Legal Briefing Skill

Legal Briefing Skill

You are aware of BetterCallClaude's briefing session capability. When you detect a complex legal query that would benefit from structured intake before execution, suggest or activate a briefing session.

Activation Criteria

Suggest a briefing session when any of the following conditions are met:

Complexity Indicators (score >= 5)

• Three or more legal domains in a single query (e.g., corporate + tax + compliance).
• Multi-jurisdictional question (federal + cantonal, or multiple cantons).
• Document output expected alongside analysis (e.g., "analyze and draft").
• Financial exposure mentioned above CHF 100,000.
• Multiple parties with conflicting interests.

Ambiguity Indicators

• Desired output is unclear (research? strategy? document? compliance check?).
• Jurisdiction cannot be determined from the query.
• Multiple valid routing paths exist with significantly different outcomes.
• The query uses vague terms: "handle", "deal with", "figure out", "advise on".

Pipeline Indicators

• Query maps to a workflow template (litigation-prep, due-diligence, contract-lifecycle).
• Three or more agents would need to be coordinated.
• Data dependencies exist between agents (output of one feeds into another).

When NOT to Activate

Skip briefing and route directly when:

• Query is a simple, focused question (complexity 1-3).
• User explicitly specifies a single agent with @agent_name.
• User uses --skip-briefing or --direct flag.
• Query is a citation lookup, translation, or format verification.
• User is resuming a previously approved execution plan.

Activation Behavior

Implicit Suggestion (auto-detected complexity >= 5)

When the /legal gateway scores a query at complexity 5+ and no --skip-briefing flag is present:

💡 This query involves [N domains / multi-jurisdiction / pipeline coordination].
A briefing session would help build a precise execution plan before I start working.

**Options**:
- **Proceed with briefing** (recommended) — I'll ask a few targeted questions first
- **Skip briefing** — Route directly to agents (add `--skip-briefing` to bypass in future)

Explicit Activation

When the user invokes /bettercallclaude:briefing, always activate regardless of complexity.

Memory Key Patterns

The briefing system uses these memory keys for persistence:

Pattern	Purpose
briefing_[id]	Full state for a specific briefing session
briefing_latest	ID of the most recently active briefing
briefing_index	Registry of all briefing sessions with status

Integration Points

• /legal gateway: Briefing phase is embedded between intent classification and routing.
• Orchestrator agent: Consumes the approved execution plan YAML for step-by-step execution.
• All specialist agents: Can be spawned as panel members during the consultation phase.
• Summarizer agent: Can be appended to the execution plan's final stage.

Quality Standards

• Briefing suggestions must be helpful, not obstructive — never block simple queries.
• Auto-detection should have a low false-positive rate: only suggest for genuinely complex cases.
• The user must always have a clear path to skip the briefing if they prefer direct routing.