Impasse

From: James J. Gross

What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? A lawyer makes a settlement proposal for a divorce client. The other side sends back a counterproposal, which the client doesn’t like.

“What do you advise next?” asks the client.

“Send back another proposal with some concessions,” the lawyer says.

“What if I don’t want to make any concessions?”

“Then you are at an impasse.”

There are several ways to break an impasse.

• Litigation. The ultimate way is to have a judge decide. But this is expensive, time consuming and uncertain in outcome.

• Keep Talking. Explore other options to meet the needs of each party. I have been in negotiations where a creative idea just seems to fall out on the table in the conversation that had not been there before.

• Segment the Problem. Break the dispute down into separate smaller pieces and try to get agreements on one piece at a time until you have solved the whole problem.

• Bring in an Expert. You can bring in an expert to help break an impasse such as a therapist for issues involving children or a financial planner for issues involving money.

• Do Nothing. One option is to just do nothing until somebody blinks. Sometimes I have told the parties, “You are twenty thousand dollars apart and it will cost you each ten thousand dollars to litigate this case. Does anyone have any ideas?” Then I sit in silence for a minute, two minutes, sometimes ten minutes, until finally someone says, “Well I’ll split the difference if you will.”