We know that the main job of a lawyer is intended to help clients to solve their legal issues. The current ways of resolving legal problems are very diverse, ranging from non litigation settlements between the parties to settlements involving law enforcement officers such as in courts. One way of solving legal problems that has long been known to humans is negotiation. Negotiation in Black Law’s Dictionary is defined as:
“The deliberation, discussion, or conference upon the terms of a proposed agreement; the act of settling or arranging the terms and conditions of a bar- gain, sale, or other business transaction. Also the transfer of, or act of putting into circulation, a negotiable instrument”.
Based on the definition mentioned above, we understand that negotiations are also mostly carried out to complete certain business transactions. One of the advantages of negotiation is to get a win-win solution, meaning that the agreement obtained after the negotiation process is carried out does not burden one party, but the decision is made based on the agreement between the parties. For a lawyer, the ability to negotiate effectively is an essential skill. not only used when dealing with opposing parties, but negotiation skills are also needed when dealing with colleagues, clients, including government institutions.
Several things that must be considered before negotiating, among others, we must collect as much information as possible about the opposing party, both its weaknesses and strengths, as well as ourselves as a lawyer who represents the client. We must know very well our position including weaknesses and strengths in the problem. Of course, before the negotiation process, after studying the problems that occur, the lawyer will first discuss with his client about the position including the possibilities that can occur if the negotiations do not find an agreement.
A lawyer when negotiating must be able to read and understand the situation around when the negotiation process takes place. Each problem faced by a lawyer has a different situation so that these various situation affect the style of negotiation that will be carried out. Considering that in Indonesia today many foreigners live and carry out business activities, of course the negotiation style that will be applied cannot only be based on the negotiation style of everyday Indonesian people because there are differences in culture and customs there. Negotiating with a person or group of people who are different from us will certainly be very challenging because the potential for miscommunication is quite possible. When this happens, the negotiation process will be hampered so that an agreement between the parties will be difficult to reach. Communication between the parties involved is the key to successful negotiations. Menkel Meadow in 1983 described the factors that can make the negotiation process effective in solving a problem, namely:
- subject matter
- content of the issues;
- relationship of the parties (long-term, one-shot, hierarchical, equals);
- stake (who has what to gain or lose in completing or terminating a negotiation);
- power (relative to each other as measured by a variety of factors – perception, economics, need for resolution, legal or factual endowments,
- medium of the negotiation (face-to-face, telephone, electronic, written);
- routineness of negotiation (repeat norms of behavior or outcomes expected); and
- quality of agents or representatives, strength of constituencies, perceived sense of justice of one’s cause);
- visibility of negotiation (public or private negotiation);
- accountability (of agents to principals or constituencies, or larger public and markets);
- voluntariness (mandated negotiation, e.g. labor, court settlement conference, or voluntary, transactional);
- personal characteristics of negotiators;
- alternatives to negotiation (trial, transaction not consummated, continued conflict)
Factors as mentioned above along with the passage of time where the community continues to grow as at this time culture also influences how a negotiation will be carried out. Building confidence from the opposing party is certainly not an easy thing, therefore during negotiations it is important for a lawyer to be able to maintain the tone of voice, demeanor, language and choice of words used when submitting offers.For the explanation mentioned above, we can conclude that an understanding of timing and context, a knowledge of human behavior, and a complete understanding of communication skills is essential for a skilled negotiator.