My Negotiating Top Ten

handshakeMy list is constantly evolving; however, these ten tips form the foundation of my negotiating strategy and approach.

10. Research. When a new deal comes my way, I do research on who is on the other side of the negotiations. If you are able to find some common ground or interests, you can use some piece of information to start the negotiations in a non-adversarial manner. Knowing something about an alma mater, a law firm, or another part of their business can strike up an interesting aside before the heavy lifting starts.

9. What is your leverage? Look at the negotiation from the other side. It is great when one party can say, “take it or leave it” and really mean it; however, in my experience that is often a rarity. Strength in negotiation comes from knowing what may cause the other side to move on a position. Use that knowledge to best advance your position without being unnecessarily aggressive.

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A Rejuvenated Navigational Servitude?

As a general rule, within its borders each individual state holds title to the beds of water bodies that were navigable at the time of its statehood, and has jurisdiction to regulate activity upon those waters.[1]  State authority over navigable waters is not absolute, however; in a previous post, for example, I discussed the limits imposed by the public trust doctrine.  The “navigational servitude” is another important constraint on state power.  It flows from the Commerce Clause and asserts “the paramount power of the United States to control [navigable] waters for purposes of navigation in interstate and foreign commerce.”[2]  This power justifies, for example, the acquisition and holding of private lands “to deepen the water . . . or to use them for any structure which the interest of navigation, in [the government’s] judgment, may require.”[3]  When validly exercised, the navigational servitude excuses the federal government even from the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause, because “the damage sustained does not result from taking property from riparian owners within the meaning of the Fifth Amendment but from the lawful exercise of a power to which the interests of riparian owners have always been subject.”[4]  Today, however, the navigational servitude has largely retreated into obscurity.  It is often viewed as a relic from a bygone era when rivers were the nation’s primary mode of commerce and long-distance travel.

AirshipThe advent of emerging technologies that will make water travel more attractive may catapult the navigational servitude to renewed prominence.  In the not-too-distant future, transformational technologies like hovercraft and airships may become common modes of commercial and public travel over navigable waters.  Integrating the resulting water-based activity into our legal and social systems would require involvement at all levels of governance, including the courts.  In fact, a fascinating example of a related dispute has already reached the United States Supreme Court.

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Differences Between Supreme Court Candidates Clear in Eckstein Hall Debate

Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg were among the US Supreme Court justices who were invoked Tuesday night as role models by the candidates in the race for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court that will be on the ballot April 5.

But did either of them ever have to go through the kind of election campaigning that Justice Rebecca Bradley and Appeals Court Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg are immersed in now?

A one-hour debate between Kloppenburg and Bradley  at Eckstein Hall was moderated by Mike Gousha, Marquette Law School’s distinguished fellow in law and public policy and a political analyst for WISN television. The debate was shown live on WISN and other stations around the state, with some stations scheduling it for broadcast later.

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