Michigan State University-DCL College of Law to host first advanced negotiations course for lawyers

For Immediate Release September 24, 2003

Marketing & Communications
400 Law College Building
East Lansing, MI 48824-1300
Contact:
Barbara Anselmo
517/432-6848
Jacqueline Harrington
517/432-6849

The Alternative Dispute Resolution Program (ADR) at Michigan State University-DCL College of Law will host its first annual advanced negotiations course for lawyers, “Breaking through Barriers,” on October 23-24 at the Henry Center for Executive Development, 3535 Forest Road in Lansing, Michigan.

The ADR Program, established this year, offers lawyers intensive, state-of-the-art programs and educational seminars. The course features instruction in specific areas of negotiation, including the art of negotiating international transactions, the challenges facing the negotiating litigator, and the ethical limitations on lying in negotiations, among others.

Scott Brown, former associate director of the Harvard Negotiation Project and author of How to Negotiate with Kids… Even When You Think You Shouldn’t is a featured guest speaker along with Dr. Jerome D. Hill, counsel to Butzel Long in Detroit, Mich., and MSU-DCL Professor Mary A. Bedikian, former district vice president, Detroit Region of the American Arbitration Association and director of the ADR Program. Other featured speakers include George T. Roumell Jr., senior partner with the Riley, Roumell and Connolly law firm, Michael Dodge, vice president and general counsel of Daimler Chrysler Insurance Company, and Terence L. Blackburn, dean of Michigan State University-DCL College of Law.

“ We are pleased to bring such a unique educational program to Michigan State University-DCL College of Law,” said seminar organizer and MSU-DCL Professor Mary Bedikian. “The program will put in the hands of lawyers skills they can apply daily. Led by Scott Brown, a nationally acclaimed speaker, consultant, and author on the subject of negotiations, the program has synthesized the study of how people behave in the negotiations process into practical, cutting-edge tools.”

Michigan State University-DCL College of Law, formerly known as Detroit College of Law, was founded in 1891 and was the first law school in Detroit. To extend its commitment to educational excellence, the Detroit College of Law affiliated with Michigan State University in 1995 and moved to MSU’s East Lansing campus in 1997.

The move to MSU enabled the Law College to build a $28 million facility and provide law students the benefits of a Big Ten university while maintaining its private law school status. Today, MSU-DCL remains the nation’s oldest continuously operating independent law school.

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