Law Library

New ABA book on ­Structured ­Negotiation offers a win-win ­solution for all parties


A new book from the American Bar Association, “Structured Negotiation: A Winning Alternative to Lawsuits,” provides a nuts-and-bolts roadmap for attorneys and advocates who seek an effective new strategy to resolve legal claims without lawsuits.

Called Structured Negotiation, the dispute resolution method is a ground-breaking, cost-effective and collaborative approach developed and perfected by author Lainey Feingold and her colleagues and clients over the past 20 years. Structured Negotiation resulted in comprehensive settlement agreements with Major League Baseball, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Bank of America, the city and county of San Francisco, CVS, Anthem, Inc. and dozens of other organizations.

“Litigation plays a crucial role in enforcing rights and sometimes it is the best or only option,” said Feingold, a disability rights lawyer in the San Francisco Bay Area. “But when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Structured Negotiation offers a different set of tools.”

In the book, Feingold shares some of her success stories. The book is intended for a range of readers — lawyers, advocates, and corporate and government executives, as well as clients frustrated with the conflict, procedures, stress and run-away costs that typically accompany litigation. The book also could serve as a helpful tool to mediators, students of dispute resolution, the disability and accessibility communities, and law professors and students.

“‘Structured Negotiation’ has the potential to make a major impact on how we resolve disputes,” said David Hoffman, founder of the Boston law Collaborative LLC and the John H. Watson, Jr. Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School. “The Structured Negotiation model provides a detailed roadmap for principled peacemaking in complex cases.”