legal-project (project · handoff · debrief)

Object of work. Running, handing over or closing a matter.

Imports. Obey the capability files named in the front-matter metadata.imports; do not restate them. This file carries only the mode's delta.

The PM door. The object of work is a process: deliverables across documents, stages and skills. Decompose by work item, keep the registers, integrate. This is where delegation is genuinely safe, because items are usually independent.

Read ../legal/SKILL.md first if the legal engine isn't loaded. The folder layout and register formats are in ../legal/references/matter-folder.md.

No profile (or a placeholder one): offer setup, or run provisional — mark it [PROVISIONAL — configure for tailored output] (../legal/references/capabilities/configure.md).

Modes in this door

Project (this file) is the default. Read the mode's file before doing its work:

AST obligation — non-negotiable

When the matter turns on documents or decisions, destructure them: build and print the AST (grammar: ../legal/references/ir-and-provenance.md) in one fenced text box, or state in the first line why not. Read the matter's documents both individually and as one logical unit; a document you didn't consider is a defect.

Object of work

• Unit of decomposition: a work item (one document, one issue, one step), each owned by one skill.
• Parallelism: real. Fan out read-only per item. Write fan-out only where items are disjoint documents. Never two writers on one document.
• Failure modes: a missed item, a missed date, scope drift, inconsistent positions across documents, a decision nobody recorded. The registers exist to catch these.

Operations

open / resume (default)

1. Open: create .legal/<slug>/ with matter.md and state.json. If the engine's intake already opened it, read parties.md, facts.md, deadlines.md and the gap table. Resume: read matter.md, state.json, deadlines.md, the last 20 lines of history.md and decisions.md, then give the status card (what's due, what's blocked) and close the turn with the closing pair (../legal/references/display.md): FILES links, then the Progress box (steps done / current / next).
2. Triage + Gate Plan (engine). Clustering here is by work item.
3. Status board in matter.md: one row per item, giving skill, owner (parent / sidecar / human), status, blocking?, file. Mirror it in state.json.active_items.

run

1. Execute packets. Keep the critical path in the parent. Delegate bounded read-only items with a packet (packets/<item>.md: task, inputs, stance, expected output, exit criteria); returns go to results/<item>.md.
2. Integrate. Deduplicate findings into issue-log.md. Check consistency across documents (the failure mode unique to this hat): same term, same definition; same issue, same position; same party, same identifiers; same date, same value.
3. Keep the registers current after every work item: deadlines.md, decisions.md (human decisions only), history.md (append-only), versions.md (what went to whom).

closing (transactions)

closing.md: the conditions precedent and completion deliverables:

| # | Item | Type (CP / deliverable / filing / consent / payment) | Responsible party | Depends on | Due | Status | Evidence of satisfaction |

Mark the critical path: the chain of dependent items that sets the earliest completion date. Put regulatory clearances (merger control, FDI screening), third-party consents, corporate approvals and registrations on it first. Nothing is done without its evidence (a signed document, a register extract, a clearance decision).

obligations (post-signing)

obligations.md: what the signed documents oblige each side to do from now on:

| # | Obligation | Party | Source (doc §) | Trigger / frequency | Next due | Notice / renewal window | Consequence of breach | Owner |

Every dated item (renewal, opt-out window, reporting, price review, warranty expiry, claim deadline under the limitation clause) also goes to deadlines.md. Renewal and termination windows are calculated back from the expiry date using the contract's notice rule.

close

1. Confirm that every deliverable is done or explicitly deferred, and every deadline is met, n/a, or handed over.
2. Hand the matter over with the handoff mode (references/modes/handoff.md, handoff.md) when a successor will take it on, and record the closed matter with the debrief mode (references/modes/debrief.md, debrief.md). Both are views of this folder: outcome, final versions (from versions.md), open obligations and deadlines with owners, decisions taken, residual risks, and where everything is.
3. Confirm that deviations.md is complete for every playbook-bound document.
4. Set matter.md status to closed, and append to history.md.

Checks

• Coverage: every deliverable on the board is addressed or explicitly deferred.
• Cross-document consistency (above), run by the verify capability (../legal/references/capabilities/verify.md) at the deliverable checkpoint for multi-document suites.
• Deadlines: none open without an owner; nothing due within 30 days off the first card.
• the challenge capability (../legal/references/capabilities/challenge.md) is proposed at the deliverable checkpoint for RISK = high matters.

Fan-out

One read-only packet per independent work item; one write-capable subagent per disjoint document. Decisions, the board and integration stay in the parent. Protocol: ../legal/references/capabilities/orchestrate.md.

Output

Status card + board + assembled deliverables + final-report.md (outcome, files, open items, residual risk) plus final-report.docx beside it (../legal/scripts/md2docx.py, after scan.py outbound), all linked in the closing FILES block. A live handover is the handoff mode (references/modes/handoff.md, handoff.md); a closed matter is the debrief mode (references/modes/debrief.md, debrief.md). Keep the final answer shorter than the report. Screen follows ../legal/references/display.md.

What this mode does not do

• Run another mode's work inline: it names the hand-over and waits for the gate.
• Advance past an unapproved gate, or read one "continue" as authorization for the whole roadmap.
• Close a matter with open obligations, or without recording the decisions and the debrief.

Counter-example (illustration)

Illustration, not law. Four deliverables are tracked on the board; one is quietly written during the status update. Mistake to catch: the project door did the review itself instead of handing over. Correct: name the next mode, keep the board current, wait for the user.