Despite the thunder clap slap of the word “perjury,” most judges and lawyers know that parties and witnesses often lie in court and that very little comes from it. And that’s too bad.

We don’t need to discuss matters of opinion, statements of feelings, or interpretations of events that turn out to be wrong. It would be absurd for judges and lawyers to sort out the legitimacy of such subjective matters. What should concern us instead are those objective moments most experienced trial lawyers and judges see where a statement of a cold, hard fact, is proved to have been intentionally misstated by a witness under oath—especially when it’s a party. Too often this gets shrugged off for a variety of reasons.