Theatre – HAMILTON – Can it Teach us a Lesson in Mediations?

How well one should understand their opponent’s position in a mediation is perhaps an odd issue to arise from a musical, but Hamilton has a fair go of it.

A little history first: Alexander Hamilton was one of the Founding Fathers, the first Secretary of the Treasury, one of three people to participate in the ‘Compromise of 1790’, and was shot and killed by Aaron Burr in 1804.

Much can be made of the story the musical tells, but I have been asked to comment from a ‘legal’ perspective. While the legality of duelling in the late 1790’s and early 1800’s is an intriguing topic, I have decided to take my shot at the Compromise of 1790.

In one part of the musical, a song called ‘The Room Where It Happens’ tells of a meeting, between Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison.

Little is known of what occurred exactly (except that there was no mediator present).

The song suggests that Alexander Hamilton came away from the negotiation victorious: Hamilton came away with support for his bill for the assumption of state debt, while Jefferson and Madison came away with the location of the nation’s capital on the Potomac River between Virginia and Maryland. The song suggests that because the bank(s) would be in the North, Hamilton viewed the nation’s capital being placed in the South as an unimportant loss. Of course, the musical simplifies – as do I – the financial policies of Hamilton greatly.

On one view, this compromise highlights how important it can be to understand the different perspectives of the bargaining parties, the outcome each party seeks, and your opponent’s position generally, because what is important to one party may not be important to the other party. This would, no doubt, affect the attitude taken in the mediation. Of course, it is not always possible to predict what outcome the opposing party would be happy with (and incidentally, quite recently, someone described to me their view that the purpose of a mediation is to ensure that each party is only ‘slightly unhappy’ with the outcome; this is probably right). But even a slight appreciation of the wants of the opposing party will put you in a better position to obtain what your client wants (and may prevent you from asking ‘What’d I Miss?’).

Notwithstanding this, I recommend Hamilton to you as a great night out, an experience, and your own chance to be in ‘The Room Where It Happens’.