Blog 21: Exit Interview

Content:

(1) My essential question is, what is the best way for a lawyer to negotiate a transaction between two parties? The first answer to my EQ is, the best way to negotiate a transaction between two parties is to know your client's interests. My second answer is to use clear language and avoid legalese  and my third answer is to maximize your leverage. Of my three answers, I choose my second answer as my best answer because it the most applicable to both verbal negotiation as well as written documents. In addition,  the only way a transaction can be negotiated is if both parties can read and understand the deal. Thus, the language in a deal is what allows it to be interpreted and best negotiated.

(2) I arrived at this answer through many discourses with my mentor as well as through the research I conducted. Through mentorship I began looking at the actual structure of deals and how they were worded and it wasn't until my mentor discussed his experiences with having to litigate and negotiate terms that were unclear to the opposing party, that I realized  how important the language and context in a deal is. I took this fact that I had initially heard with my mentor and researched it, what I found was that many professionals in the field of law or writing did support the fact that clear and concise language is essential in drafting a deal.

 

(3) They main issues I faced were with finding research that passed the C.R.A.P. test. Unfortunately most of the articles that supported this answer and for my topic in general were written nine to ten years ago which makes them unreliable to cite. I as able to overcome this issue by asking my mentor for more contemporary sources and by refining me searches so that when I did find an article it was relevant or applicable to mt topic and was published recently .

 

(4) One of my most significant sources I have had throughout my senior project, my mentor. My mentor has given me insight on the idiosyncrasies of the profession as well as allowed me to work on deals with him that expanded my view and knowledge on the topic through hands on experience. My second most important source is the article written by Scott, Robert E, and George G Triantis. "Anticipating Litigation in Contract Design."  This source explains the issues that can arise from unclear language and offers steps to prevent the problems before it ever occurs which gave me a much better understanding of the importance of implementing clear and concise language and why it was the best way to negotiate a transaction.