Michael Fitzgibbons posts on The Optics of Employment Law. His comments are so true and well worth considering before you act.

If I might add, this concept while particularly important to employment law situations, extends to many other areas of law where human interests conflict. The importance of “optics” on position becomes so important that positions are put to consultants to evaluate with mock juries, ect. You often hear of one of the parties described as sympathetic or otherwise. Let’s face it, certain parties resonate with or against deep seated cultural values that we all hold. Some of those cultural values are good or bad, but that’s a topic (book) for another day. The important point is to understand the optics, and more importantly, where you fit into that spectrum.

One very useful tool that you might take a look at is George Polti’s “The 36 dramatic Situations”. My dad had a copy of that book and I used to read it for fun. The text is interesting for a number of reasons. For one, you figure out that Hollywood relies on about three storylines and then you wonder why Hollywood doesn’t rely on more storylines. Go figure. It also helps you identify various scenarios that we (and our clients) find ouselves in on a daily basis. The stories and various characters are immediately apparent in the sympathies or repugnacy that they draw. You will quickly see all the “feel good” stories and the “tear jerkers”. And from this point you might get some ideas on how to take a bad story and at least make it a better story.

I would always rather put Hamlet in front of an arbitrator as opposed to Gertrude or Claudius. And if done properly the arbitrator might give Hamlet another day.