This does not mean that attorneys or witnesses are free to lie and mislead. The process requires uncompromising adherence to rules prohibiting perjury and dishonest or unethical advocacy. A client should certainly demand complete candor and honesty from his attorney. But the truth remains that the attorneys for both sides will put their best case forward. And experience tells us each party will invariably believe that the opposing counsel is lying.
Deception also invades witness testimony.
Even the most honest witnesses will shade the truth. Less scrupulous witnesses will consciously shade, hide, and dissemble the truth. The skillful attorney will devise ways to hunt out these falsehoods in the opponent's witnesses and expose them at the optimal moment for the greatest impact. It should be both a liberating and a sobering realization that the legal process achieves its ends through deception. Virtually every step in the process is susceptible to shading and manipulation.