biographies

Author Raoul Felder is one of New York's most famous divorce lawyers. He moves in elite company and counts movie stars, big shot executives and political heavyweights among his clients and antagonists. He didn't get to that point by being a shrinking violet. This book is full of interesting if promotional anecdotes that attempt to position the author not only as a ruthless negotiator, but also as the right sort of fellow. That's a tough balance to strike, particularly since some of his tactics are outrageous, albeit effective. As celebrity memoirs go, this is a pretty good one, written in short episodes with glamorous client insider stories. And, as negotiations manuals go, it's quite strategic, even if weighted somewhat toward divorce issues. Felder manages to dish the dirt, we find, while also serving up useful advice about gloves-off negotiations.

Egomanical, self-centered old man discusses how he lies to other lawyers and tries to get an edge by serving papers on opponents when he knows that they are suffering personal problems. Had he simply reprinted the cover page ... a photo of himself ... on every page in the inside I suspect that the book would have been as useful to both him and to the rest of us as it is in its present state.

I really wanted to like this book more than I did -- I really wanted to -- great title, and you figure the author, a top divorce lawyer, would have some good advice. But there's not much here. It's mostly just anecdotes about being a divorce laywer, and about his divorce cases, with an occasional -- rare -- bit of negotiation advice randomly thrown in. If you want to read about divorce law, this book works. But if you want to read about negotiation -- and if you take the author's advice and not bother with other "academic" books, you will be woefully unprepared against a trained negotiator. Don't believe me? Do a test. Read this book and then imagine yourself across from the following volleys of negotiation:

"I only have $5,000, that's all I have."
"You've got to do better than that."
"You've got to do MUCH better than that."
"I don't have much time. What have you got?"
"What if I doubled/tripled/etc my order?"

All of these are basic negotiation tactics, with basic counter-measures that can be used. You will not find them in this book. If you need the basics, suggest you start with Dawson's "Power Negotiating" or Camp's "Start with No." And be careful, do not get suckered into that "Getting to Yes" win/win stuff -- those are horrible tactics and you will not have a chance against a trained negotiator. In fact, Bare-Knuckle Negotiation is much better than those feel-good win-win books.