Think the recent Iran nuclear deal has nothing to do with being a lawyer? Think again. According to Avrum Aaron of Legal Outsourcing Partners, there’s a lot to be learned from the negotiations, especially for lawyers who work on business transactions every day.
Here are the lessons legal envoys can take away from Secretary of State John Kerry and the others at the negotiating table:
- Walk Away When You Can: It was clear the U.S. was intent on sitting at the table and wasn’t about to get up from it anytime soon. “The Iranian negotiators knew this and could basically decline to agree to any point they didn’t like, knowing the U.S. would eventually relent,” Aaron says. Consider walking away as a tactic, when you can.
- Don’t Need the Deal: “If you are in a negotiation and you give the other party the impression that you must make this deal, you are at a huge disadvantage,” says Aaron. In this case, the Iranians knew President Barack Obama needed the agreement to add to his foreign policy achievements.
- Assess Trust: “An agreement is only as good as the party signing it,” notes Aaron. He says many commentators have pointed out that the key to the Iranian deal is trusting Iran to stick with it, and there’s plenty of debate about what that trust is worth. As in business, it’s essential to assess levels of trust at the outset of a negotiation and factor it into the structure of any deal you hammer out.
