Breaking Impasse: Practical Techniques for Successful Legal Negotiations
This program is part of the 2026 Professional Development Workshop Series – for more information on the Series, view the brochure here 2026 Professional Development Workshop Series.
Thursday, March 19, 2026 | 9:00 am - 10:45 am
Free for New York City Bar Members & Attorneys from Sponsoring Law Firms*
Attorneys from sponsoring law firms: To ensure your free registration, please register using your law firm email address.
Format: In-Person/Webinar
Description:
In legal negotiations- whether for the settlement of a lawsuit or the closing of a joint venture- lawyers usually enter into negotiation seeking a deal. Nevertheless, there are times when the most skilled of lawyers simply cannot close, often for reasons having nothing to do with the availability of a mutually satisfying deal. Rather than walk away from an opportunity to satisfy a client’s objectives, with the right skills, lawyers can break or even avoid impasse altogether. Effective techniques exist regardless of whether you are engaged in a direct negotiation or meditating a dispute. These techniques will help you get your process back on track. This practical skills-centered program will explore the warning signs of impasse and how to prevent it from occurring as well as specific techniques for breaking impasse when it does happen regardless of whether you are negotiating directly or mediating.
Key takeaways include:
- How to spot the early signs of an impasse before it derails your negotiation.
- Strategies to keep your negotiation moving forward, even when the other side isn’t budging.
- Actionable techniques lawyers can use to get stalled talks back on track.
- Maintain professionalism and rapport when negotiations become contentious.
- Develop a personal toolkit of “impasse-breaking” moves for both litigation settlements and transactional deals.
CLE Credit:
New York: 2.0 Skills
New Jersey: TBD
California: TBD
Pennsylvania: TBD
Connecticut: Available to Licensed Attorneys
For New York Attorneys: Skills credits completed after December 31, 2025, must be completed in the traditional live classroom setting or by fully interactive videoconference. City Bar Webinar programs are not considered a fully interactive videoconference. For your Skills credits, join us in-person at the NYC Bar! Please see the CLE Format Requirements for Newly Admitted Attorneys for additional information.
For New York Attorneys: This program is a transitional/non-transitional course.
Program Fee:
Free for New York City Bar Members & Attorneys from Sponsoring Law Firms | Non-Members: $75
Speaker:
Joan Stearns Johnsen, Director, Institute for Dispute Resolution and Master Skills Professor, University of Florida, Levin College of Law
Joan Stearns Johnsen, FCIArb, CEDR Accredited, IMI Certified teaches negotiation, mediation, and arbitration at the University of Florida Levin College of Law where she is also the Director of the Law School’s Institute for Dispute Resolution. In addition to her teaching, Joan has over thirty years’ experience as a practicing arbitrator and mediator. Joan is on the arbitration and mediation panels of the American Arbitration Association, FINRA, CPR, the National Futures Association, the New York Supreme Court, Commercial Division, NAM, The American Health Law Association, and Resolute Systems. Joan is a frequent speaker and trainer on best practices in negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. Among those for whom she has conducted trainings is The American Trucking Associations, the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution, the US Commerce Department, and the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. Joan has published numerous articles and papers on these subjects and has a law review article forthcoming in the law review of the University of Massachusetts School of Law. Her legal practice experience includes as Assistant Counsel for what was formerly Smith Barney, Inc. and is now Morgan Stanley, as the Associate General Counsel for the former Commodity Exchange, Inc., now a designated market of the CME Group, both in New York city, and as an enforcement attorney for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in Washington, D.C. Joan is active in the Dispute Resolution Community. She is a past Chair of the ABA’s Section of Dispute Resolution, on the Counsel of CPR, Senior Vice Chair of the Mediation Committee of the International Bar Association, and a Board Member of the Miami International Arbitration Society. Joan is the 2022 recipient of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (“CPR”) James P. Groton award for Outstanding Leadership in Dispute Prevention.
Information about our Financial Aid Policy and Application can be found here.
Thank you to our Sponsoring Law Firms:
A&O Shearman · Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP · Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP · Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP · Covington & Burling LLP · Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP · Debevoise & Plimpton LLP · Dechert LLP · Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian LLP · Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP · Jenner & Block LLP · Kauff McGuire Margolis LLP · Kelley Drye & Warren LLP · King & Spalding LLP · Labaton Keller Sucharow LLP · Mendes & Mount LLP · Milbank LLP · New York City Law Department · Proskauer Rose LLP · Seward & Kissel LLP · Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP · Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP · Sullivan & Cromwell LLP · Thompson Coburn LLP · Venable LLP · Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz · White & Case LLP