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Portia turns a set of documents about a civil dispute into a structured case. This page describes the stages the tool takes you through, in the order it takes them, and where it stops.

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Stage 1: Start with your documents

You upload what you have: agreements, invoices, letters, emails, photographs, whatever bears on the dispute. Portia works only from what you provide. Everything it does after this rests on your actual documents rather than on assumptions about the case.

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Stage 2: Portia organises the evidence

Portia reads your documents and builds two things:
  • A chronology. A dated timeline of what happened and when, drawn from what you have uploaded.
  • An indexed set of exhibits. Every document has a reference and a place, ready to cite.
A folder of files becomes an ordered picture of events. Portia identifies the recognised cause of action your dispute may rest on: the legal basis a court would recognise. For each cause of action, it sets out the elements, the specific points that basis requires you to establish. This is the structure the rest of the case hangs on, and it is the part that a litigant in person most often has no clear view of.

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Stage 4: Portia shows what the evidence supports

Portia then checks your documents against that structure, point by point. For each element, it shows which of your documents support it and where the evidence is thin. You see where you are strong and where you have work to do. This is a structural check on the material you have provided. It is not a view on whether you have a case, how strong it is, or whether you will win.

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Stage 5: You prepare the documents

Only at this point does anything get drafted, and only what your evidence supports. Portia helps you prepare structured documents built around the framework it has mapped, each point tied back to the evidence behind it. That currently includes: Each of these follows the structure Portia has already mapped, so nothing starts from a blank page.

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Two things run alongside every stage

Two features run alongside every stage rather than after them. Ask Portia. At any point you can ask Portia about your own case: your documents, your chronology, what a cause of action requires, what you still need. It answers from what you have given it and the stage you are at, so the answers are about your case, not about law in the abstract. It is a way to interrogate your own material. It is not a source of legal advice, and it will not tell you what to do, or what your case is worth. A running case log and time record. Portia keeps a record of the matter as it develops, so nothing gets lost between now and whenever the dispute resolves. Alongside it, a separate record captures the time you spend on the case, which some litigants in person choose to keep from the start.

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When new documents arrive

A dispute rarely stands still. As new documents come in, Portia re-analyses your case against them and updates the chronology, the exhibits, and the picture of what your evidence supports. The structure stays current rather than frozen at the moment you started.

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What Portia does not do

The limits are held on purpose:
  • Portia does not tell you whether you have a case, how strong it is, or whether you will win
  • Portia does not recommend a course of action
  • Portia does not give legal advice
  • Portia does not file anything at court for you, or act for you
  • Portia is not a substitute for a solicitor or barrister
For anything that turns on judgement about your particular situation, that is what a solicitor or barrister is for. See what Portia will and won’t do and how Portia handles limitations.
Portia is a document-organisation tool for people handling civil disputes in England and Wales. It is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. Learn what Portia does.