In a recent conversation I had with a financial analyst friend of mine, he brought up the idea of decision-making “in the clutch”. In an effort to better understand whether in retrospect decisions he had made to sell off under-performing stocks, had in the long run been good decisions, he undertook a look back at the process of decision-making and results when those decisions had been made under pressure. What he discovered was that when he’d made a decision under pressure, based on fear and market frenzy, in almost every instance it had turned out to be a bad decision.
Why am I writing about stock sale decisions, and what does it have to do with divorce, restructuring families, and the Consilium Process? The conversation I had with my friend got me to thinking about pressured decision-making in general, and how emotions often cloud rational decision-making. This is true for clients during the divorce process, and I’ve also found it to be true for their lawyers. Lawyers are tasked with being zealous advocates for their clients. However, they are also tasked with being wise counsel. Despite the common perception that lawyers are unfeeling, my experience tells me otherwise. In fact, I find that most lawyers care deeply and intensely, and want to do their best for their clients. By understanding the legal process but not being enmeshed in direct client representation during a divorce, the Consilium Process allows for distance enough to make unpressured decisions in a client’s best interest. It allows a lawyer in the throes of representation to have a forum in which to discuss strategies and alternatives with another lawyer who also has their client’s best interest in mind, while also having a 10,000 foot view and an overall perspective toward optimizing outcome for the entire restructured family.
Just as my friend hopes his analysis will inform his process and remove “in the clutch” decisions, I too hope the Consilium Process creates a forum for considered decisions made with compassion and concern, removed from fear, courtroom frenzy, and “in the clutch” underperformance.
