Guide · Agent skill
How to use the Law Clinic Setup Interview agent skill
Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data
The Law Clinic Setup Interview is an agent skill for a supervising professor who runs a law school legal clinic. It asks about the clinic's practice areas, jurisdiction, supervision style and handbook documents, then writes a plain-text CLAUDE.md file that other clinic skills and students read from. This guide explains what the skill does, how to install it, how to start it, and what to check before you rely on it.
Law Clinic Setup Interviewanthropics/claude-for-legal · Apache-2.0 Download the skill Quick start
- 1Confirm the requirements. Make sure Claude Code is installed with the claude-for-legal legal-clinic plugin. Optional connectors such as Clio or document storage can be added later.
- 2Install the skill. Download the ZIP from this page and unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/ for all projects, or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder. In the Claude apps, upload it under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
- 3Start the setup. Run /legal-clinic:cold-start-interview and choose quick or full mode. The agent confirms before overwriting any populated clinic file.
- 4Answer the interview. Give the practice areas, jurisdiction, supervision style and any handbook or court-rule documents. Confirm the supervision choice and templates when the agent shows them.
- 5Review the clinic file. Check the CLAUDE.md written to ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/legal-clinic/ and correct anything that does not match your clinic.
- 6Check integrations. After adding or removing a connector, run /legal-clinic:cold-start-interview --check-integrations to update which tools are confirmed.
What the skill makes the agent do
Cold-start-interview is a one-time setup interview. The agent works through questions with you, covering the clinic's practice areas, jurisdiction, supervision style (a formal review queue, configurable flags, or a lighter-touch approach) and any handbook or court-rule documents you upload.
When the interview finishes, the agent writes a plain-text CLAUDE.md file to your Claude config folder at ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/legal-clinic/CLAUDE.md. Other skills in the legal-clinic plugin, and students running the /ramp onboarding, read that file so everyone works from the same clinic setup.
The skill can also re-check which connected tools, such as Clio or document storage, are actually reachable.
Install the skill from the ZIP or the Claude apps
Download the ZIP from this page. To install it for yourself across all projects, unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/. To install it for one project only, unzip it into that project's .claude/skills/ folder.
If you use the Claude apps instead, upload the skill under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
The skill's package contains a single file, SKILL.md, which holds the instructions the agent follows.
- User-wide: ~/.claude/skills/
- Single project: the .claude/skills/ folder inside that project
- Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills
~/.claude/skills/Check the requirements before you start
The skill needs Claude Code with the claude-for-legal legal-clinic plugin installed. The skill is written as part of that plugin and is invoked as /legal-clinic:cold-start-interview.
MCP connectors such as Clio or document storage are optional. Without them the interview still runs, but integration checks will show those tools as not confirmed.
The skill does not run scripts and does not use the network, according to its listing.
- Claude Code with the legal-clinic plugin installed
- Optional: MCP connectors such as Clio or document storage
Start the interview with a command or a plain request
Run the command to start the setup. The skill checks whether a populated clinic file already exists. If one does, it asks you to confirm before overwriting it, unless you pass the --redo option.
You can also ask in plain language, for example that you want to set up the law clinic for a fresh install, or that the clinic file has placeholders left in it. The skill is designed for fresh installs, files that still contain placeholders, re-doing setup, and re-checking integrations.
Before the questions begin, the agent asks you to choose quick or full mode. Quick covers practice areas, jurisdiction and supervision basics. Full adds ethical-preconditions records, flag triggers, document templates, handbook content, local court rules and semester dates. You can upgrade later with --full.
- Fresh install: run the setup from the start
- Placeholders still in CLAUDE.md: resume or start over
- Re-doing setup: use --redo
- Re-checking connected tools: use --check-integrations
/legal-clinic:cold-start-interviewRe-check integrations after adding or removing a connector
Use the integration check after you add or remove an MCP connector. It re-runs only the availability check for Clio and document storage and updates the Available integrations section of your clinic file. It leaves your role, ethical preconditions, supervision style and practice-area templates untouched.
A connector is marked as confirmed only when a tool call to it actually succeeds. A connector that is configured but untested is marked with a white circle and a one-line note on how to confirm it. A declaration in the .mcp.json file alone never counts as confirmed.
/legal-clinic:cold-start-interview --check-integrationsSafety notes and limits
The skill records what the supervising attorney enters. It does not check jurisdiction rules or verify legal accuracy, so review the resulting clinic file yourself.
The skill is for supervising attorneys only. If the person running it is not the supervising attorney, it stops and redirects. Students should use the separate onboarding command instead.
The interview builds a fresh clinic profile from your answers and uploaded documents. It does not read personal Claude history, other conversations or your home-directory CLAUDE.md. Nothing is added to the configuration unless you type or approve it.
If you install the plugin in project scope, the agent can only read files inside that folder. Documents elsewhere, such as Downloads or Documents, will need to be moved into the project or you should reinstall with user scope.
Tips for a smooth setup
Gather your clinic handbook, filing guides, local court rules, intake forms and one example case file before you start, since the interview asks you to upload them. Use a scrubbed example file that contains no client details.
Answer the supervision-style question deliberately. Every student's /ramp onboarding and later skills will use it, and the agent will show you the choice for confirmation before writing the file.
Read the finished CLAUDE.md before students use it. Correct any placeholder or setting that does not match how your clinic works.
What people use it for
- A supervising professor launching a new law school clinic that will use the legal-clinic plugin.
- A clinic administrator updating the setup after adding or removing a Clio or document storage connector.
- A teaching team that wants every student and skill to work from the same clinic context and supervision model.
- A clinic that is moving to a new supervision style and needs to re-run setup with --redo.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Law Clinic Setup Interview skill free to use?
The source material for this skill does not state pricing or licence terms beyond its Apache-2.0 licence. Check the licence and the plugin's own terms before using it in your clinic.
What do I need to run cold-start-interview?
You need Claude Code with the claude-for-legal legal-clinic plugin installed. Clio and document storage connectors are optional and only used for integration checks.
Can a student run this skill?
No. The skill is for the supervising attorney. If a student runs it, the skill stops and redirects them to the separate onboarding command, /ramp.
Where does the setup save my clinic settings?
It writes a plain-text CLAUDE.md file to ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/legal-clinic/. Other skills and students' onboarding read that file.
Does the skill check that my jurisdiction rules are correct?
No. It records what the professor enters and does not verify legal accuracy or jurisdiction rules. You need to review the resulting file yourself.
How is this different from setting up the plugin without it?
Without the interview, other skills have no shared clinic context. This skill creates that shared context once, so /ramp and later skills read the same practice areas and supervision model.
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Our verdict
This skill suits supervising attorneys and clinic administrators who are setting up a law school clinic on the legal-clinic plugin and want one shared configuration for students and skills. It is not for students, non-lawyers or anyone expecting the setup to check legal accuracy, so use a different tool or the separate onboarding command in those cases.
Download the skill