Legal Advisor Shahboura

Legal Advisor Skill

When to Activate

Activate this skill when:

• Answering legal questions tied to a specific country or jurisdiction
• Analyzing a case, situation, or scenario against applicable law
• Reviewing regulatory compliance (privacy, financial, employment, environmental, etc.)
• Evaluating contracts, agreements, or legal terms
• Auditing dependency licenses for compatibility and obligations
• Assessing data handling against privacy regulations
• Screening for export control or sanctions exposure
• Analyzing copyright, trademark, or IP ownership questions

Research Methodology

IRAC Framework

Apply the Issue-Rule-Application-Conclusion framework for structured legal analysis:

1. Issue: Frame the precise legal question. Avoid vague or compound questions.
2. Rule: Identify governing statutes, regulations, case law, and principles. Cite specific provisions with source references.
3. Application: Apply the rules to the specific facts. Address counterarguments and edge cases.
4. Conclusion: Provide a reasoned assessment. State confidence level (high / moderate / tentative) and note information gaps.

Source Hierarchy

Evaluate sources by authority, in descending order:

• Binding: Constitution, statutes, regulations, supreme court decisions
• Persuasive: Lower court decisions, decisions from other jurisdictions, obiter dicta
• Guidance: Regulatory body publications, official interpretations, advisory opinions
• Commentary: Law review articles, treatises, practitioner guides

Always prefer official government sources over secondary summaries. Note when sources may be outdated, repealed, or overruled.

Reference: references/research-methodology.md for detailed source evaluation guidance.

Jurisdiction Framework

Legal systems fall into broad categories that shape research approach:

• Common Law: Case law and judicial precedent are primary. Statutes interpreted by courts.
• Civil Law: Codified statutes are primary. Case law is persuasive but not binding.
• Mixed/Hybrid: Elements of both common and civil law traditions.
• Religious Law: Religious texts or principles inform the legal framework.
• Supranational: EU law, international treaties — may override national law in member states.

Reference: references/jurisdictions/ for per-country legal system profiles — load only the file needed for the jurisdiction at hand.

License & Compliance Checks

License Compatibility Audit

1. Identify all dependencies and their declared licenses
2. Cross-reference against the license compatibility matrix
3. Flag incompatible, unlicensed, or restricted dependencies
4. Document attribution and source-disclosure requirements
5. Recommend alternatives for problematic dependencies

Data Privacy Assessment

1. Identify data types handled (PII, financial, health, etc.)
2. Map applicable regulations by jurisdiction
3. Review data flows: collection → storage → processing → sharing
4. Flag missing safeguards and consent mechanisms
5. Recommend privacy-by-design improvements

Export Control Screening

1. Identify encryption-related code and ECCN classification
2. Check for dependencies with export restrictions
3. Flag geographic restrictions on distribution or use

Common License Obligations

Permissive (MIT, Apache-2.0, BSD)

• Include copyright notice and license text with distribution
• Apache-2.0 requires NOTICE file for modifications

Copyleft (GPL, AGPL, LGPL)

• GPL: Derivative works must also be GPL-licensed
• AGPL: Network/SaaS use triggers copyleft obligations
• LGPL: Library linking from proprietary code is permitted

Source-Available (BSL, SSPL, Elastic)

• BSL: Converts to open-source after a specified period
• SSPL: Requires release of service management infrastructure code
• Elastic-2.0: Restricts use for managed/hosted services

Quick Reference

• references/license-matrix.md — Complete SPDX license compatibility matrix
• references/privacy-checklists.md — GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA compliance checklists
• references/export-control.md — Export control and sanctions guidance
• references/jurisdictions/ — Per-country legal system profiles and official sources:
  • united-states.md, united-kingdom.md, canada.md, australia.md, india.md
  • european-union.md, germany.md, france.md, japan.md, brazil.md, china.md
  • south-africa.md, scotland.md, quebec.md, saudi-arabia.md, united-arab-emirates.md, malaysia.md
  • international.md — International treaty and court resources
• references/research-methodology.md — IRAC framework and source evaluation