Guide · Agent skill
How to use the Law Student Setup Interview agent skill
Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data
The Law Student Setup Interview is an agent skill, a packaged set of instructions that tells Claude Code or a compatible agent how to run a specific task. This one, named cold-start-interview, runs a guided interview about how you study and writes the answers to a plain-text study profile. This guide explains what the skill does, how to install it, how to trigger it, and what to check before you use it.
Law Student Setup Interviewanthropics/claude-for-legal · Apache-2.0 Download the skill Quick start
- 1Get the ZIP. Download the cold-start-interview ZIP from the skill's page on this directory.
- 2Unzip into the skills folder. Unzip into ~/.claude/skills/ for all projects, or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder for one project.
- 3Or upload in the Claude apps. In the Claude apps, go to Settings → Capabilities → Skills and upload the ZIP.
- 4Start the interview. Ask the agent to set you up or get started. Choose quick or full setup when prompted.
- 5Answer the questions. Give your year in school, classes, bar timing, learning style, strong and shaky subjects, and past materials.
- 6Confirm the saved profile. Read the summary the agent shows and say what is wrong. The profile is written to the config CLAUDE.md file.
- 7Update later. Use --redo to repeat the interview or --check-integrations to re-check connectors.
What the skill makes the agent do
The skill walks a law student through a setup interview. It asks about year in school (1L, 2L, 3L or bar prep), current classes, and bar exam timing. It asks whether you prefer being drilled or having concepts explained, which subjects feel strong, which feel shaky, and which you want to avoid. It also asks for past materials such as outlines, graded essays and old exams.
When the interview is finished, the agent writes a plain-text study profile to a config file. Other law-student commands in the claude-for-legal law-student plugin read that file, so later study help matches how you learn. The skill can also re-check which connected tools are available.
Install the skill
You can install the skill in either of two ways. Download the ZIP file from the skill's page on this directory and unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/ to make it available in all your projects, or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder to limit it to that project.
Alternatively, in the Claude apps, open Settings, then Capabilities, then Skills, and upload the ZIP there.
- Personal install: unzip into ~/.claude/skills/
- Project install: unzip into .claude/skills/ inside the project folder
- Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload the ZIP
Trigger the skill with natural requests
You do not need to memorise a command. The skill is meant to run on a fresh install, or when you say something like "set up" or "get started". Its slash name is /cold-start-interview, and it accepts two optional flags.
Use --redo to run the interview again when you already have a profile and want to change it. Use --check-integrations to re-check connected tools after you add or remove a connector. The check updates only the integrations section and leaves your profile alone.
- "Set me up for law school study."
- "Get started with the law student plugin."
- "Run the setup interview again, I changed classes this term." (uses --redo)
- "Re-check my connectors." (uses --check-integrations)
/cold-start-interview [--redo] [--check-integrations]What the interview asks and what it writes
The interview has a quick path and a full path. The quick path covers the basics: year in school, current classes and bar exam date if applicable. The full path adds your learning style, weak areas, past materials and other study details.
The skill writes to ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/law-student/CLAUDE.md. It includes a Who's using this section and an Available integrations section. If you share fewer than 10 materials, the file is flagged LIMITED DATA. The skill only uses your answers and does not read your other conversations or your home-directory CLAUDE.md.
- Only ✓ is reported for a connector after a tool call actually succeeds; configured-but-untested connectors are marked ⚪ with a note on how to confirm them.
- If a populated profile exists in the older cache path, the skill copies it to the config path and tells you what it migrated.
Safety notes: scripts and network
According to the skill's documentation, it runs no scripts and uses no network access. It names no API keys or accounts. Optional MCP connectors are checked but not specified by the skill.
Because the profile stores classes, grades and weak areas in a local file, read the saved CLAUDE.md before relying on it, and remove anything you do not want kept.
Tips for a better profile
The more specific your answers are, and the more materials you share, the closer later outputs will match your classes. Upload outlines, graded essays and old exams during the materials step rather than skipping it.
If you are not a law student, or you are a practicing lawyer, this skill is not the right tool. The skill itself directs such users elsewhere.
- Name your actual classes and professors rather than general subjects.
- Share at least 10 materials to avoid the LIMITED DATA flag.
- Run --check-integrations after you connect or disconnect a tool.
What people use it for
- A 1L setting up study help for the first time, with outlines and cold-call prep matched to classes.
- A bar candidate who wants study help tied to their jurisdiction and test dates.
- A 2L who switches from being drilled to having concepts explained, using --redo to update the profile.
- A student who connects a new tool and runs --check-integrations to see whether it responds.
Frequently asked questions
Is the cold-start-interview skill free?
The source file does not state a price or licence terms beyond the listed licence, which is Apache-2.0. The skill needs Claude Code or a compatible agent with the claude-for-legal law-student plugin installed.
What do I need to use this skill?
You need Claude Code or a compatible agent, with the claude-for-legal law-student plugin installed. The skill names no API keys or accounts. Optional MCP connectors are checked but not specified.
How do I install cold-start-interview?
Download the ZIP from the skill's page and unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/ or a project's .claude/skills/ folder. In the Claude apps, you can instead upload the ZIP under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
Does this skill send my data over the network?
The source states it uses no network access and runs no scripts. Your answers are saved to a local plain-text file at ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/law-student/CLAUDE.md.
What is the difference between --redo and --check-integrations?
--redo runs the full interview again and overwrites the profile after confirmation. --check-integrations re-runs only the connector check and updates the integrations section without changing your role or the rest of the profile.
Is this skill right for practicing lawyers?
No. The skill is built for law students and bar candidates studying for class or the bar, not for client work. The skill itself directs non-students elsewhere.
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Our verdict
Use this skill if you are a 1L, 2L, 3L or bar candidate using the claude-for-legal law-student plugin for the first time, and you are comfortable saving your study details to a local file. Skip it if you are not a law student, practice law, or do not want classes, grades and weak areas stored on your computer.
Download the skill