claude-for-legal

Structural feedback on a legal writing draft (memo, brief, paper, exam essay) — organization, analysis depth, clarity, citation form. NEVER rewrites the draft. Use when the user says "feedback on my memo", "read my draft", or "critique my brief".

First draft of a common clinic document — practice-area templates (asylum applications, eviction answers, protective order petitions, demand letters), jurisdiction-aware formatting, explicitly a starting point requiring student analysis and attorney review. Use when a student needs a first draft of a motion, letter, petition, declaration, or other clinic document.

Generate or drill flashcards for black-letter memorization — Leitner-style buckets, per-subject markdown storage, drill mode with self-assessment. Use when the user says "drill flashcards", "make flashcards from", "quiz me on cards", or wants to memorize rules.

Reference: review of SaaS subscription agreements with attention to the terms that matter most in subscription deals — auto-renewal mechanics, price escalation, data portability, uptime SLAs, and subprocessor rights. Loaded by /commercial-legal:review when a SaaS or subscription agreement is detected.

Review a vendor agreement, NDA, or SaaS subscription against your playbook. Identifies the agreement structure from titles, routes to the right review skill (vendor-agreement-review, nda-review, saas-msa-review), and integrates the output into a single memo. Use when the user says "review this contract", "check this MSA", "is this NDA okay", "look at this SaaS agreement", or attaches an inbound agreement for review.

Keep the privacy policy current with practice. Two modes: weekly sweep of saved PIAs, DPA reviews, and triage results to find policy drift; or direct query for a proposed new practice. Use when the user asks "does our policy cover this", "we want to start doing X — does the policy need updating", "run the policy monitor", "policy sweep", or wants to find where the privacy policy no longer matches what the team actually does.

Build or update a long-term bar prep (or exam prep) study plan — phases, subjects weighted by weakness, daily session schedule, adaptive to session history in study-plan.yaml. Use when the user says "build a study plan", "plan my bar prep", "schedule my studying", or "how should I study for [X]".

Reference: review of an inbound vendor agreement against the team playbook in /.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/commercial-legal/CLAUDE.md. Flags deviations, assesses risk, generates specific redline language, and routes to the right approver. Loaded by /commercial-legal:review when a vendor MSA, services agreement, or similar is detected.

Reference: fast triage of inbound NDAs into GREEN / YELLOW / RED so the team only spends lawyer time on the ones that need it. Built for sales and BD to self-serve before pinging legal. Loaded by /commercial-legal:review when an NDA is detected.

Research roadmap for a legal issue — statutes to check, case law areas to investigate, regulatory frameworks, Westlaw search terms. Leads and frameworks, NOT authoritative citations; students verify and develop everything. Use when a student asks where to start researching, wants a research roadmap for an issue, or needs gaps identified in existing research.

Review a Data Processing Agreement against your DPA playbook — auto-detects whether you're processor or controller and applies the right half of the playbook. Use when the user says "review this DPA", "check this data processing addendum", "customer sent their DPA", "is this DPA okay", or attaches a DPA.

Build or review an element chart — a patent claim chart (infringement, invalidity, or review) or a civil element chart for any cause of action or defense — with every cell pin-cited and gap detection as the priority output. Use when the user asks for a claim chart, element chart, proof chart, infringement or invalidity contention, element-by-element mapping, or asks "what are we missing to prove [claim]".

Build or update a chronology from declared document sources and uploads — dated events extracted, de-duped, and tagged by significance per the matter theory. Use when the user asks to build a chronology or timeline from a production or matter file, says "chron from the production" or "what happened when", or needs a working, statement-of-facts, or witness-specific timeline.

Draft a demand letter from a completed intake, gated on a privilege / FRE 408 / waiver / admission checklist, with a .docx output, post-send checklist, and an offer to create a matter. Use when the user says "draft the demand", "write the [type] letter", or has a finished demand intake ready to turn into a sendable draft.

Review marketing copy for claims that need substantiation, reframing, or cutting. Use when the user says "review this marketing copy", "check these claims", "can we say this", "is this puffery or a problem", or pastes marketing content (landing pages, emails, ads, taglines).

Socratic drilling — it asks, you answer, it pushes back. Does NOT give you the answer until you've earned it. Use when the user says "drill me on", "quiz me", "socratic", "test me on [subject]", or wants to study actively.

Review the IP clauses in an agreement — assignment, ownership, license grants, warranties, indemnities. Use when reviewing IP terms in employment, consulting, SOW, vendor, or licensing agreements, when asked to check the assignment language or license scope, or when an agreement with IP provisions is pasted or attached.

Diff a new or changed regulation against current privacy policy and practice — outputs a gap list and a remediation plan with owners and dates. Use when a new reg drops, the user asks "does [regulation] affect us", "gap analysis for [state privacy law]", "compliance check against [reg]", or pastes regulatory text.

Invention disclosure first-pass screen — novelty, obviousness, §101 eligibility, bar dates, detectability, and strategic value. Use when an invention disclosure comes in and needs triage on whether to pursue a prior-art search and patent counsel review, investigate further, or decline.

Brief a case in your preferred format. In drill-me mode, makes the student state the holding first. Use when the user says "brief [case]", "what's the holding in", "case brief", or pastes a case.

Entity compliance tracker — initialize, report upcoming deadlines, update status, run health audit, export to CSV. Maintains a compliance-tracker.yaml built from the entity table, calculates filing deadlines by entity and jurisdiction, and surfaces what's due in the next 30/60/90 days. Use when user says "entity compliance", "filing deadlines", "annual reports due", "entity tracker", "what filings are due", "entity health", or "good standing".

Draft an employment policy with state supplements where law differs across the jurisdictional footprint. Use when the user says "draft a [topic] policy", "we need a policy on", "update our [topic] policy", or names a policy gap.

Draft a cease-and-desist letter (send mode) or triage one you received (receive mode). Use when asserting your rights against an infringer with a demand letter calibrated to your enforcement posture, or when an incoming C&D needs triage into a structured options memo with a recommendation.

Run the cold-start interview to learn your commercial contracts practice and write your team practice profile. Use on first use of the plugin, when /.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/commercial-legal/CLAUDE.md is missing or still contains template placeholders, or when the user says "set up the plugin", "configure commercial contracts", "onboard me", or "let's get started". This is the only skill that should run on a fresh install.

Analyze past exams from the same professor to surface patterns — subject weighting, recurring issue-spot traps, favored hypo types, policy-vs-doctrine mix — and forecast likely emphases for the upcoming exam. Use when the user says "what's on the exam", "analyze past exams", "predict the exam", or shares past exams.

Issue, refresh, release, or report on legal holds — drafts the hold notice as .docx, updates legalhold fields in log.yaml, and calendars the next refresh. Use when the user says "issue a hold", "refresh hold", "release hold", or asks for a portfolio-wide hold status report.

IRAC-scaffolded case analysis memo with research gaps flagged — the scaffold, not the analysis. Rule blocks are RESEARCH NEEDED, Application is STUDENT ANALYSIS prompts, Conclusion is blank. Use when a student needs to scaffold a case analysis memo, write up their analysis, or build an IRAC memo for a case.

Drafts board or committee meeting minutes in your house format. Auto-detects upcoming board and committee meetings from your calendar, asks for the agenda and any slides or pre-read materials, and produces a complete draft in the format learned from your seed minutes. Also handles written consents in lieu of meetings. Trigger: "board minutes", "draft minutes", "upcoming board meeting", "committee minutes", "written consent", or calendar detection of an upcoming board or committee event.

Intake a new matter — uniform questions covering identification, conflicts, source, risk triage, materiality, outside counsel, owners, legal hold, and key dates; writes matter.md and history.md and appends a structured row to log.yaml. Use when the user says "new matter", "intake this matter", or wants to bring a new matter into the portfolio.

Check installed community skills for updates. Shows a diff and requires explicit approval before applying. Use when the user says "check for updates", "update my skills", "anything new for my installed skills", or when invoked from the registry-sync agent.

Draft a brief section in house style, consistent with the case theory — every fact cited, every case checked, every argument tied to the theory. Use when the user says "draft the [section]", "write the statement of facts", "argument section on [issue]", or needs a first draft of a brief section.

Freedom-to-operate triage — a structured first look at potentially blocking patents, not an FTO opinion. Use when a product, process, or feature is being evaluated for blocking patents, when asked whether anything stops a launch, or to build a claim-chart first pass against the most plausible patents before patent counsel review. This skill never concludes a product is clear to launch.

Routine client correspondence from templates — appointment confirmations, document requests, brief "we filed it" updates. Plain language, required elements, supervision routing. NOT substantive advice. Use when a student needs to send routine correspondence, an appointment confirmation, a document request letter, or a brief status note to a client.

Use this skill whenever a user specifically requests legal research or Westlaw Deep Research, asks for CoCounsel Legal or cocounsel legal support, or asks a question that requires explaining, analyzing, or synthesizing U.S. law.

Infringement triage across trademark, copyright, patent, and trade secret — a flag list with the factors cutting each way, not a finding. Use when assessing whether someone is infringing your IP or whether you might be infringing theirs, when a knockoff or copycat surfaces, or when deciding whether a matter is worth pursuing and how.

Termination review — high-risk flag detection, severance + release, and final pay timing by jurisdiction. Jurisdiction-specific rules and release consideration periods are researched per review, not stored. Use when the user says "reviewing a termination", "can we fire this person", "term review", or describes a termination scenario.

Walk through a Data Subject Access Request (or deletion, portability, correction request) and draft the response — verify identity, locate data system-by-system, assess exemptions, draft the acknowledgment and substantive response letters. Use when a DSAR comes in, the user pastes an access/deletion/portability/correction request, or says "DSAR came in", "access request", "right to be forgotten", or "someone wants their data".

Generate a Privacy Impact Assessment in house format for a new feature, product, or processing activity, using the structure learned from your seed PIA. Use when the user says "write a PIA", "privacy impact assessment for", "do we need a PIA for this", "privacy review this feature", or describes a new data processing activity.

Track case deadlines — add, cross-case rollup report, update, complete, close. Warns at configurable thresholds (default 14/7/3/1 days); overdue items stay flagged until resolved. The operational record for a clinic workload. Use when a student or supervisor needs to add a deadline, ask what's due this week, get a deadline report, or update a case deadline.

Read VDR documents and extract issues per house categories and materiality thresholds, producing findings in house memo format. Use when user says "review the data room", "extract issues from [folder]", "diligence review", "what's in the VDR", or points at VDR documents.

Grade an IRAC essay for structure, issue-spotting, rule accuracy, analysis depth, and organization. Does NOT rewrite the essay or show a model answer; tracks patterns across sessions. Use when the user says "grade my IRAC", "check my essay", or "I wrote this, give me feedback".

Triage a subpoena served on the company — classify it, analyze scope/burden/privilege, cross-check the portfolio, and produce an objections framework, compliance plan, and deadline calendar. Use when the user says "we got a subpoena", "served with a subpoena", or shares a subpoena, CID, or third-party document request to evaluate.

Trace how a contract has changed across its base agreement and all amendments — either a summary of all changes over time, or a provision trace for a specific clause. Use when the user says "what changed in this contract over time", "show me the amendment history", "where's the latest [clause]", "how has [provision] evolved", or uploads multiple versions of an agreement.

Pre-drafting context gathering for a demand letter — parties, facts, basis, leverage, BATNA, and privilege filters — written to a structured intake.md the demand-draft skill reads. Use when the user wants to prep a demand letter, run intake before drafting, or capture context for a payment demand, breach/cure notice, cease-and-desist, employment separation, or preservation demand.

Review an offer letter and any restrictive covenants — jurisdiction check included. Substantive rules (covenant enforceability, pay-transparency, salary-history limits, exemption criteria) are researched per hire, not stored. Use when the user says "review this offer", "can we use a non-compete here", "check this offer letter", "hiring in [state]", or attaches an offer.

Trademark clearance first pass — knockout + similar-marks check producing a flag list, not a clearance opinion. Use when a new mark is proposed, when asked whether a mark is available or to run a knockout search, or when assessing likelihood-of-confusion factors before a full professional search. This skill never concludes a mark is clear.

Build or extend a course outline in your format, from class notes and casebook. Scaffolds — it does not write the outline for you. Use when the user says "outline [subject]", "add to my outline", "build an outline from", or points at class materials.

Tabular review — one row per document, one column per data point, every cell cited to source. Built for M&A diligence ("review these 200 target contracts for change-of-control, assignment, and MAC clauses") but works for any batch review that needs a spreadsheet out the other end. Use when user says "tabular review", "review grid", "build a grid", "extract these fields from these contracts", "review these documents for X, Y, Z", "give me a spreadsheet of", "batch review", or points at a folder of documents and asks to compare them.

Prep for a cold-call — predict the professor's likely questions and drill them Socratically, flagging where you're shaky so you know what to re-read before class. Use when the user says "prep for class tomorrow", "cold call [case]", "what might [professor] ask on", or points at assigned reading.

Route a contract issue to the right approver per the escalation matrix in /.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/commercial-legal/CLAUDE.md, and draft the ask. Use when the user says "who needs to approve this", "escalate this", "does this need GC sign-off", "route this for approval", or when another skill finds an issue that exceeds the reviewer's authority.