Negotiating has been the heart of Jim's 25-year law practice. His experience includes mergers and acquisitions, domestic and international business transactions, arms control, the environment, trade and diplomacy, real estate, labor relations, and a host of other fields. His clients range from Fortune 500 companies and federal, state, and local government agencies to small and mid-sized businesses, non-profit groups, and professional and trade associations.

Jim's current negotiating projects include some of today's most newsworthy domestic and international issues. He served the United States in the successful Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) negotiations with the former Soviet Union and the GATT (now WTO) trade negotiations.

While the intense demand for Jim's negotiating, lawyering, speaking, and writing talents sometimes limits his availability, clients unanimously agree that a day with Jim Thomas is an unforgettable event.

Jim's presentation style is frequently described as “a combination of negotiator, lawyer, and standup comedian.” “If I can make people laugh, I can make them learn,” says Jim. “My job is to create such a spellbinding event that attendees can't help but pay attention, and make it so much fun that they can't help but learn.” His success can be seen in the towering marks his attendees give him.

About Jim's Workshops Produced Through His Seminar Firm, Common Ground

Engaging, intense, active, interesting, fun – these are Common Ground's standards for content and delivery. Our programs are performance enhancement experiences that unfold in a “high- immersion” training environment of multimedia, lecture, group discussion, case studies, diagnostic tests, and other interactive techniques. Participants regularly put what they've learned to the test in challenging, skill-building case study simulations. They don't just learn the material, they experience it. The result is practical, hard-hitting training that produces immediate, measurable improvement in attendees' skills

While no two Common Ground programs are alike, a representative time allocation is 25% didactic, 25% facilitated problem solving, 40% experiential case study simulation, and 10% takeaway review and summary.

Many firms promise tailored programs but deliver the same old canned presentations. Common Ground is different. We extensively customize every program we present. We work with you to ensure that your program specifically addresses your organization's priorities and concerns, and complements your philosophy, strategy, products, procedures and existing training programs.

We interview your people and (confidentially, of course) we learn your business – who you are, what you do, how you do it, what your corporate culture is, where your industry stands and where you stand in your industry, what your short- and long-term objectives are, and what issues, problems and circumstances affect your target audience. With this information, we prepare a unique training event for you.

Tailored case studies – lifelike scenarios that students can instantly relate to – are the best way to clarify, validate and reinforce classroom concepts, and make them immediately transferable to the workplace. Common Ground is unsurpassed when it comes to the creation of unique, client-specific exercises. At no additional charge, we work in partnership with you to develop convincingly realistic scenarios that will excite and inform your attendees.