/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:** [YYYY-MM-DD]

Append-only. Most recent at top.

---

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.

…