Have you ever played "good cop, bad cop"? Parents do it all the time. Usually mama is the good cop and daddy is the bad cop, in the sense that mamma doesn't spank, but daddy will. "You wait until your father gets home" frequently is all it takes to get good behavior from young hooligans.
I've done "good cop, bad cop" in lawsuits, when I have co-counsel. I used to work with a very nice guy, and I'd be the bad cop, the meanie. The game was "let's you and me work together, otherwise you'll have to deal with the bitch."
Yes, it's manipulative, but it works. Similarly, one way to settle cases is to explain to the litigants that they are not likely to be happy with what the judge decides, especially if the judge is a real hardass. Works best when both sets of lawyers agree that the judge is a tyrant.
I could be wrong, of course, but to me, it makes sense. Goal #1 is to get rid of the frickin' WMD, and roust Al Qaeda types out of their lovenests. Everything else is extremely secondary, in my opinion. |
