Methodology
Quantitative where the data supports it. Qualitative where it does not.
Every opinion is built on the same four-layer framework. Scoring instruments carry the layers the data can carry; structured professional examination carries the rest.
Underwriting layers
01
Firm
Economics, capacity, and controls
02
Attorneys
Judgment, record, and conduct
03
Litigation
Merits, posture, and duration
04
Market
Venue, defendants, and liquidity
Method. Each layer is underwritten quantitatively where the data supports it, qualitatively where it does not.
Layer 01 | Firm
The firm as an operating business.
Origination economics, fee structures, cost discipline, case management infrastructure, financial controls, and the firm's capacity to prosecute its inventory to resolution. A strong docket inside a weak firm is a weak asset.
Layer 02 | Attorneys
The attorneys as the asset behind the asset.
The partners driving case outcomes: trial and settlement record, judgment under pressure, disciplinary and conduct history, bench and opposing-counsel reputation, and succession risk. This layer is examined, not scored. It is where the deepest work in every engagement is done.
Layer 03 | Litigation
The cases on their merits.
Claim strength, procedural posture, damages theory, defendant solvency and insurance, expected duration, and resolution pathways. Individual case assessments roll up to portfolio-level concentration and duration profiles.
Layer 04 | Market
The conditions surrounding all of it.
Venue and judicial trends, defense-side behavior, settlement market liquidity, mass-tort and practice-area cycles, and the regulatory environment bearing on fee recovery.
Principles
An opinion that cannot be defended line by line is not an opinion.
Independence is structural. We hold no positions and take no side of any trade.
The mark is only the conclusion. The reasoning is the product.