[bdowling]

> I'm really bad when it comes to negotiations and figuring out a good barter.

> I absolutely don't want to take the legal route and want to work something out mutually.

You know, a good lawyer is both good at listening to his client’s goals and good at negotiating. Such a lawyer would avoid a “scorched earth” outcome, if that’s what you want, and also negotiate a better deal than you could on your own. Lawyers who specialize in business transactions are sometimes called transactional lawyers (as opposed to litigators, who specialize in asserting claims in court).