Blog Archives
Deals in the Time of Pandemic
April 8, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new attention to the period between signing and closing in M&A transactions. Transactional planners heavily negotiate the provisions that govern the behavior of the parties during this window, not only to allocate risk between the buyer and seller, but also to manage moral hazard, opportunistic behavior, and other distortions in incentives. Prior literature, both academic and practitioner, has focused virtually exclusively on the material adverse effect (MAE)...
April 8, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new attention to the period between signing and closing in M&A transactions. Transactional planners heavily negotiate the provisions that govern the behavior of the parties during this window, not only to allocate risk between the buyer and seller, but also to manage moral hazard, opportunistic behavior, and other distortions in incentives. Prior literature, both academic and practitioner, has focused virtually exclusively on the material adverse effect (MAE)...
Methods of Dispute Resolution: Building Trust in Online Mediation
April 7, 2021
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, mediators and other negotiation practitioners often insisted on meeting in person, convinced that online methods of dispute resolution lack “the human touch”—the warmth, energy, body language, and other subtle factors that build essential ingredients in conflict resolution, including trust, empathy, and rapport. But when lockdowns and social-distancing restrictions took hold in the spring of 2020, “resistance to online practice of negotiation and mediation...
April 7, 2021
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, mediators and other negotiation practitioners often insisted on meeting in person, convinced that online methods of dispute resolution lack “the human touch”—the warmth, energy, body language, and other subtle factors that build essential ingredients in conflict resolution, including trust, empathy, and rapport. But when lockdowns and social-distancing restrictions took hold in the spring of 2020, “resistance to online practice of negotiation and mediation...
Silence is a Great Tool!
April 6, 2021
And so, negotiators knowing this, use silence as an effective negotiation tool in one of several ways. First, it can used as a means of “active listening”. That is, to fully listen and absorb what the other party is saying. Often when another starts to speak, we tend to start thinking about our response rather than to just simply listen- and do nothing else- to what the other is saying. “Allowing a few moments of silence… before you respond will help you turn off your internal...
April 6, 2021
And so, negotiators knowing this, use silence as an effective negotiation tool in one of several ways. First, it can used as a means of “active listening”. That is, to fully listen and absorb what the other party is saying. Often when another starts to speak, we tend to start thinking about our response rather than to just simply listen- and do nothing else- to what the other is saying. “Allowing a few moments of silence… before you respond will help you turn off your internal...
Lessons Learned from a Year of Remote Hearings
April 5, 2021
Other than jury trials, the number of hearings we handled surprisingly increased in 2020. We quickly learned to retool our preparation and presentation for remote hearings. The added complexities and considerations ranged from technological to access and presentation of evidence to remote witnesses to increased privacy concerns. This article focuses on the lessons learned and suggestions for preparing for remote hearings – which appear to be here to stay.
April 5, 2021
Other than jury trials, the number of hearings we handled surprisingly increased in 2020. We quickly learned to retool our preparation and presentation for remote hearings. The added complexities and considerations ranged from technological to access and presentation of evidence to remote witnesses to increased privacy concerns. This article focuses on the lessons learned and suggestions for preparing for remote hearings – which appear to be here to stay.
Here Come Hot Desks and Zoom Rooms. And Holograms?
April 4, 2021
Conference rooms, too, are getting a reboot. In the past, these rooms were predicated on the idea of people gathering in person. A large screen on a wall might be used for presentations or to let an executive in another location make a cameo appearance. But some employees are permanently moving to remote work, and companies are puzzling over how to give them the same ability to participate as those who are physically present. There are even early discussions about using artificial intelligence...
April 4, 2021
Conference rooms, too, are getting a reboot. In the past, these rooms were predicated on the idea of people gathering in person. A large screen on a wall might be used for presentations or to let an executive in another location make a cameo appearance. But some employees are permanently moving to remote work, and companies are puzzling over how to give them the same ability to participate as those who are physically present. There are even early discussions about using artificial intelligence...
The Neuroeconomics of Habit
April 3, 2021
We introduce a neureconomic "autopilot" model of habit, based on many studies of animal learning and human habituation. In this approach, there are two systems for valuation-- habit and goal-directed. The habitual system recalls the previous choice (which can be dependent on a contextual state), and the reliability of reward of that choice. (Reliability is the absolute value of reward prediction error, so a low value is associated with reliability.) If the reliability is below a threshold the habitual...
April 3, 2021
We introduce a neureconomic "autopilot" model of habit, based on many studies of animal learning and human habituation. In this approach, there are two systems for valuation-- habit and goal-directed. The habitual system recalls the previous choice (which can be dependent on a contextual state), and the reliability of reward of that choice. (Reliability is the absolute value of reward prediction error, so a low value is associated with reliability.) If the reliability is below a threshold the habitual...
To Zoom or Not to Zoom
April 2, 2021
Tens of thousands of civil hearings have been heard by Zoom, WebEx, FaceTime, Skype, Court-call, and other remote hearing platforms. Cases have also been live-streamed on Facebook and YouTube channels. This has become the Texas judiciary, 2020 style. The ability of judges to conduct hearings remotely has been a lifesaver for the courts. If not for that ability, Texas courts would have almost completely shut down. There are some real advantages to conducting remote civil hearings, but also some real...
April 2, 2021
Tens of thousands of civil hearings have been heard by Zoom, WebEx, FaceTime, Skype, Court-call, and other remote hearing platforms. Cases have also been live-streamed on Facebook and YouTube channels. This has become the Texas judiciary, 2020 style. The ability of judges to conduct hearings remotely has been a lifesaver for the courts. If not for that ability, Texas courts would have almost completely shut down. There are some real advantages to conducting remote civil hearings, but also some real...
How’s it Going? Working Remotely in a Pandemic, How About You?
April 1, 2021
All workers are faced with difficult times and difficult choices. Make no mistake: working from home is the highest luxury and privilege. I speak to potential clients every week who would love to enjoy the safety of working from home. I have clients who put their safety on the line for their work in the service of others and the community at large. Truly I am blessed to be able to work from home. Here is what is working well.
April 1, 2021
All workers are faced with difficult times and difficult choices. Make no mistake: working from home is the highest luxury and privilege. I speak to potential clients every week who would love to enjoy the safety of working from home. I have clients who put their safety on the line for their work in the service of others and the community at large. Truly I am blessed to be able to work from home. Here is what is working well.
Litigation Post-Pandemic: The View from Corporate Legal Departments
March 31, 2021
As weeks passed and the business world settled into an uncomfortable interim reality, in-house lawyers and their outside counsel turned their attention to pandemic-related changes in the practice and procedures of dispute resolution. Now, after months of experience using videoconferencing platforms and other tools for tasks formerly accomplished by face-to-face interaction, corporate counsel find themselves evaluating the continued utility of those vehicles as—hopefully in the near future—the...
March 31, 2021
As weeks passed and the business world settled into an uncomfortable interim reality, in-house lawyers and their outside counsel turned their attention to pandemic-related changes in the practice and procedures of dispute resolution. Now, after months of experience using videoconferencing platforms and other tools for tasks formerly accomplished by face-to-face interaction, corporate counsel find themselves evaluating the continued utility of those vehicles as—hopefully in the near future—the...
Preserving the Right to Jury Trial During a Pandemic: A Daunting Task
March 30, 2021
Article 1, Section 15 of Texas' constitutional bill of rights provides that “the right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate.” Few times in history, if any, have been so challenging in satisfying this right as the time during the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1920, Texas courts reportedly only ceased having jury trials for a few weeks.
March 30, 2021
Article 1, Section 15 of Texas' constitutional bill of rights provides that “the right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate.” Few times in history, if any, have been so challenging in satisfying this right as the time during the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1920, Texas courts reportedly only ceased having jury trials for a few weeks.
