How long until this is over?
Three dials — how fast your court moves, whether a motion to dismiss detour is coming, and whether the case fights through trial or settles out of discovery — produce a stage-by-stage planning band.
All free tools →The bands are anchored on federal time-to-disposition statistics published by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts: median time from filing to disposition runs under a year across all civil cases — because most settle or resolve early — while cases that reach trial commonly take two years or more from filing to verdict. State courts vary more widely; the court-speed dial is how you express that.
The stage structure is the real driver. A motion to dismiss adds a genuine detour (briefing plus however long the ruling takes — often the least predictable wait in the case). Discovery is the long middle. And the single biggest fork is the exit: a case that settles during or just after discovery skips the summary-judgment and trial stages entirely, which the end-of-case dial makes visible.
These are planning bands for expectation-setting, not scheduling predictions — your court's actual scheduling order controls, and a single continuance can move any stage by months.
- How long does a lawsuit take?
- If it settles early, often under a year from filing. A case that runs through discovery typically takes one to two years, and one that fights through trial commonly takes two to three or more — longer in congested courts. Most civil cases settle before trial.
- What takes so long?
- Mostly discovery — documents, depositions, and expert reports, stretched by scheduling orders and disputes — plus waiting for rulings. Each side also has procedural tools that legitimately consume months, starting with the motion to dismiss.
- Does a motion to dismiss speed things up or slow things down?
- Usually it slows the case down even when it fails: briefing takes weeks and the ruling can take months, during which discovery may be paused. It speeds things up only in the minority of cases it actually ends.
- Can the parties make it go faster?
- Somewhat: narrow the claims, agree on discovery limits, avoid needless motion practice, and pursue settlement talks or mediation early. The court's calendar remains the hard constraint — which is why court speed is a first-class dial here.
- Is this a prediction for my case?
- No. It is a planning band built from published statistics and the structure of civil procedure, controlled by your assumptions. Your court's scheduling order and the parties' conduct control the real timeline.
This tool is a simulation artifact, not legal advice, and creates no attorney–client relationship. Every probability-like input is your assumption — a dial, not a prediction. Your inputs never leave your browser. Verify all deadlines and figures against the rules and orders of your court.
This is one dial. Your case has fifty.
Juricratic models your whole matter as a solvable game — every motion, every deadline, every settlement posture — and shows how the picture moves when the assumptions do.
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