client-comms-log

/client-comms-log

1. Use the workflow below.
2. Require case-id (prompt if not provided).
3. Route by flag:
   • --add (default): capture direction, medium, student, summary, action items, follow-up due. Confirm with user. Append (prepend most-recent-first) to ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/legal-clinic/client-comms/[case-id]/log.md.
   • --read: show the most recent N entries.
   • --summary: one-paragraph condensed read.
   • --patterns: scan for unanswered comms, missed follow-ups, language gaps, tone shifts, contact gaps. Supervision-oriented.
4. Integration: offer /legal-clinic:deadlines --add if the log establishes a deadline; route to /legal-clinic:semester-handoff via --summary when relevant.

Client Communications Log

Purpose

Four reasons to keep this log:

1. Malpractice defense. If a client claims "no one ever told me [X]," a dated entry showing otherwise is the answer. Clinical professors carry professional liability on student work; contemporaneous records protect them.
2. Continuity at handoff. The next semester's student takes over and reads the log; they don't re-ask the client questions already answered.
3. Supervision visibility. Five unreturned voicemails over six weeks is a pattern. The log makes patterns visible that individual students might not flag on their own.
4. File retention. Law school clinics have obligations to maintain complete client files. Communication history is part of that.

Light. Append-only. The student's job is to write a two-sentence entry after every contact; the skill formats it and appends.

Load context

• ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/legal-clinic/client-comms/[case-id]/log.md (if exists) — append target
• ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/legal-clinic/CLAUDE.md → not heavily read; this skill is case-scoped

Modes

Flag: --add | --read | --summary | --patterns (default: add)

--add (default) — log a new entry

Inputs:

• Case ID (required — which case)
• Date + time (default: now)
• Direction: in (client → clinic) | out (clinic → client)
• Medium: call | email | text | letter | in-person | video | voicemail-left | voicemail-received
• Who (student): name
• Who (client side): client name, or "third-party: [description]" if from opposing counsel, family member, etc.
• Duration / length (e.g., "10 min call", "3-paragraph email", "45 min in-person meeting")
• Summary: 2-4 sentences. What happened, what was substantive.
• Action items:
  • What the student owes the client (with deadline)
  • What the client owes the student (with expected timing)
• Follow-up due: date if applicable
• Notes: anything that matters but doesn't fit above — language used, emotional tone, family dynamic observed

Before writing: show the user the formatted entry and ask for confirmation. Clinic records should be reviewed before they're written, not after.

Append to ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/legal-clinic/client-comms/[case-id]/log.md. If the log doesn't exist, create it with a header:

# Communications Log — [case name]
 
**Case ID:** [case-id]
**Client:** [name]
**Opened:** [

Then prepend new entries at the top (most recent first).

--read — show recent entries

Print the most recent N entries (default 5). Useful when picking up a case mid-semester or before a client call.

--summary — condensed read

Produce a one-paragraph summary of the log — most recent contact, total entries, common medium, any open action items from the student side, any unanswered communications. Feeds /semester-handoff and /status.

--patterns — flag concerns across the log

Scan for:

• Unanswered communications from client. Client called or emailed N times without a response entry.
• Missed follow-up. Action item with follow-up due date, and no later entry resolving it.
• Language / accommodation issues. Client language noted as non-English; check whether outgoing communications have been in that language.
• Escalation patterns. Client tone shifting (frustrated / distressed) across entries.
• Gaps. Long stretches with no contact on an active case.

This is a supervision tool. Clinical professors running --patterns across their cases see which students might need support.

Integration

• /client-letter: after generating and sending a letter, offer to log it as an outgoing comm.
• /status client: when producing a client-facing status summary, offer to log it (often these summaries go to clients).
• /client-intake: first entry in every new case's log is the intake contact.
• /semester-handoff: handoff memos read --summary for each case to populate the communications-history section.
• /deadlines: if a communication established a deadline ("client said they need to respond by Friday"), offer to /deadlines --add.

What this skill does not do

• Store substantive legal analysis. That lives in intake, memo, and status files. The log is communication record — facts of contact, not legal strategy.
• Auto-log from outside systems. If the clinic uses a case management system (Clio), an integration could pull call logs and emails automatically. That's a future add; not v1.
• Edit past entries. Append-only. If an entry is wrong, write a new entry referencing and correcting it. The integrity of the log depends on not rewriting history.
• Enforce log discipline. If a student doesn't log a call, the skill can't know. Log hygiene is a clinic-culture problem; the skill just makes logging easy.
• Handle privileged or attorney-only notes. If the student needs to record strategic thinking, that goes in the case's internal analysis file, not the comms log.