Client Comms Log Skill for Claude

/client-comms-log

• Use the workflow below.
• Require case-id (prompt if not provided).
• 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.
• 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:

• 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.
• Continuity at handoff. The next semester's student takes over and reads the log; they don't re-ask the client questions already answered.
• 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.
• 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.
• Language / accommodation issues. Client language noted as non-English; check whether outgoing communications have been in that language.
• Escalation patterns. Client tone shifting (frustrated / distressed) across entries.
• Gaps. Long stretches with no contact on an active case.

This is a supervision tool. Clinical professors running --patterns across their cases see which students might need support.

Integration

• /client-letter: after generating and sending a letter, offer to log it as an outgoing comm.
• /status client: when producing a client-facing status summary, offer to log it (often these summaries go to clients).
• /client-intake: first entry in every new case's log is the intake contact.
• /semester-handoff: handoff memos read --summary for each case to populate the communications-history section.
• /deadlines: if a communication established a deadline ("client said they need to respond by Friday"), offer to /deadlines --add.

What this skill does not do

• Store substantive legal analysis. That lives in intake, memo, and status files. The log is communication record — facts of contact, not legal strategy.
• Auto-log from outside systems. If the clinic uses a case management system (Clio), an integration could pull call logs and emails automatically. That's a future add; not v1.
• Edit past entries. Append-only. If an entry is wrong, write a new entry referencing and correcting it. The integrity of the log depends on not rewriting history.
• Enforce log discipline. If a student doesn't log a call, the skill can't know. Log hygiene is a clinic-culture problem; the skill just makes logging easy.
• Handle privileged or attorney-only notes. If the student needs to record strategic thinking, that goes in the case's internal analysis file, not the comms log.