How to Start Litigation: First 10 Steps After Intake

Starting litigation is less about “filing fast” and more about locking down facts, deadlines, proof, and a plan while your intake is still fresh. The first few days after intake are where cases are won or quietly lost, especially on preservation, limitations, and early theory alignment.

Below are the first 10 steps after intake that help you start litigation cleanly, avoid preventable sanctions or surprises, and position the case for an efficient path to resolution.

1) Confirm representation, scope, and conflicts (in writing)

Before you draft a demand or file a complaint, finalize the engagement letter and confirm who the client is, who is not, and what claims you are and are not taking. Run conflicts on all likely parties, affiliates, and key witnesses. If you are co-counseling, memorialize roles early (who controls strategy, who signs filings, who pays experts).

2) Freeze the timeline and the forum

Your “start litigation” checklist should treat deadlines like evidence.

Confirm, at minimum:

• Statutes of limitation and any notice prerequisites (government tort claims, medical malpractice screening, contractual notice, etc.)
• Venue and jurisdiction facts (residency, principal place of business, where harm occurred, amount in controversy)
• Arbitration provisions, forum selection clauses, and choice-of-law provisions

If you end up in federal court, ensure your pleadings and certifications comply with Rule 11 standards for factual and legal support. See FRCP Rule 11.

3) Send a litigation hold and preservation letters

Preservation is one of the highest leverage moves you can make in the first 48 to 72 hours.

Issue:

• A client-side litigation hold (texts, email, cloud accounts, social media, device backups)
• Preservation letters to likely custodians (employers, property owners, carriers, product manufacturers, medical providers, platform operators)

Be specific about what to preserve (camera footage retention windows, vehicle telematics, EDR/black box, app logs, dispatch records, prior incident logs). If a scene inspection is needed, request access early.

4) Build the core facts packet (so the complaint writes itself)

Create a single, organized “facts packet” that will drive every downstream deliverable.

At minimum, capture:

• Parties and entities (full legal names, addresses, registered agents)
• Incident summary (who, what, when, where, how)
• Injuries and treatment chronology
• Damages categories (medical, wage loss, property, future care)
• Liability proof (photos, video, statements, reports)

This is also where teams increasingly use document AI to cut time on first-pass review. For example, TrialBase AI is designed to turn uploaded records into litigation-ready outputs like medical summaries, demand letters, and deposition outlines, which can help you move from intake to filing without losing momentum.

5) Identify causes of action and defenses, then choose a theory you can prove

Do not over-plead. Do not under-plead.

Draft a short internal memo that answers:

• What are the top 1 to 3 causes of action?
• What facts must be true to win each claim?
• What are the obvious defenses (comparative fault, assumption of risk, preemption, immunity, statute of repose)?
• What evidence do we already have, and what must we obtain in discovery?

If you cannot articulate your theory in a few sentences, you are not ready to start litigation.

6) Decide: demand first, or file first

A demand can be strategic, but it is not always required or wise.

A quick decision framework:

• Send a demand first when liability is clear, damages are documentable, and you want to tee up settlement without tipping off spoliation risks.
• File first when deadlines are tight, preservation is urgent, defendants are evasive, there are multiple parties to lock in, or you need subpoena power.

If you do send a demand, make it litigation-grade: clear liability narrative, anchored damages, and an explicit deadline.

7) Line up your damages proof (especially medical and wage loss)

Many complaints survive motions, but cases fail on damages.

Get authorizations and begin collecting:

• Complete medical records and itemized billing
• Prior records relevant to causation disputes (as appropriate)
• Employment file items (pay stubs, W-2/1099, attendance records, job description)
• Out-of-pocket losses (receipts, mileage, caregiving)

For personal injury matters, a clean medical chronology and treatment summary helps you value the case and prevents missed providers or gaps that defense will exploit.

8) Map your early discovery plan (before you draft the complaint)

Treat discovery as a roadmap, not a reaction.

Draft your first-wave targets now:

• Who will you depose first, and what admissions do you need?
• What documents will prove duty, breach, notice, causation, and damages?
• What ESI sources matter (text messages, Teams/Slack, surveillance video, CRM logs, telematics)?

If your case is in federal court, remember you will likely need to address disclosure timing and planning concepts consistent with FRCP Rule 26.

9) Budget, staffing, and operations, because litigation is a cash-flow project

Starting litigation also means operational readiness.

Set:

• Staffing plan (who owns pleadings, discovery, client comms, medical ordering)
• Expert timing and retainers
• Expected hard costs (filing fees, service, subpoenas, transcripts)

If your case will involve significant travel (out-of-state depos, inspections, expert site visits), tighten payment controls and reconciliation early. Some teams use virtual cards and unified reconciliation tools to reduce fraud and simplify expense tracking, similar in concept to solutions like Elia Pay that emphasize centralized payments and reconciliation.

10) Draft, file, and serve with “service of process” logistics already solved

When you are ready to file, the mechanics matter.

• Draft the complaint with clean party IDs, venue facts, and a prayer that matches provable damages
• Confirm e-filing requirements, filing fees, and civil cover sheets
• Plan service (registered agents, substituted service rules, multiple defendants)

In federal practice, service mechanics are governed by FRCP Rule 4. Even in state court, the same practical rule applies: do not file until you know how you will complete service quickly and defensibly.

A quick “first 10 steps” execution table

Use this to assign ownership and avoid the common trap where everyone assumes someone else is handling deadlines, preservation, or service.

The point of these steps

If you do these 10 steps right after intake, you start litigation with control: preserved evidence, a coherent theory, realistic damages, and operational readiness. That combination reduces rework, increases settlement leverage, and keeps you from litigating your own process instead of the case.