Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School - Educational Institution, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Negotiation Classes

The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School offers negotiation classes for every experience level, from professionals attending their first formal training to veteran dealmakers refining advanced techniques. Foundational options include Negotiation Essentials Online, a two-day program that introduces core frameworks for preparing, creating value, and reaching agreement. The flagship Negotiation and Leadership program, held in person in Cambridge, Massachusetts, builds on decades of research to help participants handle their most consequential negotiations. Experienced negotiators can advance further through Managing Complex Negotiations, the Harvard Negotiation Master Class, and semester-length seminars that examine negotiation theory in depth.

Every class combines instruction from leading faculty with hands-on simulations, role plays, and structured feedback. You practice the skills you study, then debrief with instructors and peers to understand what worked and why. Participants join from business, law, government, education, and the nonprofit sector, which makes the classroom itself a valuable part of the learning. Whichever class you choose, you leave with frameworks you can apply in your next negotiation

The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School’s mediation classes prepare you to step into disputes as a neutral party and guide the people involved toward resolution. The Harvard Mediation Intensive, held in person in Cambridge, Massachusetts, teaches the core mediation process, from opening a session and managing strong emotions to helping parties generate options and reach durable agreements. The Harvard Advanced Mediation Intensive extends that foundation for experienced practitioners who want to sharpen their technique in more difficult cases.

Professionals seeking a deeper academic treatment can enroll in the semester-length Mediation and Conflict Management seminar, which pairs mediation theory with sustained practice over several months. Across these mediation classes, you learn by doing. Simulated disputes, live coaching, and detailed debriefs help you build the judgment that effective mediators rely on. Participants include lawyers, human resources professionals, managers, ombuds, and others who resolve conflict as part of their work. Many attend to become mediators; others attend to bring mediation skills into leadership, legal practice, or team management.

Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School - Educational Institution, Cambridge, Massachusetts

The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School

Program on Negotiation

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Negotiation Training

Negotiation training from The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School is grounded in more than four decades of research. The teaching model pairs proven frameworks with intensive practice. In each program, you study concepts such as interests, alternatives, value creation, and difficult conversations, then apply them immediately in realistic simulations with fellow participants. Faculty and expert instructors debrief every exercise so you understand not only what to do but when and why to do it.

Training formats fit a range of schedules and goals. One-day PONx sessions target specific challenges, such as dealing with difficult counterparts. Two-day programs build foundational or advanced skills. Semester-length seminars offer sustained study for professionals who want academic depth. Organizations can also bring negotiation training in-house through Negotiation Essentials In-House, a two-day program delivered directly to teams. Whatever the format, the goal is the same: negotiation skills you can use the day you return to work.

Negotiation Classes Online

The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School’s negotiation classes online bring Harvard-affiliated instruction to professionals anywhere in the world, with no travel required. Negotiation Essentials Online (NEO) is a two-day, live online program that covers preparation, value creation, and claiming value in everyday and high-stakes negotiations. Managing Complex Negotiations: Strategies for Success, also delivered live online, serves experienced professionals who handle multiparty deals, cultural barriers, and structural complexity. One-day, online-only PONx programs let you build expertise in a focused area in a single session.

For deeper study, PON offers semester-length online seminars, including Negotiation and Dispute Resolution and Mediation and Conflict Management. Online programs are interactive by design. You participate in live discussions, negotiate in breakout simulations with peers from around the world, and receive direct feedback from instructors. Participants who successfully complete qualifying programs receive a certificate from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, a credential recognized across industries.

Mediation Training

Mediation training at The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School develops the practical skills needed to help disputing parties reach an agreement. Programs move step by step through the mediation process. You learn how to open a mediation, build trust with both sides, surface underlying interests, manage impasse, and draft agreements that hold. Training relies heavily on simulation, so you spend much of your time mediating realistic disputes under the guidance of experienced instructors.

The Harvard Mediation Intensive provides the foundation, while the Harvard Advanced Mediation Intensive challenges experienced mediators with harder cases and more nuanced dynamics. The Mediation and Conflict Management semester seminar offers an extended path for professionals who want to study mediation theory alongside practice. This mediation training serves aspiring and practicing mediators as well as lawyers, executives, HR leaders, and public officials who want to resolve disputes more effectively without formal mediation roles. Participants leave with a repeatable process they can apply in courtrooms, boardrooms, and workplaces alike.

Executive Negotiation Training

Executive negotiation training from The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School is built for leaders whose negotiations carry organizational weight. Executives, senior managers, general counsel, and government officials attend to sharpen the judgment they bring to high-stakes deals, internal alignment challenges, and public negotiations. The flagship Negotiation and Leadership program, taught in person in Cambridge, Massachusetts, anchors the executive portfolio. The Harvard Negotiation Master Class serves accomplished negotiators who have completed prior PON training and want to test their skills at the highest level.

Executives with less time can choose focused options such as Managing Complex Negotiations, a two-day live online program on multiparty and cross-cultural deals, or one-day PONx sessions on specific challenges. Organizations that want to train entire leadership teams can arrange custom in-house programs. Across the portfolio, executive negotiation training pairs research-backed strategy with realistic practice against experienced peers.

Conflict Resolution Training

Conflict resolution training at The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School addresses the full range of professional disputes, from workplace disagreements and contract standoffs to multiparty public conflicts. Programs teach you to diagnose the sources of conflict, separate positions from interests, manage strong emotions, and design processes that move parties toward resolution. The semester-length Negotiation and Dispute Resolution seminar offers the most sustained treatment, combining theory from leading scholars with months of applied practice.

Shorter programs weave conflict resolution skills throughout. Negotiation Essentials Online covers difficult conversations and everyday workplace friction. Mediation programs teach you to resolve disputes as a neutral third party. Advanced offerings address conflicts complicated by culture, coalitions, and competing stakeholders. Participants include managers, attorneys, government officials, educators, and HR professionals, anyone whose work requires turning disagreement into workable outcomes. Conflict resolution training from PON gives you tested frameworks in place of improvisation, so you can approach your next dispute with a clear process and greater confidence.