Justice Anyone?

"It's called a Judicial Center, not a Justice Center."  Don't you love that?  No?  Well, me neither, but it's the truth.   What's dispensed at the Judicial Center is not necessarily justice, but what the judge says it is.  It really stinks, especially when the judge doesn't dispense justice to your client, but rather dumps it on them.  It really really stinks when your client is a nice person who has always done the right thing, for the right reasons.  I hate when nice guys finish last.  So, how did this happen when the evidence seemed to be obviously in his favor?  This is the part that clients don't understand.  I tell them all the time, that the story and the evidence are only part of what happens in the courtroom.  In the courtroom, the judge also observes the parties, the attorneys and the witnesses.  That observation isn't just to determine whether someone is telling the truth.  It is also for fact finding.  That was the case today.  We had an expert that said one thing about one of the parties, but when the judge observed that party in the courtroom, she decided to discount what the expert said because of what she observed about the party n the courtroom.  The judge based her entire decision on that observation.  That's why it is so hard to win a family law appeal - the appellate court regularly defers to the trial judge because the judge observes the people in the courtroom and discerns information not apparent from the written transcript.  That information can color how the judge views all the other evidence, and the appellate court knows it.  Managing that information is difficult and there's an art to it.  It's why not just anyone can be a good trial lawyer.  Here in the Trenches.