When deciding how to best resolve the case you’re handling, there are any number of factors going into the equation. One worth considering is how your client (or even an important witness) will be perceived unconsciously by a judge of jury. Might there be some irrational, unconscious aversion based on his or her looks? Could the client be perceived as an outsider, someone not part of the community? If so, that should be part of the calculations you need to make.
Negotiation and mediation could be one way to lessen the risk a client’s case could fall victim to protective prejudice. Behind closed doors, working with a small group of professionals, might blunt that instinct. In a smaller group, where the parties communicate and learn each other’s background and objectives and get to know each other, perhaps the educated, rational, conscious brains in the room may make fair, reasonable decisions and overcome unconscious, primitive prejudices against those who are different.
