Was Machiavelli Right? Lying in Negotiation and the Art of Defensive Self-Help

Authors

Peter Reilly, Texas A&M University School of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-2008

Journal Title

Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution

ISSN

1046-4344

Abstract

The majority of law review articles addressing lying and deception in negotiation have argued, in one form or another, that liars and deceivers could be successfully reined in and controlled if only the applicable ethics rules were strengthened, and if corresponding enforcement powers were sufficiently beefed up and effectively executed. This article takes a different approach, arguing that the applicable ethics rules will likely never be strengthened, and, furthermore, that even if they were, they would be difficult to enforce in any meaningful way, at least in the context of negotiation. The article concludes that lawyers, businesspeople, and everyone else who engages in negotiation should learn how to carefully and purposefully implement mindsets, strategies, and tactics to defend themselves against others who lie and deceive. The article sets forth those defensive devices and offers prescriptive advice for minimizing one's risk of being exploited in a negotiation should other parties lie.

First Page

481

Last Page

534

Num Pages

54

Volume Number

24

Issue Number

3

Publisher

Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law

Recommended Citation

Peter Reilly, Was Machiavelli Right? Lying in Negotiation and the Art of Defensive Self-Help, 24 Ohio St. J. on Disp. Resol. 481 (2008).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar/196

File Type

PDF