Overview
At most plaintiff litigation firms, case valuation is an individual skill rather than a firm process. Senior attorneys have developed their methodology through years of experience. Junior attorneys observe, absorb, and adapt. The result is a firm where valuation quality varies by attorney, clients receive inconsistent advice, and institutional knowledge walks out the door whenever an attorney leaves.
A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for case valuation changes this. It transforms valuation from an individual art into a firm-wide practice — consistent, documented, teachable, and improvable over time.
Why case valuation SOPs matter
- Consistency — Every attorney reaches valuations using the same methodology.
- Training — New associates ramp up faster with a documented framework.
- Defensibility — A documented process is far more defensible than "attorney judgment."
- Institutional knowledge — The firm's accumulated experience is captured in the process.
- Quality improvement — A documented process can be measured and improved. An undocumented process cannot.
Core components of a case valuation SOP
1. Intake criteria
Define what triggers a formal valuation. Document which case types are in scope, what minimum thresholds apply, and when in the case lifecycle the valuation should be completed.
2. Economic damages documentation standard
Define exactly what documentation is required before economic damages are entered. Medical records, billing statements, pay stubs, tax returns — specify what must be collected before the valuation is considered complete.
3. Non-economic severity scoring rubric
Create a firm-wide rubric for scoring non-economic harm. Define what a "3" versus a "7" looks like on each dimension. Without a shared rubric, two attorneys scoring the same injury will produce different multipliers.
4. Liability assessment framework
Create a checklist of factors that push liability toward clear, moderate, or contested. Document how liability assessment affects the damage calculation.
5. Comparable research protocol
Define how comparables are researched and selected. What sources do attorneys search? How many comparables are required? What criteria determine relevance?
6. Range construction methodology
Define how the floor, expected value, and ceiling are set given all inputs. Document how each input affects the range.
7. Demand strategy guidelines
Define how opening demand is set relative to the expected range. Document how the firm approaches demand escalation, mediation anchoring, and settlement authority.
8. Documentation requirements
Define what must be recorded for every valuation. At minimum: economic damages itemized, non-economic scores with rationale, comparables reviewed, liability assessment, and the resulting range.
How to implement your SOP
Phase 1: Audit current practice
Before writing a new process, understand the existing one. Interview every attorney who conducts valuations. Identify where the greatest inconsistencies exist.
Phase 2: Draft with senior attorney input
The SOP will only be used if attorneys trust it. Involve your most experienced litigators in drafting the methodology — their judgment is what you're trying to capture and systematize.
Phase 3: Test on real cases
Before rolling out firm-wide, run the new SOP on 5–10 recent cases where you know the actual outcome. Compare SOP-generated ranges to actual settlements. Calibrate where the methodology needs adjustment.
Phase 4: Train and roll out
Train every attorney who conducts valuations. Use real cases as training examples. Pair junior attorneys with senior attorneys on the first few valuations under the new process.
Phase 5: Review and improve
Schedule a quarterly review of valuation outcomes against SOP-generated ranges. Identify systematic errors and update the methodology based on results.
Tools that support a valuation SOP
A well-designed SOP can be implemented with spreadsheets — but it is difficult to enforce, audit, and improve without purpose-built tooling. Attorneys work around spreadsheets. Required fields get skipped. Documentation is inconsistent. Purpose-built case valuation software enforces the SOP by design: required fields must be completed, scores are recorded automatically, and every valuation creates a permanent audit trail.