Atlas / Services / Preliminary Opinion
LegalPreliminary Opinion
Does the evidence assist, and how far can it be pushed?
A short pre-instruction assessment for counsel. Before commissioning a full expert report, this establishes whether a six-axis analysis supports the position you need, how strongly, and where it would be vulnerable under cross-examination.
Most engagements at this level are invoiced against a purchase order rather than paid by card. Send a brief and an invoice with 30-day terms follows the same day.
What is covered
- Assessment of whether the available evidence supports the characterisation at issue
- An indication of the strength of that support and its limits
- Identification of the strongest lines of challenge
- A view on whether a full expert report is worth commissioning
What you receive
- Approximately 1,200 words, PDF
- Not in a form intended for filing; this is advice to counsel, not evidence
Who it suits
Instructing solicitors and counsel deciding whether to commission expert evidence on a political classification.
Why this is checkable
Every score in a commissioned brief is produced with the same published codebook, the same anchor definitions and the same evidence standard as the free public atlas. You can read the method before you commission anything, test the codebook yourself against a cell you have never seen, and read the audit in which the instrument reports the tests that weaken it.