a science based bargaining model that optimizes outcomes for divorcing parties and separating parents

Family law attorneys have been losing market share to pro se divorces for 30 years and have become the butt of jokes that are all too true by applying traditional models of bargaining and litigating. Game Theory based bargaining changes the game to focus on reaching optimal outcomes for both parties and, when there are children, for families. A new generation of lawyers can recapture market share, raise the esteem of the profession and provide a valuable service using these science based principles.

STRUCTURE OF THE CLASS:


  • Students buy the two text books: a generous discount of 75% is offered for the second book with the purchase of the first.
  • An instructor manual and desk copies of the books are provided at no cost to the professor/instructor teaching the class.
  • The class model being proposed is ten, ninety minute classes, subject to modification by the professor/instructor. The first five classes address the mindset of the bargaining model. The second five classes address the skills and application of the model to cases.
  • The instructor manual proposes interactive exercises for classes-- both to demonstrate the principles and skills of the model and to teach those principles and skills to students through practice.

ABOUT GAME THEORY

We are introducing a bargaining model that we call “Winning Negotiations based on Game Theory principles.”  By way of introduction, our goals are simple: we want to introduce a model of negotiation that is quite different from the typical adversarial model often used.  Our model would apply to many legal situations. However,  but our background is in family law, and our model is particularly applicable to that strife- burdened process of divorce. I or in some cases, it is also applicable to parental separations in which the parties have never been married.  Attorneys who have been practicing for a long time, because of training and experience, are less likely to shift in their negotiation model. However,  and we are convinced that the way to change the manner in which family law is conducted is for new lawyers entering practice to enter with a different mindset and a new set of bargaining skills.

CLASS STRATEGY

Our proposed Law School Class addresses the two elements of the winning negotiations model: the mindset and the skills.  In order to teach our model, one first must address the mindset, by examining the flawed mindset in the current model and then introducing the Game Theory mindset.  Then the specific skills derived from Game Theory are introduced in a sense as part of a Tool Kit.

We provide desk copies on request at no charge for professors:

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