Methodology

We license import manifest data through ImportKey, the leading commercial provider of CBP entry-summary intelligence. The dataset covers every U.S. importer of record with at least one ocean-freight entry in the relevant period — approximately three hundred and thirty thousand distinct entities across 2024 and 2025.

Manifests include port of entry, carrier, country of origin, declared value, harmonized tariff schedule line item, and entry-summary identifier. They do not include classification, eligibility, contact details, or counsel-of-record information. Those layers are added downstream.

Each importer's full entry profile is passed through a domain-trained classifier that assigns a complexity tier and CAPE phase eligibility. The classifier is calibrated against publicly available CIT filings and CAPE Phase 1 guidance issued by CBP.

Tier 1 is reserved for importers with multi-country exposure, contested HTSUS classifications, or aggregate refund value exceeding the threshold at which complex litigation becomes economically rational. Tier 2 captures the simpler, single-country, CAPE-eligible profiles. A confidence interval is published with every classification.

PACER dockets and CIT case filings are systematically cross-referenced against the importer universe. Where an importer is already represented in pending litigation, that fact is recorded. Where an importer is unrepresented despite obvious exposure, that fact is also recorded — and is, for many subscribers, the most actionable field in the record.

This stage also identifies related-party defendants, parent-company structures, and recurring counsel patterns that signal practice specialization within firms.

We source Operations, CFO, and General Counsel contacts through Apollo and Proxycurl, with LinkedIn-derived backfill for records where commercial sources are incomplete. For Tier 1 records, an additional layer of enrichment identifies the importer's existing outside corporate counsel — sourced from SEC filings, PACER appearances, and bar association directories.

Counsel-of-record enrichment is what makes Tier 1 distinct. It is the difference between a cold approach to a CFO and a partner-level introduction through a peer attorney. It is also the most operationally expensive stage of our pipeline.

Every email is run through deliverability verification before publication. Records with unverifiable contacts are flagged but not suppressed — the underlying intelligence is still actionable, even when outreach must occur via alternate channels.

Liquidation status, protest window expiration, and CIT filing status are refreshed against CBP and PACER monthly. Records that change status between refreshes are flagged at the lead level on the next publication cycle.

Records are released to subscribers through the Corvant portal, segmented by tier and territorial assignment. Tier 1 records are released exclusively — one firm per claim, governed by DocuSigned referral agreement rather than portal clickwrap. Tier 2 records are released to volume subscribers under a non-exclusive license.

We do not file claims, represent importers, or contact subjects of our research. We are a data and research publisher. The recovery work is done by our subscribers.