/matter-intake

1. Load ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/litigation-legal/CLAUDE.md → risk calibration (for triage), landscape (for context, conflicts method), stakeholders (for who to loop in).
2. Follow the workflow and reference below.
3. Run the uniform intake: identification, conflicts check, source, risk triage, materiality, outside counsel, internal owners, legal hold, key dates, initial posture.
4. Generate slug from matter name (lowercase, hyphens, year).
5. Create ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/litigation-legal/matters/[slug]/matter.md — full narrative intake.
6. Create ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/litigation-legal/matters/[slug]/history.md — seeded with the intake as the first entry.
7. Append structured row to ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/litigation-legal/matters/_log.yaml.
8. Confirm with the user: "Here's the row I'll write — any edits?"

Matter Intake

Purpose

Every new matter goes through the same intake so the portfolio stays comparable. Uniform rows in _log.yaml let the status skill roll up. Narrative in matter.md captures what the row can't. History file seeded here becomes the event record.

Load context

• ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/litigation-legal/CLAUDE.md — risk calibration (triage thresholds, materiality, settlement ladder), landscape (stakeholders, outside counsel bench).
• ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/litigation-legal/matters/_log.yaml — to confirm slug uniqueness.

The intake

1. Identification

• Matter name (as commonly referenced, e.g., "Acme v. Us 2026")
• Counterparty
• Matter type: contract | employment | ip | regulatory | investigation | product | other
• Our role: plaintiff | defendant | claimant | respondent | investigated
  • If the practice profile's ## Side is plaintiff, defense, or a "both — default X" variant, pre-fill the role from that default and confirm. If ## Side is varies by matter, ask cold. Never silently assume a posture the practice profile hasn't set.
  • The role drives downstream skills: plaintiff-posture matters route risk triage to case value / contingency economics; defense-posture matters route to exposure / reserves / insurance tender.
• Jurisdiction (court, arbitration forum, or regulatory body)

2. Conflicts check

Before going further, run the conflicts step per ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/litigation-legal/CLAUDE.md → Conflicts clearance.

• Status: cleared | pending | not-run | waived
• Method: match what ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/litigation-legal/CLAUDE.md declares (corporate-legal | outside-counsel | system-check | informal | other). If the declared method is informal, say so — the record still captures that a counsel's-judgment check was the basis.
• Cleared by: name / team / firm
• Cleared date: YYYY-MM-DD
• Checked against: brief list of the specific names/entities run (counterparty, known affiliates, adverse counsel if known, key witnesses). Thin is fine; "no" is not.
• Notes: anything flagged but cleared (e.g., "Smith on our board sat on counterparty's board 2019–2021 — cleared as non-overlapping to this matter").

Behavior by status:

• cleared → proceed.
• pending → proceed with intake; flag prominently in matter.md and in the log row that conflicts are outstanding; surface again on every /matter-update and in /portfolio-status until resolved.
• waived → rare; requires a conflict-waiver rationale (writing the waiver is outside this skill — capture that one exists, who signed it, and where it lives).
• not-run → STOP. This is a gate. The skill will not create matter.md, history.md, or a _log.yaml entry until the conflicts posture is resolved. Three acceptable paths:

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