Getting to Yes! Yes! Yessss!

I have been very busy but also very productive. What took up the bulk of my time the past few days has been the contracts/negotiations contest ABS and I decided to enter on Friday.

The issues in the competition turned out to be extremely complex. The negotiation is about a university and a law school arguing over the law school leaving its current campus (which the university owns and leases to the law school) to move to another town somewhat more remote than the current location.

We represent the law school, and our opponents represent the university. We of course each have our list of demands.

The host of issues involved in the move include: buiding and financing new law school facilities, building and financing new student housing, developing a commericial district that would enhance student life, constructing an additional gym and student center for the law school, the timing of the move, and many other miscellaneous demands and pet peeves borne out of the law school dean's resentment at having to move.

We quickly found out that on many of these issues our opponents and we are on opposite sides, so a lot of compromises and creative solutions were called for. After meeting for 2 hours on Sunday, our opponents and we spent another 3 hours yesterday negotiating intensely. We reached an agreement on most of the issues, but there are a few issues, mostly about money, that we keep bickering about. We are going to meet again tomorrow, hopefully no longer than 3 hours.

I have also started drafting parts of the contract today, since we will be judged on the quality of the contract we produce. It's damned hard to write a good contract! Well, I suppose it's just hard to write in a clear, elegant, and precise way in general.

But still, I really feel like I'm learning a lot, and the whole negotiations proccess, though exhausting, is not un-fun.