If you have a favorite deal you believe demonstrates outstanding negotiating performance, please send a letter telling us when the negotiation occurred, a brief description of the deal and why you consider it noteworthy. We will be pleased to publish your recommendation. Please limit your nomination letter to approximately 500 words or less. Please send your nomination to editor@negotiatormagazine.com.

King Solomon -- Arbitration: Maternal Claims Dispute
Assuming the nominee can be either living or dead, I nominate King Solomon as one of the greatest arbitrators in history for his settlement of the famous dispute over which claimant is the mother of a child. Solomon was King of Israel approximately 3000 years ago. The facts are these: two women appeared before the king, each claiming to be the mother of the same child. The first woman to speak told the king that the women lived together and each of them had recently given birth to a boy. Further, she alleged that the other woman had rolled on top of her son in the night and killed her infant. She further claimed that the other woman had switched the children in the night, placing the dead child with the speaker and stealing the speaker’s living child that she now pretends to be her son. The second mother denies the allegations and attests that the living boy is her true son. Solomon immediately creates a test to find the truth about the facts at issue in the dispute. "Bring me my sword," he commands. When the sword arrives, he tells the parties that the answer is simple. He will divide the living child and give half to each of the claimants. Now, that is putting it to the parties. Confronted with the proposed resolution, the first mother pleads with the king not to kill the child and instead that the boy be given to the other woman. The second woman agrees with the arbitrator’s solution of dividing the child as a fair settlement. Solomon, of course, awards the baby to the first woman as the rightful mother and is hailed for his wisdom. Certainly, he deserves to be included in the top negotiator group for a creative test of truth under the arbitration category.
- Frank Martin, New York, U.S.

James Monroe and Robert Livingston: Louisiana Purchase
I nominate James Monroe and Robert Livingston for negotiating the Louisiana Purchase for the United States in 1803. These two men were sent to France with authority to buy the port of New Orleans and Florida from Napoleon I and authorized to pay up to $2,000,000 for the two possessions. Instead, the French offered to sell them all of Louisiana or nothing on April 11, 1803. They had an agreement to buy the whole 800,000 square miles at 3 cents an acre by the end of the month. It is actually a complex deal. The negotiations settled the purchase price, the payment terms and interest rate, the transfer of liability for outstanding claims by U.S. citizens against France to the United States. The negotiators also established American and French due diligence arrangements and produced a twelve year tariff agreement on the importation of French and Spanish goods and the usage of ports in the Louisiana territory. Monroe and Livingston get my vote because they had the courage to exceed their $2 Million limit authority in order to get a great deal. They could not contact the home office quickly for instructions in those days (months by ship) and they took the risk. They agreed to pay $15 Million and doubled the size of the United States country overnight. Now, that is courage at the negotiating table. They also helped to sell the deal in the U.S. and get it the agreement approved by the Senate and signed by President Jefferson. Interestingly, they did not get Florida as a part of the deal.
- Frances Coughlin, USA

This category awaits nominations of achievements, large and small, that show outstanding negotiation performance. It might be a labor agreement, a dispute resolution, a house sale, an international settlement, a business contract...