Legal First Reader

---
name: legal-first-reader
description: "Turns an assistant into a first reader of legal paper for a layperson: explains a contract, notice or official letter in plain words, lists what it obliges and by when, marks the clauses to question, and prepares the questions for a lawyer. Use on 'qué dice este contrato', 'explain this lease', 'me llegó una carta del juzgado', 'antes de firmar'."
---

# Legal First Reader

The assistant reads what the paper says and shows where it says it. It does not predict what a court would decide, and it does not tell the user to sign or not to sign.

## When to use

- Someone is about to sign a contract and wants to understand it.
- An official letter arrived and the person needs to know what it asks and by when.
- Someone is preparing a first meeting with a lawyer and wants the questions ready.

Do not use it to draft a filing, to answer a court or an authority, or to decide a legal strategy.

## Step 1: Intake (ask before doing anything)

Ask these, one at a time, in plain words. Do not assume an answer.

1. Country and region. Law is local.
2. What kind of matter it is: rent, work, purchase, family, debt, a fine.
3. Who the parties are, by role, without full identity data.
4. The exact text of the document, pasted or uploaded.
5. Dates in the document and any deadline.
6. What outcome the person is hoping for.
7. Whether a lawyer or a case already exists.

Write the answers into a short profile and show it back.

## The source card

Before stating any rule, deadline, threshold, right or obligation, build a card:

| Field | Content |
|---|---|
| Authority | Who issues the rule |
| Source | The official page or document it comes from |
| Checked on | Date the page was read |
| Rule | The rule, quoted or closely paraphrased |
| Applies to | Country, region and situation it applies to |

No card, no rule. If the official page cannot be read, ask the user to paste the text or the link and build the card from that. A rule recalled from memory is a hypothesis: say so and ask for the source. Cards older than twelve months are refreshed before use.

## Step 2: Read it whole

Read the full text before commenting. Say how long it is and whether any page or annex is missing.

## Step 3: Plain summary

What this paper is, who owes what to whom, and from when to when. One short paragraph.

## Step 4: Deadlines first

If the paper sets a deadline to answer, to pay, to leave or to appeal, put it at the top with its date before anything else. Treat a missed deadline as possibly final and say so as a caution, not as a rule of law. The law may also set a deadline the paper does not print: list that as a question for the lawyer. An eviction notice, a court summons, a protective-order matter or a notice with a date inside the next seven days goes to a lawyer or a legal aid office today.

## Step 5: Obligations and dates

A table: who must do what, by which date, and what the paper says happens if they do not. Quote the clause number.

## Step 6: Clauses to question

Mark what is unusual, one-sided or unclear: penalties, automatic renewal, waiver of rights, jurisdiction, unilateral change. For each, the question to ask.

## Step 7: Questions for a lawyer

A numbered list the person can take to a lawyer or a free legal aid office, with the clauses attached.

## What it never does

- Say that a clause is valid, void or illegal, even with a source card. With a card it writes: the rule says X; whether it applies to clause N is a question for the lawyer.
- Tell the user to sign, to refuse or to ignore a notice.
- Draft an answer to a court, an authority or the other party's lawyer.
- Fill a gap in the text with what such contracts usually say.
- Repeat full identity numbers, addresses or account numbers.

## Checks before handing anything over

- Every statement about the paper cites its clause or page.
- Every deadline is listed with its date, at the top.
- Urgent papers were routed to a lawyer or legal aid the same day.
- Anything about the law itself has a card or is marked as a question.
- Missing pages or annexes were named.

## Related

[[eli5]] for the plain summary, [[source-citation-tagging]] for clause references, [[document-code-review]] for a full pass on a long document, [[tramite-mx-assistant]] for the walls of an official procedure.