Since 2023, I have trained the trainee lawyers of IXAD, the bar school for northwestern France, in two complementary skills: conducting a negotiation, and building an amicable dispute resolution strategy around court proceedings. In April 2026, the amicable strategy session was presented by several speakers, including Alizée Lassalle, a lawyer and mediator. Here are the key takeaways, with selected excerpts from the training materials.
The lawyer is a negotiator
Negotiation means discussions between people who, because they depend on each other, want to find a satisfactory and nonviolent way out of a situation that requires each of them to take the other’s reality into account. The lawyer is the professional who can both represent the client in that negotiation and assess the chances of success in court, and therefore the realistic alternative: professional ethics, mandate and expertise on one side; strategy, tactics and technique on the other.
The morning covers the tools: conflict escalation, each party’s frame of reference, active listening, the four forms of reformulation, nonviolent communication, body language, and influence and persuasion techniques, which you need to be able to recognize as much as use.
The process: prepare, explore, conclude
The process has four stages: preparation, opening the negotiation, the negotiation phase and the conclusion. Preparation assesses the balance of power (weight, choice, information, time and sanction), sets precise objectives at three levels and defines the BATNA, the best alternative to a negotiated agreement (MESORE in French): entering a negotiation without having considered what you will do if it fails is negotiating with your eyes closed.
Principled negotiation provides the method: separate the people from the problem, look for the interests behind the positions, address the relationship before the reasoning, generate a wide range of options, use objective criteria. You also need to spot unfair tactics (lies, threats, “take it or leave it”) and bring the other side back into the process without responding to attacks.
Role play on an invented case
In the afternoon, the trainee lawyers negotiate in teams, then debrief together. The case is a situation invented for the purpose: two law firm partners, Mr. Sun and Mr. Tzu, are splitting up after years of conflict and must divide the offices, the firm name “Art of War,” the staff, the marketing materials and the clients. Each team receives confidential instructions, figures setting its limits and positions that seem irreconcilable. The goal: identify the needs behind the positions and reach an agreement that respects one’s BATNA.
Amicable strategy: avoid litigation, or build it into the case
Amicable resolution is first an ethical requirement. Article 6.1 of the national rules of the French legal profession (RIN, Règlement intérieur national) recommends that lawyers consider with their clients the possibility of using amicable or alternative dispute resolution, before any lawsuit, during proceedings or when drafting a legal instrument; Article 8.2 allows them, with the client’s consent, to propose an amicable settlement to the other party.
The strategy works in two stages. Upstream, the aim is to avoid litigation: advise the client, draft precise mediation clauses, without which the clause cannot be enforced, and comply with mandatory pre-litigation settlement attempts. Downstream, the aim is to build amicable resolution into the proceedings: an order to meet a mediator, court-ordered mediation, conciliation, the amicable settlement hearing (audience de règlement amiable), splitting the trial (césure) and participatory case management.
The remaining task is to identify cases that lend themselves to it (high emotional stakes, ongoing relationships, multiple proceedings, disproportionate cost) and those that do not (a legal ruling is needed, public policy, a clear imbalance of power, violence), then to propose the right tool to the client and to opposing counsel, preferably in conversation. Failing to reach an agreement is not a failure.
Sessions
- April 17 and 24, 2023Conducting a negotiation and the lawyer’s amicable strategy.
- April 8, 2024Conducting a negotiation.
- June 10, 2025Amicable strategy, Lille.
- July 3, 2025Conducting a negotiation.
- April 15, 2026Amicable strategy for resolving international family conflicts, with speakers including Alizée Lassalle.
- April 20 and 21, 2026Conducting a negotiation: two in-person sessions, six hours in total, with role play.
- June 30, 2026Conducting a negotiation: a six-hour day, techniques in the morning, case study in the afternoon.
Key takeaways
- 1Lawyer and negotiatorEthics, mandate and expertise make the lawyer a negotiator who knows the litigation alternative.
- 2No negotiation without a BATNAKnowing what you will do if talks fail keeps you from accepting a deal you should refuse.
- 3One concession, one counterpartGive ground slowly and never concede without getting something in return.
- 4Amicable resolution upstream and downstreamAvoid litigation through advice and clauses, or build amicable resolution into proceedings already under way.
- 5Identify, then prescribeSpot the suitable cases, rule out those dominated by imbalance or violence, and propose the right amicable method.
Training excerpts
Selected excerpts from the training materials “Conducting a negotiation” (14 slides). Selected excerpts from the training materials “ADR strategy” (14 slides). View online; enter your details to download the PDF.
General information. This account of a talk reflects only my personal opinion and is not legal advice. The cases mentioned are fictional, or inspired by real cases, modified and anonymized.