The question that changed how I work.

A client once looked at me across the mediation table and said:
"Why am I only hearing this now?"

She wasn't angry about how things unfolded.
She was angry that no one had prepared her for it.

That moment changed how I work.

Because here's what mediation keeps teaching me:
Trust doesn't break down at the end.
It breaks down long before that.

Clients can handle bad news.
They can handle the weaknesses in their case.
They can even handle lowered settlement ranges.

What they can't handle is being blindsided by information that should have been discussed much earlier, in a way they can digest it.

That's not a legal problem.
That's a trust problem.

And it's entirely avoidable.

The barristers and lawyers clients trust most don't protect them by avoiding hard conversations.
They have them early.

The strengths.
The weaknesses.
The risks.
The outcomes they won't like.

All of it.

Before the openings.
Before the offers.
Before the breakout rooms.

Because disappointment doesn't destroy trust.
Being blindsided and delivering bad news in a way that erodes trust does.