The Horse Whisperer

As I was dusting off the workings on the whiteboard, I could feel the defense attorney loitering at the table.

She came up behind me, so close I felt her breath on my ear and, in a conspiratorial tone, she whispered that whatever magic trick I had played on the plaintiff...'it should be bottled and used next time she engaged me'.
It bothered me all the way home.

Magic tricks*...rabbits in hats!?

Where had she been all day??

Where was she when I moved early to manage expectations and then avoided a futile discussion around 'must haves' at 9am?

Instead preferring, over the course of morning, to slowly create doubt and encourage trust where it would most pay off later on...eventually coaching that last all important conversation to unfold as an authentic dialogue, not just about (but all to do with) the money?

*See generally Robert Benjamin and his writings on mediators as tricksters