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Laboratory for Advancing Dispute Resolution Skills

From the Dispute Resolution Institute at Mitchell Hamline School of Law

Taking to Tennis

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Resources > Taking to Tennis

Duration: 5 minutes to read role; 10- 15 minutes to negotiate; time for debrief

NextGen: Yes 

Teaching Notes: Yes

Skills: ADR | Negotiation 

Skill Levels: Basic 

Type of Resources: Simulation 

Subjects: Contracts | Doctrinal Subjects 

Modality: Both Online and In-Person

Participants: Groups of 3

Taking to Tennis 

Marjorie Corman Aaron 

 

This simple little negotiation exercise can be used to demonstrate both distributive and integrative approaches to negotiation. It is not based on legal practice. The students have only been assigned introductory materials on negotiation. For this reason, Taking to Tennis is a surprise for students and it never fails to generate a wide range of results. The ZOPA is just plain enormous. And it also inspires a nice discussion about the wide range and what led to it. Some students come up with integrative options, others don’t. Some negotiations yield almost no payment, others quite a high one. What is nice about using it with NO preparatory reading and barely any time to read the roles is that no student needs to be embarrassed by their outcome. This subtly reinforces the sheer importance insight, preparation, research, and thinking all play in negotiation. Teaching notes provided.

Taking to Tennis: Teaching Note (pdf)

Taking to Tennis: General Information (pdf)

Taking to Tennis: Confidential Information for Ron Levine’s Friend and Representative (pdf)

Taking to Tennis: Confidential Information for Saxon Warrick’s Agent (pdf)

 

Laboratory for Advancing Dispute Resolution Skills Teaching

Dispute Resolution Insitute at Mitchell Hamline School of law

875 Summit Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55105-3076 | [email protected]

© 2025 Mitchell Hamline School of Law in affiliation with Hamline University.