For most lawyers, it’s a position they’d rather avoid: Persuading a judge to reverse an earlier decision is a delicate path to walk, one that’s almost always more treacherous than getting a judge to side with you in the first place.

For starters, there’s the fact the judge has already leaned your opponent’s way. Then there are the psychological barriers that make it unpleasant for a judge to backtrack and essentially admit they were wrong in the first instance.