Early Case Assessment

Early case assessment involves using data and technology to estimate the risk, likely trajectory, and probable cost of a litigation matter, regulatory inquiry, or internal investigation as early as possible in its lifecycle. Because most civil cases settle before trial, legal teams use these tools to gauge whether a case is likely to settle or proceed, how long that process may take, and what a reasonable settlement range might be, informing the underlying decision of whether to litigate or settle. The same analysis helps forecast litigation costs and staffing needs and narrows the volume of documents that require full attorney review. In practice, this capability is rarely purchased as a standalone product. Most eDiscovery platforms now build early case assessment directly into their broader review workflow, using AI to cull document sets, surface key custodians and evidence, and flag risk signals before material is promoted to active review. A smaller set of specialized tools take a narrower approach, applying predictive models trained on historical verdicts and settlements to generate a jurisdiction-specific case valuation for a particular practice area, most commonly personal injury. Generative AI is central to both approaches, powering natural-language questioning of full document sets and probabilistic outcome and valuation predictions grounded in cited case comparables.