We've all heard the phrase "every coin has two sides," but it doesn't quite convey the potential range of alternative factual recitations or opinions.
Shareholder Richard Lord
True, there can be one version, and another contrary version of the topic being discussed, but to say there is another side is incomplete. There is also what may be considered to be, as one speaker at this week's American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution Spring Conference called it, "absolute truth", a third and rather elusive side to the coin.
There is also the history to be written by the court (whether the author of that history is a judge or the jury) -- the coin's fourth side, speaker Jerome Weiss of Cleveland, Ohio, added.
Remembering that the potential outcome of a process of adjudication may not look squarely like either of the coin's "two sides" is an important part of a fair analysis and reasonable risk assessment central to negotiated dispute resolution.
Upchurch Watson White & Max Shareholder Richard Lord will continue to blog from the ABA DR Spring Conference this weekend.
