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Matter Close

Records a legal matter's outcome, final cost and lessons, then archives it without deleting it.

Source Download skill
Repository
anthropics/claude-for-legal
Stars
9,870
Licence
Apache-2.0
Files
1 file

What it does

When a legal matter ends, this skill makes the agent walk through the resolution type (settled, dismissed, judgment, withdrawn, consolidated), the resolution date, final cost compared with the original intake estimate, and a short honest lessons summary. It then updates a local matter log and history file to mark the matter closed, while keeping the full record on disk so it can be reviewed later. If the user appears to be a non-lawyer, it pauses and offers a summary to take to a licensed attorney before writing anything.

Great for

  • In-house legal or litigation teams tracking a portfolio of matters who want consistent closing records
  • Legal ops staff who want outcomes captured in a structured way to inform future risk estimates
  • Users of the claude-for-legal litigation plugin who already have matters intaken in the matter log

Skip it if

  • Anyone who has not already set up the matter log via the matter-intake workflow, since the skill refuses to close matters that are not in the log
  • Non-lawyers closing matters without attorney review, because closing ends active tracking and may affect legal holds; the skill itself asks for attorney review first
  • Situations where the user wants the agent to invent lessons or outcomes, since the skill instructs leaving the lessons section empty rather than fabricating it

Try asking

  • “Close the Smith v. Acme matter, it settled for $120k last week”
  • “Matter acme-supplier-dispute is done, dismissed with prejudice on March 3”
  • “Record the judgment against us in the Lee employment case and update the portfolio log”
  • “Consolidate matter-17 into matter-12 and close it out”
Step-by-step guide: how to use Matter CloseInstall, first run, examples, tips and FAQs

Install in 3 steps

  1. 1

    Download the skill

    The ZIP contains the 1 original files, the Apache-2.0 licence and an attribution note.

    matter-close.zip
  2. 2

    Add it to your agent

    Claude Code (all projects)

    mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && unzip matter-close.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/

    Claude Code / Agent SDK (this project only)

    mkdir -p .claude/skills && unzip matter-close.zip -d .claude/skills/

    Claude apps (web/desktop): Settings → Capabilities → Skills → Upload skill, and choose the ZIP.

  3. 3

    Ask for the task

    No special command needed — the agent reads the skill's description and loads it when your request matches. Try one of the prompts above.

Get better results

  • Have the matter already intaken so the log row and intake range exist; otherwise the skill will refuse to proceed.
  • Review the full close entry and YAML diff the skill shows before confirming, since it writes to legal records.
  • Provide the settlement agreement or final order path when available so the history entry links to the source document.

What's inside

  • SKILL.md

Redistributed unmodified from anthropics/claude-for-legal under the Apache-2.0 licence. The assessment was drafted with AI from the skill's files on 2026-10-29. Skills can instruct your agent to run code — read SKILL.md and any scripts before installing.