Description
Ethical Negotiation in Commercial Contracts: The Lawyer’s Craft Between Zeal and Virtue
Description
November 20, 2026
9am – 12:15pm
*For Non-Lawyers: use coupon code “CourseOnly” for $30 off – if you want to attend the course and do not need the CLE credit.
*For Student rate, please email: [email protected]
This engaging seminar invites lawyers to step inside the real-world ethical tensions that arise when commercial contracts are being negotiated under pressure. Ethical Negotiation in Commercial Contracts: The Lawyer’s Craft Between Zeal and Virtue is not a dry recitation of professional conduct requirements. Instead, it uses practical negotiation problems, lively hypotheticals, and the richer tradition of virtue ethics to ask what it means to advocate effectively while remaining truthful, trustworthy, and professionally grounded. Participants will explore common challenges such as puffing, strategic silence, client pressure, last-minute leverage, inadvertent disclosures, aggressive tactics, and the temptation to treat ethics as nothing more than risk avoidance. The program connects key Model Rules—including competence, client authority, confidentiality, candid advice, truthfulness, respect for others, and misconduct—with the virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. Lawyers will leave with a practical framework for distinguishing permissible advocacy from sharp practice, advising clients when the easy answer is not the right one, and negotiating with both strength and integrity. Designed for practicing attorneys who draft, review, or negotiate commercial agreements, this seminar will help attendees sharpen their judgment, protect their credibility, and become more effective negotiators without sacrificing professional character.
The course shall be a half-day event, held on Franciscan’s beautiful campus.
Course Details
| Modality | In-Person |
| Price | 129.00 |
| OH CLE | 3 Attorney Professional Conduct |
| WV CLE | 3.6 Total Attendance |
| PA CLE | 1.5 substantive 1.5 Ethics |
| CLE | Approved |
| Presenter | Timothy W. Silbaugh |
Timothy W. Silbaugh
Timothy W. Silbaugh is an experienced attorney whose practice has focused on real estateand business matters for clients involved in residential, commercial, interstate, and multi-state transactions. Over the course of his career, he has handled real estate and commercial and lease transactions valued in excess of $10,000,000, advised on business formations, and served as a title agent for Stewart Title.
Mr. Silbaugh was admitted to practice in Pennsylvania in 1975 and Texas in 1982, and he is also admitted before the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the Supreme Court of the United States. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the Texas State Bar, and the Pennsylvania Association of Notaries. His broad admissions, professional memberships, and multi-jurisdictional experience inform a practical approach to legal issues that cross state lines—an especially relevant perspective for lawyers practicing in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia.
He earned his B.A. in Pre-Law from Pennsylvania State University with highest distinction in 1972 and graduated cum laude from Notre Dame Law School in 1975, where he served as Administrative Editor of the Notre Dame Lawyer.
Mr. Silbaugh began his legal career as an associate with Eckerd Seamans Cherin & Mellott in Pennsylvania from 1975 to 1982. He then practiced in Texas with Ronald L. Evans & Associates from 1982 to 1985, before founding Timothy W. Silbaugh & Associates, where he practiced in Texas from 1985 to 1990. Since 1990, he has continued his practice as Timothy W. Silbaugh in Pennsylvania.
As a CLE presenter, Mr. Silbaugh brings decades of hands-on legal experience, practical transaction insight, and a clear understanding of the issues lawyers face when advising clients on real estate, title, leasing, commercial transactions and business matters across state jurisdiction
Time Schedule
| 9:00 – 9:15 | Why Ethics Matter in High-Stakes Negotiations |
| 9:15 – 9:30 | The Lawyer’s Duties in Negotiation |
| 9:30 – 10:15 | Model Rules Commonly Implicated in Commercial Negotiations |
| 10:15 – 10:30 | Where the Ethical Lines Really Are |
| 10:30 – 10:45 | Break |
| 10:45 – 11:15 | Virtue Ethics, St. Thomas More and the Negotiator |
| 11:15 – 11:25 | Review of hypothetical three-part framework |
| 11:25 – 12:05 | Practical Hypotheticals and Group Discussion |
| 12:05 – 12:15 | The Lawyer’s Ethical Checklist |
Check Payment Policy:
If you prefer to pay by check, a $40 deposit or full payment is required to be sent in before a seat is reserved.
Cancellation Fee:
Due to the costs associated with our course offerings, the Center has implemented a 25% cancellation fee. Those costs relate to food and beverages
purchased in advance and the fees we need pay to outside presenters. Cancellation fees will apply to those that do not show up for the course or those
who cancel ahead of its offering. The Center appreciates your understanding.
*All courses are approved for continuing legal education by state authorizing bodies and are not courses for academic credit.
Want to know more?
Reach out to Dr. Charles Nemeth, Program Director, who would be happy to assist.
