With: Christopher D. Kercher
Partner in Quinn Emanuel's New York office
Host: John B. Quinn
Founder and chairman, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
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Episode description:
John is joined by Christopher D. Kercher, partner in Quinn Emanuel’s New York office. They discuss a proprietary litigation intelligence system developed inside Quinn Emanuel — built from a practicing litigator’s perspective and designed to give case teams a decisive advantage from day one.
The system, known internally as a “kerchbench,” works by taking a case team’s documents, filings, and materials and distilling them into a structured knowledge base that mirrors how experienced litigators understand and manage cases — organized around the chronology of events, key actors, claims and defenses, and critical evidence. The result is an AI that already understands the case before anyone asks it a question, so every interaction starts from genuine case knowledge rather than from scratch.
By progressively building out the system’s understanding as a matter develops, the AI functions as a true thought partner rather than a passive tool. Lawyers can refine strategies, identify gaps in their knowledge, and surface non-obvious connections across the record. The system doesn’t just answer questions about what is known — it serves as a thought partner, flagging what additional information the team may need and what the lawyer may be overlooking.
One key innovation is the creation of structured workflows and reusable “skills” that break complex legal tasks into component steps — issue identification, organization, drafting, and refinement. These routines accelerate the production of high-quality work while preserving lawyer oversight at every stage. The system also supports early case assessment: a fast-turnaround engagement that synthesizes initial case materials into a structured snapshot of claims and defenses, key risks, and strategic priorities — giving partners a clear picture of a case within 48 hours.
The result is a shift in legal work from labor-intensive context assembly toward higher-value analytical thinking. By providing relevant case information on demand and reducing the cognitive burden of tracking specific evidence across a large record, the system enhances both the speed and quality of legal reasoning. This is not merely an efficiency gain — it is a meaningful improvement in lawyers’ ability to think, strategize, and advocate effectively in complex litigation.
Published: Apr 10 2026
