Decide what this matter should cost and who does it
Three turns and a check. Keep this open next to your chat: each step is the thing to paste next, with what you typed already carried across. Nothing is sent from here, and nothing on this page is a transcript. The conversation stays where you are having it.
What it is, its posture, and what has already happened.
The court or forum and any schedule already set, since the calendar drives cost.
The people, vendors, and tools available, including the client's own team.
The outcome and the constraint, which decide the shape of the plan.
The budget ceiling and anything the client has already been told.
Watch for, the whole way through
The model has no knowledge of what legal work costs and will invent rates, totals, and benchmarks. Any number it produces that you did not supply is fiction, and finance teams quote fiction back.
A budget with no decision points is a forecast. If the client cannot stop between phases, you have given them a number rather than a plan.
Under-resourcing the first phase to hit a target is the most common way a budget is beaten on paper and lost in practice. The early work is where the number is actually determined.
Court calendars drive most litigation cost and vary by forum and judge. Confirm the schedule before committing to phase boundaries.
Do not paste client-confidential matter facts or fee arrangements unless your firm's or company's AI policy permits it.