Method

Meridian’s work is built around a simple premise: judicial opinions do real work only under specific conditions. Those conditions are often implicit, posture-dependent, or lost through repetition.

Strategic Delta Extraction (SDE-A)

Each Safe-Use Note is produced using a structured analytical method called Strategic Delta Extraction (SDE-A). A delta is the meaningful difference between the circumstances under which a court’s reasoning holds and nearby circumstances where reliance would quietly fail.

The Four Lenses

SDE-A examines each opinion through four analytical lenses:

• Scope of Holding — what the court actually decided, and what it did not.
• Framing & Theory Sensitivity — how results depend on how issues are framed.
• Posture & Stage Dependence — how reasoning depends on procedural stage or standard of review.
• Over-Reliance Risk — where citation beyond limits imports assumptions the court never adopted.

Human Judgment, Supported by Modern Tools

Modern analytical tools are used to surface patterns, omissions, and framing effects across opinions. These tools generate candidate observations; human judgment determines which differences matter. Only the final, lawyer-ready constraint is published.