Methodology.

— Observed behavior.

Public court records, ad transparency archives, and regulatory filings are ingested continuously and standardized into structured datasets. Court records currently include filings, dispositions, motion practice, and attorney-of-record data from Charleston County Common Pleas. Ad transparency data is drawn from public archives maintained by Meta (Facebook Ad Library) and Google (Ads Transparency Center), covering active and recent creative by every firm operating in the market. Where available, additional regulatory filings (state insurance department closed-claim reports, federal court dockets) supplement the dataset.

Observed-behavior data has the advantage of being non-self-reported: it captures what firms actually do, not what they say they do. Its limitation is that it captures the visible surface of activity; private settlements, off-platform spend, and pre-suit resolution are not directly observable.

— Panel research.

Verified consumer panels (currently sourced via Pollfish) are geo-filtered to the target market. For Charleston, panel respondents are drawn from Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester counties. Standard library research fields at n=100 per study. Custom Research engagements field at n=100 (Pulse, A/B), n=250 (Strategy), or larger samples for Trial Prep work.

Panel respondents are members of consumer panels, not jurors. We are transparent about what the panel represents: directional reaction from a screened lay sample, not a venue-matched mock jury. Demographic crosstabs are reported across age, gender, income, education, county, jury service experience, and other variables relevant to local jury composition.

Client questions and fact patterns are never identified to respondents. No PHI, no client identifiers, no plaintiff names appear in any survey instrument.

— Public outcomes data.

Closed-claim severities, verdicts, settlements, and disposition statistics are drawn from state and federal sources. For South Carolina: Department of Insurance closed-claim reports, Jury Verdict Reporter of South Carolina, SC Court Administration annual reports, federal court records via PACER and the Federal Judicial Center IDB. Outcomes data is reported in aggregate and is used to contextualize panel findings against the actual distribution of resolutions in market.

— Demographic and venue context.

U.S. Census American Community Survey (5-year estimates) provides population and demographic context at the county, tract, and block-group level. South Carolina State Election Commission precinct-level results provide partisan composition data at the precinct level, which we map to jury venire draw geography to estimate jury pool composition. County jury commissioner data is incorporated where available.

Demographic and venue data is updated annually (ACS) or per-election-cycle (precinct results).

— Integration.

The four classes are integrated at the market level. A typical Panel chapter draws on at least two of the four classes; a typical State of the Market PI report draws on all four. Where findings from different classes converge, we report the convergence. Where they diverge, we report the divergence and offer interpretation.

— Limitations.

OpticonIQ findings are research signals, not predictions. They describe patterns in observable data, claimed behavior in panel research, and aggregate outcomes in market — they do not predict the outcome of any specific case, the verdict any specific jury will return, or the behavior of any specific firm. Subscribers and custom research clients should treat findings as one input among several into legal strategy, not as a substitute for legal judgment.

OpticonIQ is not a law firm. We do not provide legal advice, do not establish attorney-client relationships, and do not represent any party in litigation.

— Disclosures and independence.

OpticonIQ is operated by The Pen Is Mightier Content Creators, LLC, which also operates content and lead-generation services for plaintiff personal injury firms under separate brands. To preserve editorial independence, OpticonIQ operates under the following policies:

1. OpticonIQ does not accept paid placement, sponsored findings, or directed coverage from any firm covered in our reports, including firms that are clients of affiliated entities.
2. Findings about specific firms are sourced from publicly available data (advertising archives, court records, panel research) and are reported on the same basis regardless of any commercial relationship between the firm and affiliated entities.
3. Subscribers and clients are entitled to inquire about specific disclosures relevant to a given finding. Contact methodology@opticoniq.com.

— Editorial leadership.

Editorial leadership bio: /about/founder.