The Value Differentiator: Lawyers Who Lead Mindfully
Abstract
The pressure is mounting on legal organizations to respond to disruptive forces. Law schools are faced with online offerings (MOOCs and degree programs), higher costs, falling enrollments, and a stagnant job market. Firms are competing with open source, DIY models and legal service organizations that place lawyers (full or part time) with clients (on site or remotely) to work on discreet projects for a flat fee. The way we teach, learn, and work in our profession is morphing, and new skills will be required to attract and retain talent, and to avoid obsolescence. My focus is on teaching others how to negotiate holistically, and by extension, creating more awakened individual negotiators. I describe the principles of transformative negotiation in my book, The Transformative Negotiator: Changing the Way We Come to Agreement from the Inside Out, and currently teach courses on the topic as part of the Mediation and Conflict Resolution certificate program, and the ULead Leadership Development program at the University of New Mexico.