How it works
Understand first. Resolve where possible. Prepare where necessary.
Corvinus examines the whole matter before advancing a position, tests the proportionate route to resolution and prepares the record properly where specialist legal action is required.
The process
From an unclear problem to an established position.
- 01
Understand the whole matter
Examine the works, documents, obligations, parties and immediate risks as one connected problem.
- 02
Establish the position
Determine what happened, what was required, what can be supported and what remains uncertain.
Once the position is established, two routes are available
03 · Where resolution is realistic
Pursue the proportionate resolution
Develop the submission, response, remedial route, account, negotiation or other pre-litigation step supported by the matter.
04 · Where resolution is not achieved
Prepare the matter if escalation is required
Organise the chronology, evidence, technical analysis, contractual issues, strengths and weaknesses for specialist legal advice.
Resolution is pursued where it is realistic on the record. Preparation for specialist legal escalation follows only where resolution is not achieved.
Complete-record analysis
Nothing important should remain buried in the file.
Contracts, leases, drawings, reports, correspondence, photographs and project records are examined as one connected matter. Contradictions, missing information, obligations and evidential gaps are identified before a position is advanced.
- Lease
- Contract
- Drawings
- Specifications
- Reports
- Correspondence
- Photographs
- Programme
- Valuations
- Site records
CORVINUS · MATTER RECORD
- Document
- Event
- Obligation
- Evidence
- Position
EVIDENCE TESTED
Illustrative
- 01
Complete matter-file review
The whole file is read as one matter rather than as separate documents.
- 02
Document and version comparison
Revisions, drawings and issued documents are compared to establish what governed the work.
- 03
Chronology reconstruction
Decisions, instructions and events are placed in a defensible sequence.
- 04
Contradiction identification
Conflicting accounts and inconsistent records are identified and set against each other.
- 05
Obligation mapping
Lease, contract and appointment obligations are connected to the events they govern.
- 06
Responsibility mapping
Where responsibility may sit is traced through instruction, action and consequence.
- 07
Missing-information identification
Absent documents and unanswered factual questions are recorded openly.
- 08
Evidence testing
Each proposition is tested against the contemporaneous record before it is advanced.
- 09
Issue and counterargument development
The likely response is anticipated and addressed while the position is being formed.
- 10
Continuity of the matter record
The examined record is maintained so the matter remains coherent as it progresses.
The difference
What complete-record analysis changes.
- 01Important clauses and instructions are connected to the events they govern.
- 02Conflicting accounts are tested against the contemporaneous record.
- 03Gaps and adverse material are identified before the position is communicated.
- 04Later advisers receive a coherent matter rather than disconnected documents.
The Corvinus Method
The discipline behind the work.
The method describes how the work is carried out. It does not promise a particular result.
Establish
Establish the facts, obligations and record.
Examine
Examine competing interpretations and weaknesses.
Position
Position the strongest supportable view.
Construct
Construct the response, submission or strategy.
Resolve
Resolve through the most proportionate route available.
Present a matter
Present the complete problem.
Corvinus will determine what must be understood, what can be resolved and what should be prepared.