场官网》要求澳门赌场官网具备技术能力, so when it comes to AI, “you have to be proficient with these tools,” Walters said, but at the same time, practitioners must uphold their duty of confidentiality.
“能力要求我们分析这些工具，看看我们是否可以使用它们安全地为客户服务, confidentially,” Walters said. Ethics rules require lawyers to avoid using “reckless technologies,但它们也“要求我们跟上新技术的步伐，了解那里有什么。,” he added.
Walters advised caution in the use of AI. “我们在某种程度上被引导相信人工智能是这个神奇的机器人澳门赌场官网——也许有一天它会成为——但就目前而言，它还不是, even though it’s pretending to be. There are a million problems with AI,” Walters said.
