
Case Study
Legal Research & Paralegal MCP
Focused on structured legal workflows: precedent retrieval, statute excerpt extraction, citation validation planning, clause & contract differ, and guided brief scaffolds. Iterating with a small partner cohort - capability surface kept intentionally narrow, schema-first and inspectable.
- ▹Multi-source research adapters (planned)
- ▹Citation normalization & staging
- ▹Clause differ + risk hints
- ▹Brief & argument outline templates
Tools
6
Prompts
4
Resources
15+
⚙️ Quick Navigation
Stealth: selective disclosure; schemas stable before expansion.
Positioning
Not a generic LLM chat wrapper. This surface concentrates on audit-friendly legal reasoning primitives: source-referenced retrieval, structured comparison frames, explicit argument slotting & minimally lossy clause diffs. Goal: reduce manual paralegal intake friction while preserving verifiability.
Architecture Snapshot
🧱Protocol Core
- •MCP transport
- •Tool registry
- •Template catalog
- •Resource resolver
📚Retrieval Layer
- •Source adapters
- •Ranking pipeline
- •Result normalization
🧪Analysis Layer
- •Clause differ
- •Brief outliner
- •Citation validator (planned)
🔐Governance
- •Redaction hooks
- •Access tiers
- •Audit logging
Planned Tool Catalog
Identifiers & intent only; schemas under active iteration.
🔎Research
- •search_cases
- •fetch_statute_excerpt
- •list_related_precedents
Multi-source retrieval & precedent surfacing.
📑Draft & Review
- •analyze_clause
- •diff_contract_sections
- •generate_brief_outline
Structured analysis & synthesis outputs.
Prompt Layer (Templates)
Deterministic scaffolds - no hidden network calls, pure reasoning frames.
🧪Brief Strategy
Outline core arguments + supporting precedent slots.
- ▹brief_strategy_frame
- ▹argument_issue_matrix
🧪Clause Risk
Assess clause deviations vs canonical pattern.
- ▹clause_risk_scan
Representative Flows
Illustrative chaining patterns (external contract only).
Precedent Scan
Query: Key negligence precedents (jurisdiction: CA)
- search_cases
- fetch_statute_excerpt
- argument_issue_matrix
Shape: Ranked precedent list + issue matrix
Contract Delta
Query: Compare NDA v1 to base template
- diff_contract_sections
- analyze_clause
- clause_risk_scan
Shape: Changed sections + risk flags
Structured Workflow Patterns
Experimental chains combining retrieval + analysis + prompt scaffolds. Deterministic sequencing; some utilities marked (planned).
⚡Precedent Retrieval & Issue Matrix
Trigger: New matter intake or argument refinement
Inputs: issue_terms, jurisdiction, date_range?, limit?
- search_cases(issue_terms, jurisdiction)
- fetch_statute_excerpt(referenced_sections)
- list_related_precedents(top_case_ids)
- argument_issue_matrix(precedent_set)
Output: {'precedents': 'ranked[]', 'issues': 'matrix[issue -> supporting_cases]', 'citations': 'list'}
Build a structured map of issues to strongest supporting authorities.
⚡Clause Deviation & Risk Scan
Trigger: Incoming contract draft vs canonical template
Inputs: base_template_id, draft_document_id
- diff_contract_sections(base_template_id, draft_document_id)
- analyze_clause(changed_sections)
- clause_risk_scan(changed_section_summaries)
Output: {'changes': 'list[section, delta]', 'risk_flags': 'list[level, rationale]', 'recommendations': 'list'}
Surface high-impact deviations early with transparent rationale.
⚡Citation Integrity Preflight
Trigger: Before brief draft distribution
Inputs: draft_brief_id
- extract_citations(draft_brief_id) (planned external util)
- fetch_statute_excerpt(cited_sections)
- search_cases(citation_case_names subset)
- validate_citation_references(compiled_sources) (planned)
Output: {'citations': 'list[citation, status]', 'anomalies': 'list', 'coverage_ratio': 'number'}
Identify broken or ambiguous citations before partner review.
⚡Case Timeline Synthesis
Trigger: Docket update ingestion
Inputs: docket_events
- normalize_docket_events(docket_events) (planned)
- derive_phases(event_stream)
- generate_brief_outline(phase_summaries)
Output: {'timeline': 'ordered[]', 'phase_summary': 'list', 'next_deadlines': 'list'}
Provide an at-a-glance procedural and strategic snapshot.
⚡Multi-Jurisdiction Statute Comparison
Trigger: Cross-state compliance inquiry
Inputs: statute_identifier, jurisdictions[]
- fetch_statute_excerpt(jurisdiction A)
- fetch_statute_excerpt(jurisdiction B...)
- compare_statute_sections(excerpts) (planned)
- brief_strategy_frame(differences)
Output: {'differences': 'list[dimension, delta]', 'alignment_score': 'number', 'watch_points': 'list'}
Highlight material divergences impacting strategy or compliance.
⚡Argument Brief Outline Generation
Trigger: Initial drafting after research pass
Inputs: selected_precedents[], issues[]
- group_precedents_by_issue(selected_precedents)
- argument_issue_matrix(grouped)
- brief_strategy_frame(issue_matrix)
Output: {'outline': 'sections[]', 'support_map': 'issue->cases', 'gaps': 'list'}
Produce a deterministic scaffold for drafting with traceable support.
Roadmap (Selective)
Focus on verifiable outputs before scale. Expansion gated by schema stability & audit tooling maturity.
🧮Citation Chain
R&DAutomated citation verification & Shepardizing hooks.
- ▹Parallel source fetch
- ▹Signal aggregation
- ▹Confidence scoring
🗂️Docket Normalizer
PlannedStandardize docket event taxonomy.
- ▹Event class mapping
- ▹Timeline synthesis
- ▹Hearing extraction
📊Argument Scoring
ExploringHeuristic argument strength hints (transparent).
- ▹Factor tagging
- ▹Precedent density
- ▹Diversity weighting
Exploring structured AI augmentation for legal operations or research? Share current tooling surface & constraints - I'll outline a staged MCP integration path.
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