Legal Role-Play:

Summitville Service Agreement

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$0.00 – $6.00

Patrick Field and Tracy Dyke

A two-team (four-party), co-mediated, multi-issue negotiation simulation involving a bitter property tax dispute between a small town and an Indian band living on a nearby reservation

Quantity

Please note: you must order a copy (a.k.a. license/usage fee) for every person participating in the simulation in your course. This simulation has multiple roles, so you will be unable to complete your purchase without meeting the minimum quantity requirement of copies per role.

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PON Teaching Negotiation Resource Center

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Soft copy vs. hard copy

You may order this role simulation in either soft copy (electronic) or hard copy (paper) format. If you select the soft copy option, you will receive an e-mail with a URL (website address) from which you may download an electronic file in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. You will have one week to download your materials from when you receive the email. You are then only authorized to use, print, or share the materials as many times as the number of copies you purchase. The TNRC charges for use of this simulation on a per-participant basis. Therefore, you must purchase a separate copy of this simulation for each person who will be participating, regardless of the number of roles in the simulation. You will only receive a link to one electronic file, which includes all general instructions, confidential instructions, and any teaching notes for the simulation. You should separate out the instructions before distributing to participants.

If you select the hard copy option, you will receive paper copies of this role simulation via the shipping method you select.

For additional information about the soft copy option, please visit our FAQ section, or contact the PON Teaching Negotiation Resource Center at tnrc@law.harvard.edu or 800-258-4406 (within the U.S.) or 301-528-2676 (outside the U.S.).

Please note: At the present time, Teaching Negotiation Resource Center soft copies are compatible with the following versions of the Adobe Acrobat Reader: English, German, French, Spanish, Swedish, Portuguese, Japanese, and Korean. If you have a different version of the Acrobat Reader, you may wish to download one of these at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html, or contact the PON Teaching Negotiation Resource Center at tnrc@law.harvard.edu, 800-258-4406 (within the U.S.), or 301-528-2676 (outside the U.S.) for further assistance. This restriction does not apply to the freely available Teacher’s Package Review Copies.

Ordering a single copy for review

If you wish to review the materials for a particular role simulation to decide whether you’d like to use it, a PDF, or soft copy, version of the Teacher’s Package for the simulation is available as a free download from the description page of most role simulations and case studies. All Teacher’s Packages include copies of all participant materials. In addition, some Teacher’s Packages (but not all) include additional teaching materials such as teaching notes or overhead masters.

Ordering copies for multiple participants

To order multiple copies of a role simulation for use in a course or workshop, simply enter the total number of participants in the box next to “Quantity.” There is no need to calculate how many of each role is required.

If you are ordering hard copies, the Teaching Negotiation Resource Center will calculate the appropriate numbers of each role to provide, based on the total number of participants. For example, if you wish to order a 2-party role simulation for use with a class of 30 students, you would enter “30” in the box next to “Quantity.” You then would receive 15 copies of one role and 15 copies of the other role, for use with your 30 participants. As another example, if you ordered 30 participant copies of a 6-party role simulation, you would receive 5 copies of each role.

In the event that the number of participant copies you order is not evenly divisible by the number of roles in the simulation, you will receive extra copies of one or more roles. Participants receiving the extra roles may partner with other participants playing the same role, thus negotiating as a team. So, for instance, if you ordered 31 copies of a 2-party role simulation, you would receive 15 copies of the first role and 16 copies of the second role. One of the participants playing the second role would partner with another participant playing that same role, and the two would negotiate as a team.

Bulk Pricing Discount

For bulk orders, we offer the following pricing discounts. Please note that these only apply to bulk orders of the same simulation.

  • Between 100-250 copies – 10% discount
  • Between 251-500 copies – 25% discount
  • More than 500 copies – 50% discount
Log In or Register to download the free Teacher's Package Sample.

SCENARIO:

Summitville Service Agreement is a two-team, four-party, co-mediated, multi-issue simulation involving a property tax dispute between the small Canadian town of Summitville and the Antler Cove band living on a reservation just outside town limits.

The context of the dispute is that the Band has recently gained the right to tax non-Indian properties on its reserve land, and therefore the town can no longer tax those properties. Consequently, tax revenues are no longer available to the town to fund municipal services, and the Band and town must negotiate how those services will be provided to reserve land and at what cost to the Band. The key issue is a difference in perception regarding taxation authority. The town views this negotiation as simply defining a fee-for-service arrangement, where the Band should reimburse the town for municipal services that the town provides to Band property. In contrast, the Band perceives that the town is trying to infringe upon its sovereignty by requiring payment for town administration expenses when the Band is running its own government.

While the substantive issues related to crafting an acceptable service agreement are real and difficult, participants may discover through the mediation process that the broader relationship between the town and the Band must also be addressed.

 

MECHANICS:

Time require (5 hours total):

  • 45 minutes for preparation
  • 3.5 hours for simulation
  • 45 minutes for debrief

 

Group Size:

  • 6 participants (4 parties and 2 co-mediators)

 

Materials required:

  • General Instructions, including map and letters to the editor

 

Confidential Instructions for:

  • Mayor of Summitville B. Bolton (Town Representative)
  • Town Administrator T. Steeves (Town Representative)
  • Chief of Antler Cove Band A. John (Band Representative)
  • Band Administrator S. Robert (Band Representative)
  • Two co-mediators
  • Game logistics
  • Flip charts and Markers

 

TEACHING POINTS:

  • Zone of Possible Agreement (ZOPA) on key issues
  • Managing hierarchies within and across organizations
  • The mediators' role in framing the issues
  • Activity and style of the mediators
  • Maintaining control of the process and enforcing ground rules
  • Challenges and advantages of co-mediation

 

Summitville Service Agreement Attributes

Time required: 5 or more hours
Number of participants: 6
Teams involved: Yes
Agent present: Non-lawyer
Neutral third party present: Mediator
Scoreable: No
Teaching notes available: Yes
Filed in:
Community Dispute Resolution, Cross-Cultural, Dyke, Tracy, Field, Patrick, Governmental, Legal, Role Simulations
Tags:
agreement, dispute, ground rules, mediated, Mediation, mediation process, Mediator, mediators, negotiate, negotiation, PON, relationship, zone of possible agreement, ZOPA