Independent practice
Prepare a contested matter in an evening rather than a week, and walk in already knowing where you are weakest.
§ Matters
Where it earns its keep
The workspace is subject-neutral: it reasons from the record you supply rather than from a fixed body of law. These are the matters practitioners bring to it most often, and what it tends to find in each.
§ 01 · Civil
Commercial suits
Breach, recovery, accounts and specific performance, where the correspondence runs to hundreds of pages and the dispute turns on who said what, when.
What the assessment surfaces
Typical findings
- The date of accrual, and whether the limitation defence survives it
- Correspondence that contradicts the pleaded case on quantum
- Invoices and statements of account that do not reconcile
- Terms relied upon that are not in the executed version of the agreement
- Admissions buried in without-prejudice correspondence that was disclosed anyway
Where the argument goes
The point it turns on
The date of accrual, and whether the correspondence relied on is actually in the bundle as filed.
Once the assessment has run, the two advocates argue the file. In this kind of work that is usually the point they spend the most turns on — and where the bench tends to press hardest.
§ 02 · Criminal
Criminal defence
Complaint, statements and charge-sheet read against each other, and against the procedure that was actually required at each stage.
What the assessment surfaces
Typical findings
- Contradictions between the first information, the witness statements and the charge-sheet
- Delay in lodging the complaint, and whether it is explained anywhere on the record
- Mandatory procedural steps that appear not to have been taken
- Recoveries and seizures documented inconsistently across the file
- Witnesses whose account changes materially between statements
Where the argument goes
The point it turns on
Whether the identification and the recovery survive the procedural defects, and what the delay is explained by.
Once the assessment has run, the two advocates argue the file. In this kind of work that is usually the point they spend the most turns on — and where the bench tends to press hardest.
§ 03 · Contract
Contract disputes
Agreements read for exposure rather than for summary, clause by clause, against the conduct the correspondence actually shows.
What the assessment surfaces
Typical findings
- Obligations, triggers and cure periods, and whether each was in fact performed
- Termination rights, and whether the termination given complied with them
- Indemnity and limitation clauses that shift more risk than the client realises
- Terms unusual against ordinary market practice
- Conduct amounting to waiver or variation that neither side has pleaded
Where the argument goes
The point it turns on
Which clause the conduct actually breached, and whether the cure period was ever run.
Once the assessment has run, the two advocates argue the file. In this kind of work that is usually the point they spend the most turns on — and where the bench tends to press hardest.
§ 04 · Arbitration
Arbitration
Claim and counter-claim mapped back to the agreement, with the chronology rebuilt from the parties’ own correspondence rather than from the pleaded narrative.
What the assessment surfaces
Typical findings
- Whether the dispute falls within the arbitration clause as drafted
- Pre-arbitration steps required by the contract and whether they were followed
- Claims advanced in the statement of claim that the documents do not support
- The point at which the parties’ accounts of performance diverge
- Quantum built on assumptions not evidenced anywhere in the record
Where the argument goes
The point it turns on
Whether the claim falls inside the arbitration agreement at all, and who bears the burden on quantum.
Once the assessment has run, the two advocates argue the file. In this kind of work that is usually the point they spend the most turns on — and where the bench tends to press hardest.
§ 05 · Service
Service and labour
Charge memoranda, enquiry reports and orders tested against the procedure that was required rather than the procedure that was followed.
What the assessment surfaces
Typical findings
- Whether the charge as framed is supported by the material relied upon
- Departures from the prescribed enquiry procedure
- Findings in the enquiry report with no evidential basis in the record
- Disproportion between the finding and the penalty imposed
- Delay at each stage, and whether it was ever explained
Where the argument goes
The point it turns on
Whether the enquiry followed the procedure that was actually required, step by step.
Once the assessment has run, the two advocates argue the file. In this kind of work that is usually the point they spend the most turns on — and where the bench tends to press hardest.
§ 06 · Family
Matrimonial
Long factual histories spread across multiple proceedings reduced to a single dated sequence, with the genuinely disputed points marked.
What the assessment surfaces
Typical findings
- One chronology across proceedings that have been running in parallel
- Allegations repeated across petitions with materially different particulars
- Financial disclosure that does not reconcile between filings
- Undertakings and interim orders and whether each was complied with
- Which facts are actually in dispute, as against which are merely asserted twice
Where the argument goes
The point it turns on
Which account of the sequence the documents support, where the two versions diverge.
Once the assessment has run, the two advocates argue the file. In this kind of work that is usually the point they spend the most turns on — and where the bench tends to press hardest.
§ 07 · Property
Property and title
Chains of conveyance, mutation entries and encumbrances read in order, with the breaks identified rather than smoothed over.
What the assessment surfaces
Typical findings
- Breaks and unexplained jumps in the chain of title
- Documents referred to in the recitals but not produced
- Encumbrances and charges outstanding at the relevant date
- Inconsistent descriptions of the same property across instruments
- Limitation and adverse possession points arising on the dates in the record
Where the argument goes
The point it turns on
Where the chain of title breaks, and whether the break is fatal or curable.
Once the assessment has run, the two advocates argue the file. In this kind of work that is usually the point they spend the most turns on — and where the bench tends to press hardest.
§ 08 · Regulatory
Regulatory and compliance
Fact patterns assessed against reporting thresholds and disclosure obligations that may be engaged, before a deadline is missed rather than after.
What the assessment surfaces
Typical findings
- Regulatory duties the fact pattern appears to engage
- Reporting thresholds crossed, and when they were crossed
- Disclosure obligations that may require notification
- Exposure across outcome, cost and time, with the missing inputs disclosed
- Internal records that contradict the position taken externally
Where the argument goes
The point it turns on
Which duty was engaged, when it was engaged, and whether notification was required.
Once the assessment has run, the two advocates argue the file. In this kind of work that is usually the point they spend the most turns on — and where the bench tends to press hardest.
§ 09 · For whom
Built for people who must defend the output
Firms and teams
Shared matter workspaces, seats for juniors and clerks, and a firm-wide audit trail of every read, assessment and argument.
Investigation teams
Reconstruct sequences from fragmentary records and surface the contradictions actually worth pursuing.
Compliance and insurance
Assess exposure against regulatory duties and identify early what may require notification.