The International Negotiations Handbook - Baker & McKenzie

The International Negotiations Handbook
– It should be clear, well-organized and concise and should cover all points
of the negotiation.
– It should express the agreement simply. Many agreements fail because they
are too complicated, which can lead the parties to argue over false issues.
• The writing should be objective. It should express the agreement in a
non-partisan way.
• The writing should memorialize all major issues that were agreed upon during
the negotiation, and nothing agreed upon should be excluded from the writing.
– It is usually advantageous for your delegation to assume responsibility
for preparing the initial draft.
– Often, when the parties leave the negotiation they may feel pressure to
recharacterize the negotiation to their constituencies or may (deliberately
or inadvertently) change their minds as to what was agreed to.
• The agreement should also include aspirational language. For example, the
agreement could contain language expressing the goals of the parties, the purpose
of the agreement, in what spirit the agreements are made, and a description of
what brought the parties to the negotiating table. Such language provides context
to the agreement itself, and may take the form of a preamble.
• To the extent that there are issues that the parties have specifically agreed are
not covered by the agreement, they should be identified in the written agreement.
• The writing should contain clear performance milestones, specify who is responsible
for compliance, and to the extent possible, include clear methods of monitoring
and enforcing such performance.
• The parties may consider including a statement of what each side is expecting of
its constituents in the written negotiated settlement.
• The agreement should be in the language of each of the parties to the negotiations.
If the parties speak different languages, or a translation is required for global
dissemination of the agreement, then the parties should agree on the language
of the translation(s), and select which translation is the controlling translation, if
any. Supporting documents, including the executive summary of the agreement,
should be in all constituent languages, as well.
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