client-letter

/client-letter

1. Load ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/legal-clinic/CLAUDE.md → plain-language standards, supervision style, clinic contact info.
2. Use the templates and workflow below.
3. Match type to template. Plain-language check.
4. Output with AI-assisted label, supervision routing.

Scope: routine only. Substantive advice → /status client or a conversation with the professor.

/legal-clinic:client-letter appointment

/legal-clinic:client-letter doc-request

Client Letter: Routine Correspondence

Purpose

Clinics send a lot of routine correspondence: "your appointment is Tuesday at 2pm," "please bring your lease," "we filed your answer." This skill handles those from templates so students aren't typing the same letter every week.

Scope: routine only. Substantive advice, bad news, case strategy — those are /status client or a conversation, not a template letter.

Load context

~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/legal-clinic/CLAUDE.md → plain-language standards, supervision style, clinic contact info.

Pedagogy check

Read the supervisor guide for this practice area at ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/legal-clinic/guides/<practice-area>.md. Check the pedagogy_posture setting:

• guide (default): Produce the structure and the checklist (required elements, plain-language targets, sign-off per student practice rule). Ask the student to draft each section. Give feedback on their draft (register, reading level, required elements, what they missed). Offer to fill a section only when the student has tried once.
• assist: Produce the letter. Flag items for student review. The student edits and learns by reviewing.
• teach: Don't produce the letter. Ask the student to draft it. Give feedback. Ask leading questions when they're stuck. Only show a model paragraph after two attempts, and only the section they're stuck on. Track what they got right and wrong so the supervisor can see progress.

If no guide exists, use guide. If the guide exists but doesn't set a posture, use guide.

Whatever the posture, the output always includes: "Pedagogy mode: [assist/guide/teach] — set by your supervisor's guide. This means I [description of what the student did vs what the skill did]."

Sign-off and student-attorney disclosure

Check your jurisdiction's student practice rule for required disclosure language in letters signed by a law student. Some jurisdictions require specific forms; most require that the student identify themselves as a law student / certified legal intern and identify the supervising attorney. The templates below use a generic form — conform the sign-off to your rule before sending.

Letter types

Review label goes OUTSIDE the letter. The [AI-ASSISTED DRAFT — requires review per plugin config supervision step] tag is a note to the student, not part of the letter body. Place it above the rendered template (or in a header the student deletes before sending), never inside the fenced letter content. If it ends up in the client-facing copy, the skill has failed.

Appointment confirmation

Review label for the student (not for the client — strip before sending): [AI-ASSISTED DRAFT — requires review per plugin config supervision step]

Dear [Client],
 
This confirms your appointment with [Clinic name]:
 
**Date:**

Document request

Review label for the student (not for the client — strip before sending): [AI-ASSISTED DRAFT — requires review per plugin config supervision step]

Brief status update

For routine "we filed it" / "we're waiting" updates. (Fuller status updates → /status client.)

Review label for the student (not for the client — strip before sending): [AI-ASSISTED DRAFT — requires review per plugin config supervision step]

Before sending

Sending a letter to a client is a consequential action. This plugin's gate is the supervision workflow described in ## Supervision style in ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/legal-clinic/CLAUDE.md, reinforced by the Part 0 role check that confirms a licensed supervising attorney owns the clinic setup. That gate still holds: every letter clears review before it leaves the clinic.

Before sending any of the letters above, confirm:

1. The draft has been reviewed per the supervision protocol in ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/legal-clinic/CLAUDE.md (queue / flag / lighter-touch).
2. All internal review labels ([AI-ASSISTED DRAFT], any [VERIFY] or [FACT NEEDED] tags) have been removed from the client-facing copy.
3. The sign-off conforms to your jurisdiction's student practice rule for law-student-signed correspondence.

This is a student draft for supervising-attorney review, not a final letter. Sending it has legal consequences for the client and may constitute legal advice or communication on the client's behalf. A licensed supervising attorney reviews, edits, and signs off before the letter leaves the clinic. Do not send without supervisor approval.

Plain-language check

Per ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/legal-clinic/CLAUDE.md standards. Short sentences. No jargon. Reading level target enforced. If a template above includes a legal term the client might not know, explain it the first time: "We filed your 'answer' — that's the document that tells the court your side of the story."

Supervision routing

Per ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/legal-clinic/CLAUDE.md. Routine correspondence may or may not be a flag trigger depending on the supervision style the professor chose. If lighter-touch: these go out after student review without a queue step. If formal queue: even routine letters queue.

What this skill does NOT do

• Substantive advice. If the letter would say "here's what I think about your case" or "here's what you should do," that's not routine — that's /status client or a conversation with the professor first.
• Bad news. Case closing, adverse ruling, can't-help — those need thought, not a template. Flag for professor.
• Anything to opposing counsel or a court. Different audience, different skill (/draft or /status court).