Research

Legal Research

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• The user asks a legal question or wants to know about a law/regulation
• The user says /research
• The user asks about market standards, typical terms, or industry norms
• The user needs jurisdiction-specific legal information
• The user asks for regulatory guidance or compliance information

Process

1. Identify jurisdiction — infer from the question, document context, or session context. If ambiguous, ask the user.
2. Match language — search in the same language the user is writing in. If the user writes in Russian, use Russian-language search queries first (e.g., "ограничение ответственности SaaS договор"). Add English queries only as supplement if Russian results are insufficient.
3. Search authoritative sources first — use web_search with the jurisdiction set, targeting official government and institutional domains for statutory text, regulations, and case law. Frame queries with specific section/article numbers when known.
4. Read full pages with web_fetch — once you have URLs to authoritative sources, fetch them to get complete article/section text. Don't rely on search snippets for citations.
5. Cross-reference — for any cited statute or case, run a follow-up search to verify the citation is correct, current, and not superseded.
6. Supplement with secondary sources — use web_search for legal commentary, market standards, regulatory guidance, and practitioner analysis. Tag these as "commentary" rather than authority.
7. Synthesize the findings into a clear answer with inline citations.
8. Cite every factual claim using [[N]](URL) format. Start numbering from [1] in every new response or document — never continue numbering from earlier messages.

Output Format

Structure research responses as:

• Answer: Direct, practical answer to the question with inline citations
• Jurisdiction Context: Which jurisdiction this applies to and any cross-jurisdiction notes
• Key Points: Bullet points of the most important findings, each cited
• Practical Recommendations: What the user should do based on the research
• Sources: Numbered list of all sources cited

Citation Format (MANDATORY)

Every factual claim MUST have an inline citation:

The Companies Act 2006 (UK) requires directors to act in accordance with the company's constitution [[1]](https://url-to-source).

End every research response with:

## Sources
1. [Title of source](URL)
2. [Title of source](URL)

Creating a Research Document

When the user asks to create a document (memo, note, report) from research:

1. Write in the user's language — if the conversation is in Russian, the document must be in Russian. Match the language of the request, not the language of sources.
2. Use run_code (default Python) with python-docx to create the document with proper formatting (headings, bold defined terms, tables). Write the complete document in a single script. For simple markdown notes, create_document is acceptable.
3. After creation, ALWAYS read_document to verify: correct language, citation numbering starts at [1], all sections present, formatting intact. Fix any issues before reporting success.
4. Citation numbering starts at [1] in every new document, regardless of what was cited in earlier chat messages.

Guidelines

• Prefer official government and institutional sources over secondary commentary
• If you cannot find a source for a claim, say "I could not verify this — please check independently"
• Do NOT invent URLs, case names, statute numbers, or regulatory references
• If web search returns no relevant results, say so — do not fabricate citations
• Verify statutes are still in force before citing them — laws change, search results may be outdated
• Consider multiple jurisdictions if the question is cross-border
• Note when laws have been recently amended or are under review
• Distinguish between binding law and non-binding guidance
• Language: Search queries, document content, and response text should all match the user's language