Strong negotiation, client counseling and dispute resolution skills are critical to a successful legal career. Lawyers negotiate contracts regularly, and, as 98 percent of cases are resolved without ever going to trial, lawyers also need the skills to settle lawsuits successfully. Legal employers and clients value lawyers who are comfortable with conflict and know how to achieve client goals efficiently and without destroying key business and personal relationships. 

The importance of these skills is growing due to the advent of AI as well as the new NextGen bar exam, which includes client advising, client management, negotiation, and dispute resolution. Loyola’s excellent Dispute Resolution Program prepares you with internationally recognized faculty and competition teams and a broad curriculum of courses. 

Outcomes

You will learn the law that governs mediation (facilitated negotiation), arbitration (private adjudication), and other dispute resolution processes and how to design a process that fits the dispute. You'll learn to negotiate in any setting, manage difficult conversations and people, and guide clients, opposing parties, and mediators to creative resolutions that achieve client goals in mediation. You'll also be prepared to ethically and persuasively represent a client before a tribunal of arbitrators. It all adds up to skills to ethically protect client interests in any dispute resolution process.