The bar is published. The method is not.
Anyone can read the standard a Verdict is held to. That is what makes the answer trustworthy — and what separates evidence of record from an opinion. How we reach the answer stays ours.
What the Standard requires
Ten plain commitments every Verdict keeps.
01 · Source
Every claim traces to a source a third party could re-check.
No attested figure stands on our say-so alone.
02 · Grade
Every claim carries one of four grades.
The reader always knows how far it has — and hasn’t — been taken.
03 · Scope
What is out of scope is stated, never left implied.
Silence is never used to flatter a finding.
04 · Open
What could not be established is named, with what it would take to close it.
Gaps are surfaced, not buried.
05 · Plain
Findings are written so a non-specialist decision-maker can act on them.
Rigour, not jargon.
06 · Independent
No finding is shaped by who is paying for it.
The evidence is the only client.
07 · Descriptive
We state what is, not what will be.
A Verdict describes present, evidenced exposure — it does not forecast.
08 · Confidential
A client’s position is never exposed in a public surface.
Specimens are redacted; engagements are under NDA.
09 · Reproducible
The same evidence, checked again, returns the same grade.
The standard is stable across every edition.
10 · Of record
A Verdict is issued to be relied upon, dated, and held to this bar.
It is a record, not a sales document.
The four grades
Conformance, at a glance.
Established
Evidenced to the standard, from sources that can be re-checked.
Indicative
Supported, but not yet to the full bar — treat with the stated caution.
Still to establish
Named as open, with what it would take to close it.
Out of scope
Deliberately excluded — stated, never implied.
This page is the public summary. The full Standard is issued to clients with each Verdict. See what a Verdict is →