Drafting and Negotiating Commercial Contracts 

College of Law

Week 3 : How to effectively negotiate commercial contracts

Welcome to Week 3
This week we introduce you to the general principles of negotiating commercial contracts.
3.1 Welcome Week 2

Negotiation Basics - The What, How & Why of Negotiation

Here are some useful tips and guidelines to make an enforceable, plain English commercial
contract.
3.2 Introduction
3.3 What is negotiation ?
3.4 Simple negotiation exercise
3.5 Negotiation exercise – suggested answer
3.6 Why negotiate ?
3.7 How to negotiate
Models of negotiation
There are a number of different negotiation techniques that can be applied when negotiating.
3.8 Competitive or Positional bargaining
3.9 Co-operative or principled technique
3.10 Negotiating strategy
3.11 Sharing of information
3.12 Bargaining
3.13 Structure and Presentation
Forms of negotiation
Let's now take a look at negotiation in the context of commercial transactions, which entails
negotiating the “deal” and the legal documentation. One topic per clause, one idea per sub-
clause
3.14 The process
3.15 Negotiation by email
Communication
The underlying skill required in all forms of negotiation is communication. Effective communicators
achieve results. It is important to apply listening and empathy to communication and to the negotiation
process.

3.16 Listening

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3.17 Understanding cross-cultural communication
3.18 Cultural barriers
3.19 Language barriers

Managing legal risks

The risks associated with commercial contracts vary depending on the method of transaction,
type of trade, licensing requirements or scale of investment. Guidelines on reviewing
contracts
3.20 What are the legal risks ?
3.21 How can legal risks be managed ?
3.22 The process of legal risk management

Weekly feedback from the educators

See James and Raphael's feedback on various issues and questions that have arisen from
discussions throughout the week.
3.23 Feedback from the educators