International Journal of Language Studies Volume 8, Number 4, October 2014, pp. 49-76 ISSN: 2157-4898; EISSN: 2157-4901 © 2014 IJLS; Printed in the USA by Lulu Press Inc. Analysis of authentic legal negotiation: Implications for teaching contract negotiation to undergraduate law students Anthony TOWNLEY , Koç University Istanbul, Turkey Mehdi RIAZI, Macquarie University Sydney, Australia This paper reports a research study that analysed legal negotiation discourse in response to perceived deficiencies in using textbooks for teaching legal English writing to undergraduate law students in Turkey. Micro and macro text analysis were performed on the data sets and lawyers from the participating law firms were interviewed to discuss discursive features identified in the textual analysis. The duality of this analytical approach proves valuable in providing both description of the lexico-grammatical features and rhetorical structures of the negotiation discourse process and an understanding of the professional practices that influence and shape the negotiations. Analytical findings from this research study represent a comprehensive (intertextually and interdiscursively oriented) ontology of legal negotiation discourse, which makes a meaningful contribution to English for Legal Purposes (ELP) pedagogy. They can also be used for the development of teaching materials that better prepare undergraduate law students for the discursive realities and complexities of negotiating commercial contracts in English. Keywords: English for Legal Purposes (ELP); Contract Negotiation; Legal Discourse Analysis; Genre Analysis; Intertextuality; Interdiscursivity 1. Introduction In 2010, one of the authors of this research paper was appointed to teach an English for Legal Purposes (ELP) writing program at a private university in Istanbul. The course is mandatory for undergraduate law students, which was conceptualized to give them the opportunity to use the (English) language in legal writing as practicing lawyers or researchers. However, the course syllabus and textbook materials that the author inherited from the previous instructor were not based on any empirical needs assessment of the students. For instance, most of the writing course was designed to teach students how to analyse and write case notes for United States Supreme Court decisions