Rapid Situational Assessment — John H. Snyder PLLC
Three-Day IntensiveFlat-Fee Engagement72-Hour Deliverable
Rapid Situational Assessment
For live disputes, negotiations, and crises.

A three-day Rapid Situational Assessment for clients who need a clear diagnosis and the next move.

Within 72 hours, Snyder maps the full situation — legal posture, business constraints, capital pressure, timing, and human dynamics — identifies real leverage, and delivers a sequenced plan of action.

Format
Three Days
Direct. No process layer.
Deliverable
Diagnosis + Next Move
Within 72 hours.
When to Call

Five situations this engagement is built for.

Threatened Litigation
A counterparty has sent a demand letter. The window to shape the resolution on favorable terms is closing and no one has sequenced a move.
Negotiation Breakdown
A transaction or settlement that should have closed has stalled. Multiple advisors are involved. No one is driving toward resolution.
Governance Crisis
A board dispute, investor conflict, or executive-level breakdown has become visible. Legal, financial, and reputational exposure are all in play simultaneously.
Regulatory Pressure
An inquiry or investigation is escalating. The internal team is managing the process. No one is managing the strategy or the downstream exposure.
Capital Under Threat
A financing, restructuring, or asset situation has become adversarial. The legal and capital dimensions are entangled.
What You Get

No ambiguity about what happens next.

Day One
The Full Picture
Snyder maps the complete operating environment — legal posture, business constraints, capital pressure, timing, and the human landscape. Not as described. As it actually exists.
Day Two
The Leverage Analysis
Where real leverage exists. What the other side needs, what they fear, and what will actually move them. The sequenced strategy that follows from that analysis.
Day Three
The Next Move
A concrete plan of action delivered directly to the client — together with Snyder's direct judgment about what happens if you act and what happens if you do not.
How Snyder Assesses

Six domains. Assessed simultaneously. No piece treated in isolation.

Legal Position
Where the matter stands
Legal posture and procedural positioning. What leverage exists, what exposure is real, and what choices remain.
Business Constraints
What must be achieved
What the client actually needs. Business constraints and strategic objectives that legal structure cannot override.
Capital & Timing
Where money and time shape the field
Financial pressures, capital structure, and how timing is shaping available paths.
Human Dynamics
Who controls the outcome
Decision-makers, their incentives, their constraints, and what will actually move them.
Reputational Exposure
What legal process will not contain
Where this matter creates downstream consequences ordinary legal process cannot address.
The Objective
Control before positions harden
Defined leverage and a sequenced next move — before options close.
Why Snyder

The person who walks in is the person who designed the strategy.

John H. Snyder
Founding Principal · First-Chair Trial Lawyer · Governing Strategist
John H. Snyder
Harvard Law School
Brown University · Phi Beta Kappa
Federal Clerkship · Proskauer Rose
Founder, Agnes Intelligence

Snyder personally directs every Rapid Situational Assessment. No handoffs. No junior layer. He has been called into live situations across federal litigation, distressed capital, regulatory inquiry, and governance breakdown — at the moment when ordinary handling has stopped working.

Founder and CEO of Agnes Intelligence (4th of 1,000+ entries, IBM Watson Build). That background in computational sensemaking informs how he diagnoses complex systems and sequences a path to resolution under time pressure.

Corporate & Structural Counsel
Thomas C. Sima
Duke Law (J.D. & LL.M., cum laude) · Shearman & Sterling, NY & HK · NY · FL · SDNY · EDNY
20+ years advising international clients on cross-border transactions, corporate structure, and capital. When a live situation implicates ownership architecture, institutional complexity, or cross-border exposure, Sima provides the structural depth to address it. Formerly with Shearman & Sterling in New York and Hong Kong.
Engagement

Not a preliminary conversation. A commitment with a defined output.

This engagement begins with a direct private conversation. Snyder will ask two questions: what is the situation, and has it reached the point where three days of direct engagement will change the outcome.

If the answer is yes, engagement begins immediately. The assessment is complete within 72 hours.

There is no account-management buffer. No junior layer. The person who walks into the assessment designed the strategy.
Contact
$25,000 flat fee. No hourly billing. Engagement begins within 24 hours of confirmation.
An Early Conversation
Costs Nothing.

We engage selectively — typically when the situation is live and conventional handling is not getting control. Briefly describe the situation, the timing, and the decision-makers involved. Do not send privileged or confidential information.

Email inquiry@jhs.nyc
We Are a Fit When
The situation is live, time-sensitive, and has already defeated conventional approaches. No single advisor holds the full picture.
We Are Not a Fit When
The matter is routine, fully delegated, or at a stage where positions have hardened and options have closed.
The Engagement
Three days. Snyder delivers a full operating picture, a diagnosis, and the next move — directly to the client.