Helping AI Draft for Litigation

I wanted to make AI more useful for the drafting work litigation lawyers do every day. Preparing a first draft takes time, and so does refining one until the argument is clear and each paragraph does its job.

The aim is to help lawyers spend more time on substance, with an assistant that understands the kind of document they are writing and can help improve it.

I used a corpus of litigation documents to study how different forms handle facts and argument. A pleading states a party’s case. A witness statement records the witness’s account. Submissions develop counsel’s argument and connect it to the evidence. Asking an AI to “improve the writing” does little to explain those differences.

That work became Litigation Writing, a free, open-source collection of six drafting skills. A skill is a set of written instructions an AI assistant follows. One helps plan the papers needed for a step in a case; the others cover pleadings, evidence, submissions, advice and correspondence.

You can use them to prepare a draft from instructions or refine something you have already written. They guide the assistant on structure and voice, including what belongs in the document and what needs supporting material.

The instructions also tell it to ask for missing information. A missing date should remain [date]. A proposition without supporting authority should be marked for attention. Those gaps belong in a table at the end so you can see what remains to be done.

There are automated checks for assistants that can run the supplied checking program. They can flag problems with the draft’s structure or citations, but they cannot assess the merits of your case. The instructions do not guarantee that an AI will follow them correctly.

How to use it

You do not need to understand code or have a GitHub account. The repository is a public folder of instructions you can read and download.

Start with the AI you already use

1. Open a new conversation. Use Gemini, Perplexity, ChatGPT, Claude, or another assistant that can read links or uploaded text.
2. Copy the message below. Replace the bracketed descriptions with your court and what you want drafted or revised.
3. Check that it accessed the instructions. Ask it to identify the files it read. If it cannot open them, follow the download steps below.
4. Provide the relevant material. For a first attempt, use a fictional matter or material you are permitted to share with that service.

Read the instructions at https://github.com/3orionkings/litigation-writing, starting with its AGENTS.md file. Choose the skill for my document, then read its SKILL.md and the reference files it requires. Tell me if you cannot access any of them before starting.

Court: [name your court and jurisdiction].

Task: [describe the document you need, or the draft you want revised, and who you act for].

Ask for anything you need. Preserve the meaning of my instructions and identify any proposed change to the substance. Leave missing facts and references in square brackets, and list them at the end. Do not invent authorities. Tell me whether you were able to run the supplied checker.

For a revision, explain what needs attention. You might ask the assistant to shorten a submission without losing any propositions, reorganise a witness statement chronologically, or identify paragraphs where the argument is difficult to follow.

Supply the documents it needs, including the text of any authorities it must quote. Giving it a case name alone is not enough to check a quotation.

The current court profiles cover Hong Kong, US federal courts, New York, California, Washington, and Delaware’s Superior Court and Court of Chancery. If you practise elsewhere, you can use the drafting instructions, but must supply and check your court’s requirements. Do not assume another jurisdiction’s profile applies.

If your assistant cannot open the links

1. Open the download page. Under Assets, select litigation-writing-all-skills.zip.
2. Open the downloaded ZIP file to extract its folders. Choose the folder for your document, such as litigation-pleadings for a defence or litigation-evidence for a witness statement.
3. Attach the file named SKILL.md to your chat. Ask the assistant which reference files it needs, then attach those from the same folder.
4. Write: “Follow the attached skill and reference files. Ask for anything missing before starting.” Add your court and the drafting task.

Files ending in .md are plain text. If your assistant cannot accept them, save copies ending in .txt, or open them in a text editor and paste their contents into the chat with each filename.

The reference files matter. If the assistant cannot read everything required, ask it to identify what is missing before proceeding.

If you want to install the skills

Installation saves you attaching the instructions each time. The available options depend on your app and account.

In Claude, where Skills are available:

1. Download an individual skill ZIP from the download page, such as litigation-pleadings.zip.
2. Open Settings and find Skills, sometimes under Capabilities.
3. Select Upload skill and choose the ZIP without extracting it. In your next chat, ask Claude to use that skill.

In Codex or a ChatGPT desktop version with Plugins:

1. Open Plugins. If there is an option to add a marketplace, enter 3orionkings/litigation-writing. This tells the app where to find the installation files.
2. Find Litigation Writing and select Install.
3. Start a new chat and describe the document you want to draft or revise.

If your app requires a command to complete installation, the getting started guide provides it for whoever supports your computer. It also covers Claude Code.

You can use the chat or upload method without installing anything. An assistant that cannot run code can read the instructions, but will not run the automated checks.

Working with the draft

Use an AI service approved for the material you intend to share. These public instructions do not change your confidentiality obligations or the way that service handles client information.

Read the result against your instructions and the underlying documents. Check whether an edit has changed the substance, removed a qualification or overstated the evidence. Verify every authority and quotation against its source.

Resolve the bracketed gaps, check the current court requirements, and transfer the text into your usual template. Remove the outstanding-items table once you have dealt with it.

Review it before your name goes on it.