Monet, Renoir, Degas....Step Aside

So much of what we do in the Trenches is about perception and not necessarily reality.  I always tell clients that you never can tell what a judge will do.  Sometimes a witness gets under their skin. Maybe they remind the judge of their brother, who they can't stand.  Maybe the judge is in a bad mood.  Maybe the witness just rubs the judge the wrong way.  You can never tell, and it colors how the judge views the evidence and the witness.  It really doesn't matter why; it just is, and those of us in the Trenches have to deal with it.
In a like vein, it doesn't matter if the client is crazy, an embezzler, or an adulterer. Likewise, it doesn't matter if they were the perfect spouse or the perfect parent.  What matters is whether they can make the judge believe any of those things.   It's a broad strokes kind of thing, and if you do it right, the judge fills in the details.  Kind of like an impressionist painting. So many clients spend so much time on the details that they lose their audience and what they really want to say gets lost. because there's no big picture.
This whole perception thing doesn't just come into play in the courtroom.  It happens n day to day negotiations as well.  A client is asked for documents.  Maybe the request seems overwhelming.  Maybe the client is too busy to put a lot of effort into it.  Maybe the client doesn't think it's important.  It doesn't matter.  The result is that all of the documents don't get produced.  The other side doesn't know the client well (or maybe they know them too well).  They wonder why the documents aren't produced.  Being in an adversarial situation, the other side puts a negative spin on it.  They wonder what the client is hiding. Then, they become convinced that the client is dishonest or out to screw them.
Most clients don't understand the power of perception and the importance of managing it.  They think the truth will prevail.  It will, but only if the decision makers can hear it.  That's why we manage perception; it opens eyes and ears.   Now if only the clients would stop fighting us when we try to help them do it.  Here in the Trenches.