memo

/memo

1. Load ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/legal-clinic/CLAUDE.md → practice areas, jurisdiction.
2. Use the workflow below. Read intake summary / case notes.
3. Frame issues as questions. Scaffold IRAC for each — Rule blocks are RESEARCH NEEDED, Application is STUDENT ANALYSIS prompts, Conclusion is blank.
4. Strengths/weaknesses/open questions. Research gaps summary.
5. Output with prominent "the analysis is yours" label.

/legal-clinic:memo

Memo: Internal Case Analysis

Purpose

The case analysis memo is where the student's thinking lives. This skill provides the IRAC scaffolding and flags the research gaps — the student fills in the analysis.

The analysis is the student's. This skill structures; it doesn't conclude.

Load context

~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/legal-clinic/CLAUDE.md → practice areas, jurisdiction, supervision style. Intake summary and case notes for facts.

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 IRAC structure and the research-gap list. Ask the student to draft each rule statement themselves from research, rather than giving them a framework. Give feedback on what they wrote. Offer to fill the framework rule for a section only when the student has tried once.
• assist: Produce the memo scaffold and fill what can be filled. Flag items for student review. The student edits and learns by reviewing. (Note: this memo skill always leaves the [STUDENT ANALYSIS] and [STUDENT CONCLUSION] blocks blank by design — assist means the skill produces the IRAC scaffold and framework rule statement; it does not produce the application or the conclusion.)
• teach: Don't produce the framework or the scaffold content. Ask the student to frame the issues, state the rules from their research, and do the application. Give feedback. Ask leading questions when they're stuck. Only show a model rule statement or a model application paragraph after two attempts, and only for 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]."

Workflow

Step 1: Frame the issues

From the intake summary and case notes: what are the legal questions this case presents?

State each as a question. Not "habitability" — "Can the client assert a habitability defense to the eviction based on the broken heater, and if so, does it offset the rent owed?"

If there are multiple issues, each gets its own IRAC block.

Step 2: Scaffold the IRAC

For each issue:

Issue: Stated as a question (from Step 1).

Rule: This is a research gap, not a conclusion. State what the student needs to find:

[RESEARCH NEEDED: [State] habitability doctrine — warranty of habitability elements, what conditions qualify, remedies available including rent offset. Start with: [State] landlord-tenant statute, then case law on heater/heat specifically. See /research-start for a roadmap.]

If the skill has high confidence in the general rule framework (e.g., "most states recognize an implied warranty of habitability"), state that as a framework starting point — but explicitly mark it as unverified:

Framework (unverified — confirm for [State]): Most jurisdictions recognize an implied warranty of habitability requiring landlords to maintain conditions fit for human occupation. Breach may give rise to rent withholding, repair-and-deduct, or rent abatement. [VERIFY: [State]'s specific elements and remedies]

Application: This is where the student's analysis goes. Scaffold the structure, don't fill it:

`[STUDENT ANALYSIS: Apply the rule to the facts. Key facts to address:

• Heater broken since November — how long is "unreasonable"?
• Client notified landlord [when? how? documented?]
• Landlord's response or lack thereof
• [State]-specific: does client need to have given written notice? deposited rent in escrow? other procedural prerequisites?]`

List the facts that matter. Let the student do the applying.

Conclusion: Explicitly blank:

[STUDENT CONCLUSION: Based on your research and analysis above, what's the likely outcome? How strong is this defense? What are the weaknesses?]

Step 3: Identify strengths, weaknesses, open questions

Separate section, after the IRAC blocks:

Strengths (apparent from facts — student should test these):

• [Fact that seems helpful and why]

Weaknesses (apparent from facts — student should assess how serious):

• [Fact that seems harmful and why]
• [UNCERTAIN: whether [X] is actually a weakness — depends on [State] rule on [Y]]

Open questions (things the memo can't answer without more info):

• Factual: [what we don't know from the client]
• Legal: [what needs research]
• Strategic: [judgment calls for the student/professor]

Output

What this skill does NOT do

• Write the analysis. It scaffolds the IRAC and flags the gaps. The student reasons through the application.
• Provide verified rules. Every rule statement is explicitly unverified until the student researches it.
• Reach conclusions. The C in IRAC is blank on purpose.
• Replace the conversation with the professor. The Open Questions / Strategic section is the agenda for that conversation, not a substitute.

Close with the next-steps decision tree

End with the next-steps decision tree per CLAUDE.md ## Outputs. Customize the options to what this skill just produced — the five default branches (draft the X, escalate, get more facts, watch and wait, something else) are a starting point, not a lock-in. The tree is the output; the lawyer picks.