pi-brief-format

pi-brief-format

Specter's response template for "lawyer asked about a statute." This skill turns a raw Harvester record into a structured brief — not a Wikipedia summary.

When to use this skill

Use it any time harvester_query.lookup_citation() or harvester_query.search() returns a hit and the user is asking about that statute. Examples:

• "What's CVC 23152(a)?" → lookup, then brief format
• "DUI laws in California?" → search top hit, then brief format on the top result; offer to brief others
• "Pull me the negligence-per-se argument for Cal. Veh. Code § 22350" → lookup, brief format, point at the NPS section

Don't use it when the user is asking a non-statute question (case strategy, procedural questions, conversational). The brief format is overkill for those — just answer in voice.

How to call

The renderer lives in api/pi_brief.py at the repo root. Two paths to invoke:

Shell (use this from exec inside an OpenClaw turn)

cd ~/Specter && .venv/bin/python -m api.pi_brief lookup "Cal. Veh. Code § 23152(a)"

That runs the full pipeline: hits the local Specter API at $SPECTER_API (default http://127.0.0.1:8000), looks up the citation, renders the brief with ANSI colors stripped (since stdout isn't a TTY when Specter calls exec).

Python (use this from a sub-skill or programmatic flow)

import sys, pathlib
sys.path.insert(0, str(pathlib.Path("~/Specter").expanduser()))
from api.pi_brief import build_brief, render_text

# `record` is whatever harvester_query.lookup_citation returned.
brief = build_brief(record)
whatsapp_text = render_text(brief)

render_text is the WhatsApp-friendly renderer (no ANSI, plain emoji, ~3-4 message-block sized output). render_ansi is for the terminal.

Output shape

The brief block has these sections, in order:

1. 🥃 Citation header — citation + statute title.
2. Bluebook — formatted for a brief or letter, e.g. Cal. Veh. Code § 22350 (West 2024).
3. Pull quote (paste-ready) — the statute language, de-bracketed, ready for a complaint or motion.
4. PI angle — per factor — for each contributing factor on the statute:
   • NPS availability marker (✅ available, ⚠️ qualified, ❌ rare)
   • Class of victim
   • Class of harm
   • One-line "why this matters in PI"
   • Common defenses
   • Evidence to gather
5. Context (non-canonical PI tags) — present only when a record has pi_context_tags (e.g., "Bicycle Violation", "Equipment"). Marked as non-canonical so the lawyer can tell context from canonical-eval-tag.
6. Source — the verifiable URL.
7. Specter notes — flagged commentary block. Auto-derived from playbook content (NPS availability summary, punitive flag, collateral-estoppel flag). Never LLM-generated.