I got the opportunity to
interview Heather B. Vargas (Heather) about her experiences with professional
negotiations. She is a professional and board certified intellectual property
attorney. She actively works in the entertainment and media law capacity in
addition to other areas of law.
In entertainment law, it
is important to hire an attorney who is competent in negotiating and
deal-making. Below is the interview I conducted with Heather, which reflects
her experiences about negotiations.
Q: How do you separate the people from the problem
when you are negotiating?
A: This is not an issue after you
have been practicing law for a few years. More often than not, attorneys are
very friendly & are just trying to work out what is best for their
client. The key is to analyze the problem without emotion before you have
the first conversation with the other side & before you have a chance to
form an opinion of your opposing counsel. Thinking your case through
before communicating with the other side allows you to see where you have
leverage, if any, and capitalize on it. It also allows you to set
reasonable expectations for your client.
For example, if your client has
been accused of infringement, and is actually infringing, then your leverage is
that you can get your client to agree to stop infringing without the plaintiff
having to spend the time and money to file a lawsuit. Your client should
be happy with that (not having to pay money) if you have set their expectations
properly.
Q: What tips do you have for new negotiators who are trying
to separate the people from the problem when they are negotiating?
A: Don't adopt your client's
emotion. Your client is living the drama of whatever is happening.
You should be sympathetic, but that should not carry over to your
communications with your opposing counsel. You and the other lawyer have
been hired to solve the problem, and you are able to do so because you do not
have the frontline emotions that your clients have.
Saying "I don't know" is
not only okay; it is sometimes your best answer. It is better to be sure
of what you are saying then to have to risk your credibility by retracting
something later. Also, every attorney should respect saying that you have
to go back to your client for authority.
Q: How do you negotiate with an objective criteria
already set in place?
A: Be creative. A lot of
negotiations come down to money, but sometimes there is something that you can
give that is worth more to the other side than it is to your client.
Remember, the other side's product or service costs them a lot less than it
would cost for your client to buy it on the open market, and vice versa so that
is a good place to look for potential deal points.
Q: Can you give me an example of how you worked
toward mutual benefit when you were negotiating a deal?
A: Obviously, everything I do for
my clients is confidential, but I can tell you that we were able to strike a
deal on a trademark matter once with my client (the owner/prior user of the
mark) getting night club tickets in lieu of some of the money they were
seeking. It didn't cost the opposing party (the owner of the night club)
anything and my client got something they wanted.
Interviewee Contact:
Heather
Bond Vargas
|
Florida
Bar No. 230900
|
Cobb
Cole Center
149 South Ridgewood Avenue
Suite 700
|
Daytona
Beach, FL 32114
|
(D)
386-323-9220 | (F) 386-944-7964
|
