WorkflowLitigation & Dispute Resolution

Early Case Assessment

Early case assessment that turns a new lawsuit’s first documents into a litigation decision tree, each probability backed by cited documents, and a memo the partner signs.

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Trace a new lawsuit to the partner’s signed memo ↓

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The problem

The first number a sued client hears rests on a spreadsheet nobody can trace

A client is served and asks two questions: what will this cost, and should we fight it? A senior associate gives two to three weeks to the complaint, the contract and the first custodians’ email, then types outcome probabilities into a spreadsheet. Nobody can say later why summary judgment sits where it does.

The partner edits those guesses by feel, and her reasons go nowhere. This judge’s actual record on dismissal and summary judgment gets looked up by hand, if at all. The email that changes the case often turns up in discovery months later, after the client has already set its reserve.

Built forLitigation partnersPractice chairsSenior associatesLegal project managers

The Problem Today

A client being sued wants a candid view before funding years of litigation, and gets a number with no reasons.

33.7: months from filing to a civil trial, national median published

Weighed afresh on each new suit

Documents
Claims
Odds
Budget

The bad email comes lateSurfaces in discovery, long after the first advice
Weeks of associate readingTwo to three weeks before a first assessment exists

The Solution

First documents readComplaint, contract and custodians’ email sorted; privileged set aside
Each claim, both sidesEach element shows the documents that help and the ones that hurt
A tree with its evidenceEach probability carries the judge’s record and the documents behind it
The partner decidesShe overrides with a reason; the root and the range recompute

Built-in controls

Only a partner sets a probability a client sees
Privileged documents set aside on arrival
No client file feeds model training

What You Get

Partners give the client a defensible number, with the evidence and the reasons that would change it.

18 hours: of associate time on a first assessment, from about 70 our estimate

A settlement range at the rootRecomputed the moment an estimate changes
Cost to trial, phase by phaseOn the task codes clients approve budgets by
A memo the client can followEach sentence cited to a page or a court record

Nine screens, one new suit

Early case assessment from the first-day documents to a signed memo

Ordered as a new lawsuit moves through the firm: who opens each screen, how it works for them, and the trouble it removes.

01First documents
First-day documents sorted by custodian, privileged email held back
How it works
- The complaint, the agreement, invoices and four custodians’ email read by set
- 1,900 documents read in 41 minutes: 212 relevant and 37 key
- 9 privileged emails held until a lawyer releases them
- Each custodian’s email on a timeline, marked where it hurts or helps
Senior associateStarts on the key documents on the first day, instead of reading two to three weeks of email to find the one that matters.
02Merits, claim by claim
Each claim broken into its elements, with the documents for and against
How it works
- Four counts, two defenses and the counterclaim, each split into its legal elements
- Each element marked met, disputed or weak, with both sides cited
- A strength score per claim, 41% on the good-faith count
- Each claim names the branch of the tree it moves
Senior associateChecks the mapping in an afternoon with the adverse documents set beside the helpful ones, so nothing that hurts the client drops out of the memo.
03Damages exposure
Damages built from the complaint, with and without the lost-profits limit
How it works
- The $6.8M claim split by complaint paragraph: lost profits, inventory and sub-dealer losses
- Fees and interest added for a full verdict of $8.4M
- The $1.56M counterclaim counted in each outcome
- Seven outcomes drawn as bars by net value and chance
Litigation partnerCan tell the client which single fact moves the exposure most: whether a jury reads one internal email as bad faith.
04Cost to trial
Defense cost to trial by phase, on the litigation task codes
How it works
- Six phases from case assessment to appeal, each with hours by role at the matter’s rate card
- $1.30M through trial and $1.52M through appeal
- Experts and vendors on their own line: $72,550 of experts at trial
- Rates outside the approved card are refused
Legal project managerApproves a budget the client’s billing system accepts phase by phase, before any cost figure reaches the client.
05Decision tree
A litigation decision tree, dismissal to appeal, rolled back to one value
How it works
- Each branch carries its probability, each node its rolled-back value
- Seven outcomes, each with its net value and path probability
- −$2.1M expected at the root, costs and counterclaim included
- A settlement range of $1.0M to $2.1M, counterclaim waived
Litigation practice chairSees the whole case and the range she can recommend on one screen, with the arithmetic behind the root open to check.
06Motion to dismiss estimate
The judge’s grant rate beside each estimate, with its count of rulings
How it works
- The dismissal estimate opens on the judge’s record: 11% granted in full over 46 rulings
- The agent’s reasoning: this judge grants in part 30% of the time, so a partial grant is likelier
- Documents for and against the estimate, each one cited
- A rate resting on fewer than 20 rulings is flagged
Litigation partnerPuts the judge’s actual record in front of each estimate without a hand search through dismissal and summary judgment rulings.
07Summary judgment evidence
An evidence drawer that opens each estimate on the documents behind it
How it works
- The agent’s estimate of 45%, its range of 38–52% and the value in use
- The judge grants defense summary judgment in contract cases 41% of the time, over 34 rulings
- Against us: the sales head’s email, a board deck and a regional manager’s note
- A click on any cited document shows its passage
Senior associateProposes an estimate with the documents on both sides already in front of the partner, so the conversation is about evidence.
08Partner override
A partner override, with a required reason, that recomputes the whole tree
How it works
- Only a partner sets a probability that reaches the client
- A reason is required, saved with her name and the time
- Summary judgment from 45% to 30% moves the root from −$2.1M to −$2.9M
- The range follows to $1.7M to $2.9M, and the memo is redrafted
Litigation practice chairChanges an estimate on judgment, on the record, so the board’s question about why the number moved already has its answer.
09Assessment memo
A cited memo for the client’s general counsel, redrafted after each override
How it works
- The recommendation first: fight the motion, then settle
- The numbers, claim by claim, and what would change the view
- Figures changed by the override highlighted for the partner
- The client sees it only once the partner signs
Litigation practice chairSigns a memo the client’s general counsel can take to the board on day 3; the last comparable memo took fifteen working days.

Seven outcomes weigh to −$2.1M before the partner reads the email

Net values include defense costs and the counterclaim. After the override to 30%, the same seven outcomes weigh to −$2.9M.

Outcome	Chance	Net to the client
Dismissed on motion	8%	+$1.08M
Win at summary judgment	41.4%	+$0.84M
Defense verdict at trial	7.6%	+$0.26M
Contract verdict, affirmed on appeal	9.5%	−$3.36M
Contract verdict, reversed on appeal	3.2%	+$0.04M
Full verdict, affirmed on appeal	24.3%	−$8.36M
Full verdict, cut to contract damages	6.1%	−$3.36M

Four facts in the client’s own first documents that shape the estimates

Found in the client’s own first documents.

The sales head’s email about a clean exit

It asks not to offer a cure period. The estimator cites it against summary judgment from the first read; left to discovery, it tends to surface months later.

A fee that may not be a franchise fee

The $25,000 invoiced at onboarding paid for training delivered at cost. That reading is the opening for the motion to dismiss the franchise count.

Recall credits that left the balance undisputed

$310,000 of credits went out before the default notice, and $1.56M still stood, all over 60 days. A regional manager’s note on slow pay sits beside them.

A sub-dealer that moved at the distributor’s suggestion

A sub-dealer’s letter says it began buying direct at the distributor’s own suggestion, which supports the defense to the interference count.

Around the tree

The run, the record and the board summary behind the assessment

Screens the matter team and the client’s board open beside the decision tree.

Run log on the first documents: 1,900 sorted, 241 near-duplicates grouped, 212 relevant and 37 key marked, and one email flagged for a partner — **The agents’ run on the first documents**1,900 documents sorted, 241 near-duplicates grouped, claims mapped, the judge’s record refreshed, and one email flagged for a partner’s eye.

Merits view of the lost-profits limit defense at 55%: the clause applies, bad faith disputed, with the motive email and a direct-sales plan against it — **The lost-profits limit, element by element**The clause applies; bad faith is disputed. This defense decides between a $3.4M contract verdict and a $8.4M full verdict.

Judge and venue: dismissal and summary judgment grant rates with their counts of rulings, and months from filing to trial, 39 before this judge — **The judge’s record, with its counts**Grant rates by motion and case type, each with its count of rulings, and months to trial: 39 before this judge against a national median of 33.7.

Cited email opened from the evidence drawer: the sales head writes that the past-due balance gives a clean exit and asks not to offer a cure period — **The passage behind a citation**Cited documents open at their own words. Here, the sales head calls the past-due balance a clean exit from the distributor.

One-page board summary of the assessment: three lines, the settlement range of $1.7M to $2.9M highlighted, and the partner’s signature — **A one-page summary for the client’s board**The same memo in three lines for the board, the range of $1.7M to $2.9M highlighted, under the partner’s signature.

Matter log: agent runs, an associate’s proposal, two partner overrides with their reasons and the signed memo, newest first — **Each estimate and override, on the record**Agent runs, an associate’s proposal, partner overrides and why they were made, then the signature. The log outlives the matter by seven years.

Behind the estimates

Agents read, map and estimate; a partner owns each number the client sees

From the first read to the drafted memo, with the limit written into each.

Intake reader

Sorts the first-day documents by set and custodian, groups duplicates, marks key documents and sets privileged ones aside.

Never reads a privileged document into the analysis without a lawyer’s release

Claims mapper

Breaks each claim, defense and counterclaim into its elements and links the documents that help and hurt.

Never drops an adverse document

Court analyst

Pulls the judge’s and the court’s grant rates, trial results and time to trial for this case type.

Never shows a rate without its count of rulings
Flags a rate built on fewer than 20 rulings

Outcome estimator

Proposes each branch probability with the documents and rates behind it, and rolls the tree back to the root.

Never changes a partner’s override
Never proposes a number without its evidence

Exposure and budget agent

Builds the damages exposure from the complaint and the contract, and the phase budget from the matter’s rate card.

Never uses a rate outside the approved card

Memo drafter

Drafts the assessment memo from the tree, the merits and the budget, citing a page or a court record for each sentence.

Never sends anything to a client

What a partner checks before an early case assessment reaches the client

What is early case assessment?

Early case assessment is the first candid view of a new dispute: what it may cost, how likely each outcome is, and whether to fight, settle or fold. This solution reads the first-day documents, maps each claim to its evidence, builds a decision tree with a settlement range, and drafts a cited memo the partner signs.

How does this differ from early data assessment in eDiscovery?

Data assessment tools decide what to collect and review. This one writes the merits-and-exposure view a partner gives the client, with a recommendation.

Can a partner change the probabilities the agents propose?

Yes. Associates propose and partners set. Each override needs a reason and is saved with the partner’s name, the time, the old value and the new one. The tree recomputes, the settlement range moves and the memo follows.

Where do the judge’s grant rates come from?

From the court analytics feed the firm subscribes to, refreshed nightly. Each rate shows how many rulings it rests on, and a thin record carries a warning.

How is the litigation budget built?

On the standard litigation task codes that clients approve budgets by, at the matter’s rate card, phase by phase from case assessment to appeal. The legal project manager signs off on it before the client sees a figure.

What happens to privileged documents and client files?

Privileged documents are set aside on arrival and opened only by a lawyer on the matter. Client files remain inside the firm’s workspace and are kept for the matter’s retention period.

Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Put a number on summary judgment
and show the client the email behind it.

We’ll build the tree, the evidence and the memo from a closed matter of yours, so you can set them beside the advice you gave.

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Early Case Assessment

The first number a sued client hears rests on a spreadsheet nobody can trace

The Problem Today

The Solution

What You Get

Early case assessment from the first-day documents to a signed memo

First-day documents sorted by custodian, privileged email held back

Each claim broken into its elements, with the documents for and against

Damages built from the complaint, with and without the lost-profits limit

Defense cost to trial by phase, on the litigation task codes

A litigation decision tree, dismissal to appeal, rolled back to one value

The judge’s grant rate beside each estimate, with its count of rulings

An evidence drawer that opens each estimate on the documents behind it

A partner override, with a required reason, that recomputes the whole tree

A cited memo for the client’s general counsel, redrafted after each override