# Legal Research

> Answer a legal question with authority behind it, and record the answer where it will be found again.

- Skill: `tinyhumansai/legal-research` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add tinyhumansai/legal-research`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/tinyhumansai/legal-research/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Research & Search
- Author: tinyhumansai (https://skillmd.com/u/tinyhumansai)
- Updated: 2026-09-22
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/tinyhumansai/legal-research

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# Legal Research

Answer the question that was actually asked, with the authority that actually
supports it, in a jurisdiction that is actually named.

## When to use

- A matter turns on a question of law.
- A draft depends on a term meaning what somebody assumes it means.
- A client asks whether they may do something.

## Steps

1. **Read `positions` first.** The firm may already have settled this, with the
   confidence and the authority attached. Re-deriving a settled position is the
   cheapest waste available here.
2. **Fix the jurisdiction and the date** before searching. An answer that does
   not name both is not an answer.
3. **Find primary authority** — statute, regulation, decided case. Commentary
   locates authority; it is not authority.
4. **Check it is still good.** Superseded, distinguished, appealed, amended. An
   overturned authority cited confidently is worse than no answer.
5. **State the answer plainly first**, then the qualifications. An answer that
   opens with five caveats is one nobody reads to the end of.
6. **Record it.** If the question will recur, `record_entry` on `positions` with
   the authority, the jurisdiction, the confidence, and what would change it.

## Output

The answer, its authority, its jurisdiction, and an honest confidence —
settled, arguable, or untested. Anything reaching a client is reviewed by a
licensed human first; this pass produces the research, not the advice.