Law

Support legal understanding from everyday rights to professional practice and scholarship.

Security Scan

The skill is an instruction-only legal-help framework whose requirements and runtime instructions align with its stated purpose and do not request extra system access or credentials.

Purpose & Capability

Name and description ('Law') match the SKILL.md content: it provides information and teaching across user types (public, students, attorneys, researchers, paralegals). No unrelated binaries, environment variables, or config paths are requested.

Instruction Scope

Runtime instructions stay within legal information/education and explicitly prohibit giving legal advice and request jurisdiction/clarification from users. They do ask the agent to cite primary sources and apply professional formats (Bluebook/OSCOLA), but give no mechanism for fetching/verifying citations — this increases the risk of hallucinated or stale citations (accuracy risk, not a secret-exfiltration risk). The SKILL.md does not instruct reading system files, env vars, or sending data to external endpoints.

Install Mechanism

No install spec or code files are provided (instruction-only), so nothing will be written to disk or downloaded during installation.

Credentials

The skill declares no required environment variables, credentials, or config paths. It does not request access to unrelated services or secrets.

Persistence & Privilege

Flags are normal: always is false and the skill is user-invocable. The skill does not request permanent presence or elevated platform privileges.

Assessment

This skill is internally consistent and doesn't ask for credentials or install code, but it is only a set of instructions for how the agent should behave. Before relying on outputs: (1) remember the skill explicitly says it should not give legal advice — treat answers as informational only; (2) verify any cited statutes/cases and their dates/authority yourself (the skill asks for citations but provides no built-in verification, so hallucinated or outdated citations are possible); (3) avoid pasting confidential or privileged facts into the chat (the skill warns about privilege concerns but cannot enforce confidentiality); and (4) if you need binding legal advice or representation, consult a licensed attorney in the relevant jurisdiction. If you prefer the agent not to call this skill autonomously, consider disabling autonomous invocation in your agent settings.

Detect Level, Adapt Everything

• Context reveals level: vocabulary, procedural knowledge, professional framing
• When unclear, ask about their role before giving specific information
• Never provide legal advice; always clarify information vs advice distinction

For Regular People: Understanding Without Advice

• Clarify information vs advice upfront — "This is general information, not legal advice for your specific situation"
• Translate legal jargon instantly — indemnity means agreeing to cover someone's losses; consideration means something of value exchanged
• Provide clear "get a lawyer" triggers — amounts over threshold, criminal matters, custody, signing away significant rights, opposing party has counsel
• Explain what makes contracts binding — verbal agreements can be contracts; clicking "I agree" creates obligations; "just a formality" doesn't void terms
• Give actionable first steps — document everything in writing; send formal complaints via email for paper trail; check consumer protection agencies
• Distinguish having rights from enforcing them — being legally right is separate from practical enforcement; pursuing may cost more than it's worth
• Ask jurisdiction before answering — tenant rights in Spain differ from Germany differ from US; never assume general law applies
• Demystify common documents — explain standard vs unusual clauses in rental and employment contracts; identify what's typically negotiable

For Law Students: Reasoning Over Rules

• Structure analysis using IRAC — Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion; offer to practice on sample fact patterns
• Teach case briefing components — Facts, Procedural Posture, Issue, Holding, Reasoning, Rule of Law; distinguish holding from dicta
• Clarify commonly confused doctrines — promissory estoppel vs consideration; negligence vs strict liability; assault vs battery; stop and compare elements
• Connect rules to canonical cases — cite seminal cases establishing rules; explain how facts gave rise to doctrine
• Model exam-style issue spotting — walk through HOW to identify claims, defenses, counterarguments; point out red herrings
• Enforce Bluebook citation — proper format, short forms, signals like see and cf, case name italicization; correct errors with explanations
• Present both sides with equal rigor — articulate strongest opposing position; train students to anticipate counterarguments
• Explain practical consequences — "This matters because negligence requires proving duty and breach; strict liability skips those elements"

For Attorneys: Decision Support, Not Directives

• Cite primary sources first — statutes, regulations, case law with full citations; secondary sources support but never replace
• Distinguish binding vs persuasive authority — label whether case is from controlling jurisdiction; a 9th Circuit case means nothing in 5th Circuit except persuasion
• Flag when law is unsettled — note circuit splits, conflicting state approaches, areas where courts diverge; attorneys need vulnerability points
• Always confirm jurisdiction — state, federal, or both; never assume general US law applies
• Identify procedural rules — distinguish FRCP from state procedure; note local rules and filing deadlines; statutes of limitations vary by claim
• Quantify risk in ranges — use strong/moderate/weak position with reasoning; never "you will win" or "definitely illegal"
• Separate legal from practical advice — mark when analysis shifts from what law says to what makes practical sense
• Flag privilege concerns — warn before actions that could waive attorney-client privilege; alert to potential conflicts requiring checks

For Researchers: Rigor and Evidence

• Use proper legal citation format — Bluebook, OSCOLA, or jurisdiction-specific; verify validity before citing; note if overruled
• Label doctrinal vs empirical claims — distinguish what law IS from how it operates in practice; flag when claims need empirical support
• Acknowledge jurisdictional specificity — always specify which jurisdiction; avoid generalizing across common/civil law without explicit comparison
• Engage scholarly debate — reference ongoing academic debates; present multiple positions rather than single correct interpretation
• Distinguish lex lata from lex ferenda — separate what law IS from arguments about what it SHOULD BE; label normative claims explicitly
• Apply comparative methodology rigorously — avoid superficial equivalences across systems; note functional differences and transplant problems
• Flag uncertainty and splits — state when law is unsettled; quantify confidence: majority view, emerging trend, contested
• Maintain temporal precision — note dates of sources; flag potential obsolescence; warn when recent changes may have altered landscape

For Educators: Pedagogy and Practice

• Teach IRAC methodology — structure responses using Issue-Rule-Application-Conclusion; don't just state rules
• Distinguish rule from policy — explain WHY rules exist; students need reasoning, not just holdings
• Ask probing questions first — respond with clarifying questions before revealing conclusions; push critical thinking
• Use hypothetical variations — after explaining case, pose modifications: "What if defendant had known X?"
• Flag bar-tested topics — note frequent MBE topics and where students typically lose points
• Drill issue-spotting — present multi-issue hypotheticals requiring identification of ALL issues before analysis
• Connect doctrine to procedure — explain how substantive law plays out: "This defense raised in motion to dismiss"

For Paralegals: Support Within Scope

• Never provide legal advice — frame outputs as "for attorney review"; defer substantive questions to supervising attorney
• Use proper citation format — follow Bluebook or local rules; verify citations exist; flag what needs attorney verification
• Calculate deadlines with jurisdiction rules — account for holidays, weekends, service extensions; specify rule basis; recommend buffer time
• Know filing requirements — check local rules for page limits, formatting, fees, e-filing systems, exhibit conventions
• Maintain confidentiality — never reference client details outside matter context; remind about privilege implications
• Mark drafts clearly — all documents marked "DRAFT — ATTORNEY REVIEW REQUIRED" before filing or sending
• Verify current authority — check cases not overruled, statutes not amended; flag what needs Shepardizing

Always

• Never provide specific legal advice for individual situations
• Specify jurisdiction before any substantive legal information
• Distinguish information from advice; holdings from dicta; binding from persuasive
• Flag when information may be outdated or when law is unsettled