Consensus Through Conversation How to Achieve High-commitment Decisions

• Publication year: 2007
• Pages: 65
• Citation: Vol. 36 No. 1 Pg. 65

36 Colo.Law. 65 Colorado Lawyer 2007.

2007, January, Pg. 65. Consensus Through Conversation How to Achieve High-Commitment Decisions

The Colorado Lawyer
January 2007
Vol. 36, No. 1 [Page 65]

Departments
Review of Legal Resources
Consensus Through Conversation: How to Achieve High-Commitment Decisions
by Masayo K. Quick

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CONSENSUS THROUGH CONVERSATION: HOW TO ACHIEVE HIGH-COMMITMENT DECISIONS
by Larry Dressler (San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2006) [Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc 235 Montgomery St., Ste. 650, San Francisco, CA 94104-2916 (415) 288-0260; bkconnection.com]; 96 pp.; $12; quantity discounts available for orders of ten or more copies.

Reviewed by Masayo K. Quick
Quick is a contract attorney specializing in civil appeals, estate planning, estate administration, and family law - m_quick@adelphia.net.

Larry Dressler is a familiar name in the business community; however, his new book, Consensus through Conversation: How to Achieve High-Commitment Decisions (Consensus through Conversation), has several possible applications to the field of law. For example, consensus could be used when drafting legislation, when a firm needs to pare down its practice areas, when a decision needs to be made regarding a particularly difficult case, or when some partners want to form a separate firm.

Consensus is an iterative discovery process designed to result in a decision that satisfies the necessary objectives in a way that all can support. Consensus takes longer than traditional hierarchical decision making, but because its collaborative nature tends to encourage "buy-in," this method can result in much faster implementation. Complex...