This skill should be used when the user asks to "write a law review article", "draft a legal paper", "edit legal writing", "review my legal article", "write for a journal", "format footnotes", or needs guidance on academic legal writing. Based on Volokh's "Academic Legal Writing" with law-review-specific structure and evidence handling.
/plugin marketplace add edwinhu/workflows/plugin install workflows@edwinhu-pluginsThis skill inherits all available tools. When active, it can use any tool Claude has access to.
references/volokh-distilled.mdStyle guide for law review articles, seminar papers, and legal scholarship based on Eugene Volokh's Academic Legal Writing.
Invoke this skill for:
For general writing: Use /writing skill (Strunk & White)
For economics/finance: Use /writing-econ skill (McCloskey)
If your draft makes a prescriptive claim but doesn't address obvious objections, DELETE the section and START OVER. Legal scholarship requires anticipating and answering counterarguments, not ignoring them.
If you cite a case/statute/historical fact via an intermediate source (law review, treatise), DELETE the citation and READ THE ORIGINAL. Even Supreme Court opinions misstate precedents.
| Excuse | Reality | Do Instead |
|---|---|---|
| "This article discusses..." | Bores reader instantly | START with concrete problem or controversy |
| "Table-of-contents paragraph helps" | Readers skip it | INTEGRATE roadmap into intro |
| "Background section comes first" | Not before establishing relevance | SHOW problem first, background second |
| "Case-by-case summary is thorough" | Tedious and unhelpful | SYNTHESIZE: "Courts hold X except Y" |
| "Counterargument would hurt my claim" | Ignoring it hurts worse | CONFRONT and refine claim |
| "Treatise summary is good enough" | Treatises have errors | READ original cases |
| "Arguably" makes my point | Acknowledges controversy without arguing | MAKE the argument explicitly |
| "This metaphor is clear" | Metaphors hide incomplete logic | UNPACK: what's the actual argument? |
When to delete and restart:
How to restart:
Old: "This article discusses privacy concerns in Fourth Amendment doctrine..."
New: "When police drones photograph backyards, does the Fourth Amendment require a warrant?
Courts disagree, but three features of aerial surveillance suggest yes."
Start with CONCRETE QUESTION that matters, not abstract topic description.
The introduction serves three functions:
Requirements:
Anti-patterns:
Synthesize precedents; do not summarize each case sequentially. Focus only on facts and rules necessary for the argument.
| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| Summarizing each case | Synthesize: "Courts generally hold X, except when Y" |
| Mini-treatise on the area | Only what's needed for the claim |
| 80% background, 20% claim | Balance must favor the original contribution |
For prescriptive claims: Show the proposal is both doctrinally sound AND good policy.
Use a test suite: Apply the proposal to concrete scenarios (easy cases, hard cases, edge cases) to demonstrate it works.
Confront counterarguments:
Connect to broader issues:
Keep conclusions brief. The real work is rewriting the introduction after the draft is complete, ensuring it accurately reflects the article's contributions.
Common logical problems in legal writing (see references/volokh-distilled.md for detailed examples):
| Problem | Issue |
|---|---|
| Categorical assertions | "Always" and "never" invite counterexamples |
| Unpacked metaphors | "Slippery slope" and "chilling effect" hide incomplete arguments |
| Missing logical pieces | Syllogisms that skip steps (subject to scrutiny ≠ fails scrutiny) |
| Universal criticisms | "Chilling effect" applies to most laws—explain why this one matters |
| Undefined abstractions | "Privacy," "paternalism," "democratic legitimacy" need definitions |
| "Arguably" as argument | Acknowledges controversy but doesn't make the case |
Never rely on intermediate sources for cases, statutes, or historical facts. Even Supreme Court opinions misstate precedents.
| Source Type | Rule |
|---|---|
| Cases/statutes | Read the original; don't trust treatises or other cases |
| Historical facts | Go to history books, not law review articles citing them |
| Scientific studies | Read the study, not the article summarizing it |
| Newspapers | Unreliable; track down underlying documents |
| Wikipedia | Use to find sources, but cite originals |
Avoid false synonyms: "murder" ≠ "homicide" ≠ "killing"; "foreign-born" ≠ "noncitizen"; "children" is ambiguous (0-14? 0-17? 0-24?).
Include necessary qualifiers: "falsely shouting fire" is quite different from "shouting fire."
Make clear when inferring:
Acknowledge the inference and defend it; don't hide it.
Surveys measure only what respondents said in response to specific questions. Valid surveys require:
"Online survey" and "Internet poll" are almost sure signs of invalidity.
| Principle | Application |
|---|---|
| Understate criticism | "Mistaken" not "idiotic"—overstating raises the burden of proof |
| Attack arguments, not people | "This argument fails" not "Volokh is wrong" |
| Avoid caricature | Quote adherents, not critics, when explaining a position |
See references/volokh-distilled.md for extended discussion of rhetorical problems.
| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| "This article discusses X" | Hook with concrete problem |
| Case-by-case summaries | Synthesize precedents |
| Undefended metaphors | Unpack the concrete mechanism |
| "Arguably" / "raises concerns" | Give the actual argument |
| Relying on intermediate source | Read original case/study |
| "Many children" | Specify: "111 children age 0-17" |
| "Correlation shows causation" | Explain why inference is valid |
| "Volokh's argument is idiotic" | "This argument seems unsound" |
For comprehensive guidance, consult:
references/volokh-distilled.md - Extended Volokh guidance covering:
Load the full reference when:
After completing any legal writing task, invoke /ai-anti-patterns to check for AI writing indicators. The /writing skill covers general prose principles (active voice, omit needless words) that complement this skill.
This skill should be used when the user asks to "create an agent", "add an agent", "write a subagent", "agent frontmatter", "when to use description", "agent examples", "agent tools", "agent colors", "autonomous agent", or needs guidance on agent structure, system prompts, triggering conditions, or agent development best practices for Claude Code plugins.
This skill should be used when the user asks to "create a slash command", "add a command", "write a custom command", "define command arguments", "use command frontmatter", "organize commands", "create command with file references", "interactive command", "use AskUserQuestion in command", or needs guidance on slash command structure, YAML frontmatter fields, dynamic arguments, bash execution in commands, user interaction patterns, or command development best practices for Claude Code.
This skill should be used when the user asks to "create a hook", "add a PreToolUse/PostToolUse/Stop hook", "validate tool use", "implement prompt-based hooks", "use ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}", "set up event-driven automation", "block dangerous commands", or mentions hook events (PreToolUse, PostToolUse, Stop, SubagentStop, SessionStart, SessionEnd, UserPromptSubmit, PreCompact, Notification). Provides comprehensive guidance for creating and implementing Claude Code plugin hooks with focus on advanced prompt-based hooks API.