"Which version are you running?"
V2 The reliable one.....just kidding, I'm not upgrading yet.
"are you trimming laterally with "use apparent intersect""
I don't quite understand your question, I will say, in relation to your picture, that I will trim the surface on "left or right view" using a line for reference if is not a polysurface.
"do you generate another surface and trim with that ?"
this will be my second choice, in a situation like this one, I think I will go just drawing a line in space, with the angle that I need and trim the surface, what is happening to you right now is not a big deal, a trimmed surface it will keep it's information always, i believe there is new maths (ways of represent a trimmed surface) and they don't do this (keep the info of the original surface) but going into that detail is too much for me, i just make it work and that's it.
"Trim" works in a mysterious way, not only on rhino but in any other software.
And about work one side of a model, yes...that's the way to go