Prepare objectives, authority, leverage, proposals, concessions, and implementation terms.
Transactional work product
How to write an MPT negotiation plan
A negotiation plan prepares a lawyer and client for a bargaining session before it happens. The MPT asks you to set out the client's objectives and priorities, the limits of the lawyer's authority, the sources of leverage on each side, the proposals to make, the concessions available and the terms that would carry out any agreement. Graders reward a plan grounded in the file's facts and law, so leverage comes from the strengths of the legal position and the cost of failing to settle rather than from generalities. Identify what the other side likely wants, since a proposal that meets their interests is more likely to be accepted. Keep the plan consistent with the client's instructions and the ethical limits on candor. The framework below gives the skeleton, the items to read for, and a rubric to score your draft.
AUDIENCEClient or negotiating team
Strategic, realistic, client-centered, and ethically bounded.
Client or negotiating team
Build this structure before drafting
- 1
Client interests and priorities
- 2
Legal and factual leverage
- 3
BATNA and risk
- 4
Opening proposal and rationale
- 5
Concession sequence and limits
- 6
Questions, trades, and documentation
What to extract
- Client’s real interests beneath positions
- Authority to settle and nonnegotiables
- Information asymmetry
- Terms that prevent future dispute
Format-specific traps
- One number without a strategy
- Ignoring implementation language
- Conceding without reciprocal value
- Revealing confidential limits unnecessarily
A usable opening
Our primary objective is ___. We should open with ___, preserve ___, and trade ___ only in exchange for ___.
Score the finished product analytically
The tasks NCBE names
NCBE lists a counseling plan and a proposal for settlement or agreement among the example tasks an MPT may require. A negotiation plan combines both. It advises the client on goals and options and shapes a proposal.
NCBE does not name a negotiation plan itself, so follow the task memo.
NCBE's skills document says problem solving starts with identifying and diagnosing the problem. Start the plan with the client's actual objective and the obstacle the File shows, then list options. NCBE's instructions grade responsiveness to the task memo, so mirror the headings it requests.
Problem solving and organization in a plan
NCBE's skills document says problem solving includes generating alternative solutions and developing a plan of action. It also includes keeping the planning process open to new information.
The skills document lists organization and management of a legal task as a separate skill, including allocating time, effort and resources efficiently and completing tasks within time constraints.
Practice walk-through: a plan for a supplier renegotiation
This scenario is invented for practice and is not NCBE material. The task memo asks for a negotiation plan for a manufacturer that wants to lower the price in a supply contract without losing the supplier. The File has the contract, a market price report and an email in which the supplier's owner mentions a cash-flow problem. The Library has an invented rule allowing price changes only by written amendment. Ask what the client actually wants beneath the position: steady supply matters more than the last dollar.
Set out interests, leverage and the client's best alternative if talks fail. A sample leverage point: "The contract lets the client end the agreement on 90 days' notice, which is real leverage only if a second supplier can deliver by then." Propose an opening, a concession order and limits, for example: open at an 8 percent cut, trade toward faster payment terms, and stop at 4 percent. Say how the deal is documented, since only a signed amendment works. A losing plan gives one number, ignores the cash-flow email, and forgets the writing requirement.
Targeted format drill
15-minute drill
Design three packages that satisfy the client’s highest priority through different combinations of money, timing, and risk allocation.
Questions about this format
What tone should an MPT negotiation plan use?+
Strategic, realistic, client-centered, and ethically bounded.
What is the biggest trap?+
The most common failure in this format is one number without a strategy.
Are counseling and settlement proposals MPT tasks?+
Yes. NCBE lists a counseling plan and a proposal for settlement or agreement among the tasks examinees might be instructed to complete.
Is a negotiation plan named by NCBE?+
No. The example list does not name it, so follow the task memo in the File for the exact deliverable.
What planning abilities does NCBE list?+
Generating alternative solutions and strategies, developing and implementing a plan of action, and keeping the planning process open to new information and ideas.
What is organization and management on the MPT?+
Allocating time, effort and resources efficiently and performing and completing tasks within time constraints, according to NCBE's skills document.
Should a plan address alternatives?+
Yes. Generating alternative solutions and strategies is part of the problem-solving skill NCBE describes, so compare options before you recommend one.
Are past MPTs available to practice with?+
Yes. NCBE offers free summaries of MPTs from 2022 through 2026 and free MPTs and point sheets from older administrations, from February 2016 to July 2020.
Primary and official sources
NCBE: preparing for the MPT↗NCBE: MPT skills tested↗NCBE: the Multistate Performance Test↗Negotiation (Wikipedia)↗More from the MPT document library
This negotiation plan is one of 14 formats in the MPT document library. Compare it against the Settlement term sheet or agreement format and the Contract provisions with explanation format to see how structure and tone shift by document type.