It’s No Fun If You Can’t Negotiate 

Law firm management professionals spend the bulk of their day communicating with partners, employees and business partners. Although it is sometimes hidden in the conversations, much of the dialogue revolves around negotiation and/or obtaining buy-in.

All of these conversations are directly attributable to the bottom line of your law firm financials. Time is spent listening to sales pitches from business partners, then pitching your ideas and the ideas of the business partners to law firm partners, and finally convincing staff that the new idea is a great and constructive thing for everyone involved.

There is one small problem. Negotiating with business partners makes many people uncomfortable. And even if they are comfortable with that aspect, they sometimes don’t know how to communicate the information to their partners in a way that makes them want to change what they have been doing since the existence of the firm! Or, they have a hard time getting buy-in from their partners and/or staff. This leads to inefficiency which ultimately costs your firm money and may weaken your competitiveness in the industry.

This session will discuss ways to make attendees more comfortable with the negotiating process and view it as an opportunity. It will help attendees develop negotiating strengths; role play; learn how to do “homework;” develop better listening skills; build trusting relationships; and most importantly, enjoy the process.

Learning Objectives: 

• Describe how negotiating effectively improves your financial bottom line through efficiency improvement. 
• Describe how to gain a competitive advantage in the law firm marketplace through effective negotiation skills. 
• Discuss negotiation techniques to use with business partners to obtain the best price possible for your firm. 
• Discuss the proper way to conduct due diligence and do research on the product or service you are negotiating. 
• Discuss techniques for obtaining buy-in from your partners so they make a cost-conscious and competitive decision. 
• Discuss ideas on how to effectively communicate the change to your staff. 

RSVP: Please use the REGISTER link below, no later than June 12

If questions or to cancel a reservation, contact [email protected] to avoid being charged.

Cost (includes lunch):  *Bring your check made payable to ALA Silicon Valley Chapter or pay by credit card here

Speaker: 

Lisa Waligorski, CLM, is the Director of Finance at Newmeyer & Dillion, LLP. She started her career in a legal assistant/paralegal role, and the past 18 years have been spent as a Controller and/or Legal Administrator, providing her with a strong background in law firm accounting and reporting. Lisa has been a speaker on both law firm accounting and human resources topics.   

Sponsored by: 

Education Credit:

 ALASVC seminars are typically scheduled on the 3rd Thursday of the month