Brief Section Drafter

Brief Section Drafter

Purpose

Produce a first draft of a single section of a litigation brief for attorney review, revision, and sign-off. The draft is cited to the record, internally consistent with the case theory, and marked throughout with verification placeholders wherever legal authority or factual accuracy must be confirmed. It is draft legal work product for attorney review; it is not legal advice. The draft is never filed unreviewed.

This skill does not decide litigation strategy, invent legal authority, or produce a final, file-ready document. It writes disciplined, honest prose that gives the supervising attorney a solid working draft — not a shortcut around professional judgment.

Use When

• Counsel needs a first draft of a specific brief section: a statement of facts, an argument section or sub-section, a standard of review section, a conclusion, or a similar discrete component of a written submission.
• A user asks to "draft the argument section," "write the statement of facts," or "put together the standard-of-review section."
• The case theory and the relevant record materials are available and can be provided as inputs.
• The matter is in active litigation or an imminent filing posture and the section type is known.
• The draft is for a written submission (motion, opposition, brief, reply) or, with appropriate scope adjustment, a structured outline for oral argument preparation.

Required Inputs

• Matter identification — matter name, matter number, or a brief description sufficient to identify the case.
• Case theory — one sentence stating the factual and legal proposition the filing party is advancing. The entire draft turns on this sentence; without it, the skill cannot produce a coherent section.
• Section type — the specific section to be drafted: statement of facts, argument (identify the proposition), standard of review, conclusion, or another named section. If the section type is ambiguous, the skill will ask for clarification before drafting.
• Written submission or oral argument — confirm which posture applies. Written submissions call for thorough authority development with full citation placeholders; oral argument preparation produces a leaner structure with a sharper lead and fewer supporting points.
• Forum and local rules — paste the relevant local rules, standing orders, or page and word-count limits directly into the input. If this material is not provided, the skill will flag all format and length requirements as [CONFIRM: forum rules not provided — attorney to verify]. Do not rely on the skill's background knowledge of any court's rules; treat all unstated rules as unconfirmed.
• House style sample — a sample brief or excerpt from the supervising attorney or firm showing the expected tone, heading style, citation format, and prose register. If none is provided, the skill will note the absence and apply a neutral, professional default, flagging the style choice for attorney review.
• Record materials — the documents, deposition transcripts, declarations, pleadings, or other record items that will supply the factual predicate for this section. Every fact in the draft must be tied to a provided record item or flagged [VERIFY: record cite needed]. If no record materials are provided, the skill cannot draft a fact-intensive section and will stop to request them.
• Authorities already identified by counsel — any cases, statutes, rules, or secondary sources that the supervising attorney has already confirmed and directed the skill to use. The skill will insert these as placeholders in the proper locations; it will not add authority beyond what is provided and directed.
• Optional: the practice group's practice-profiles/litigation.md if it has been populated and is loaded alongside this skill. If present, the skill uses its Preferred Output Style and Standard Positions tables to benchmark the draft against the group's house style. If absent, the skill proceeds without practice-profile benchmarking and asks the user to supply standing positions inline if needed.