Watson Farley & Williams Disputes Navigator
Guidance

Early case assessment

Before the pre-action phase, assess the dispute internally: most matters are governed by the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) and are resolved through settlement or ADR well before a final hearing.

What to do now

Next steps

✓ Run the internal fact investigation Collect documents from the client and start tagging them for issues.
✓ Assess the merits Legal and commercial assessment — this is usually when external lawyers are engaged.
✓ Analyse jurisdiction and governing law Include a limitation analysis: is the claim in time?
✓ Preserve evidence Put holds in place and build the evidence repository.
✓ Prepare first-draft case summaries Create chronologies and character lists as you go.
Software to use
Opus 2

Opus 2 Cases

Core case workspace: document gathering, review and tagging, evidence collation, case summaries and referral notices.

How to use

Placeholder — how-to and account details to be refined by the Knowledge Team.

How to get an account

Placeholder — how-to and account details to be refined by the Knowledge Team.

Opus 2

Focused View AI toolkit

AI-assisted analysis for early document review and preparing first-draft case summaries.

How to use

Placeholder — how-to and account details to be refined by the Knowledge Team.

How to get an account

Placeholder — how-to and account details to be refined by the Knowledge Team.

Opus 2

Chronology

Build and maintain the case chronology from key documents and events.

How to use

Placeholder — how-to and account details to be refined by the Knowledge Team.

How to get an account

Placeholder — how-to and account details to be refined by the Knowledge Team.

Opus 2

Characters

Track the people and entities involved in the matter.

How to use

Placeholder — how-to and account details to be refined by the Knowledge Team.

How to get an account

Placeholder — how-to and account details to be refined by the Knowledge Team.

Who to contact
KT
Knowledge Team
Knowledge services
knowledge@wfw.example
When you are unsure which tool or process applies to your matter.