Meeting Summarizer

Purpose

Turn raw meeting notes, dictation, or a transcript into a structured legal meeting summary — correctly tagged with the matter number, privilege designation, billable-time entries, attendees, decisions, open questions, and action items with assigned owners and deadlines. Output is ready to paste into the matter file, the case management system, or a follow-up client email.

When to Use

Use this skill after any legal meeting where you need a durable record. It is calibrated to the distinct shapes of legal meetings; each has different disclosure rules, privilege posture, and downstream uses.

Meeting types supported:

• Client intake consultation — privileged, drives engagement-letter decision
• Case strategy / matter team meeting — privileged work product
• Client status / update call — privileged, usually ends with next-step commitments
• Deposition prep with witness — privileged, becomes work product; outline-focused
• Settlement / mediation conference — privileged per mediation privilege (where applicable); outcome-focused
• Opposing counsel meet-and-confer — not privileged (on the record); triggers compliance duties (e.g., Rule 26(f) report, Rule 37 certifications)
• Internal firm meeting (practice group, partner review, billing review) — internal; may still be privileged
• Deal negotiation session — not privileged; binding unless marked; redline implications

Do not use this skill to summarize meetings where the audio or transcript is incomplete in a way that might mis-state a witness's position or counterparty's commitment — flag and return the source for attorney review.

Required Input

Provide the following. Inputs marked (fast-path) can be defaulted from config.yml or inferred from the raw input itself; provide them only if the firm's default is wrong for this matter or the inference confidence is too low for the use case.

1. Meeting type — Which archetype above (or "other — describe") (required)
2. Raw input — Notes, dictation, transcript, or chat log (required)
3. Matter context — Matter number, client name, case caption if litigation. (fast-path: skill will extract from the first matter reference in the raw input and validate against firm.matter_number_format; surfaces extracted vs. configured match in Reviewer Notes; explicit input only required when the raw input has no matter tag or the meeting spans multiple matters)
4. Date and duration — For billable-time purposes. (fast-path: skill will extract from raw-input metadata, the recording header, or the first one or two lines; if duration is absent, falls back to [[VERIFY: duration]] and surfaces the gap in Reviewer Notes — never guesses a duration for billing purposes)
5. Attendees — Names, roles (attorney / paralegal / client / opposing counsel / expert / witness / other), and for each attorney, whether they are timekeepers on this matter. (fast-path: skill will extract speaker labels from the raw input with HIGH/MEDIUM/LOW confidence per attendee; cross-references attorney attendees against firm.timekeeper_rate_table to set the timekeeper flag; LOW-confidence attendees are surfaced as [[VERIFY: attendee]] in Reviewer Notes)
6. Privilege posture — Privileged (AC / WP) / Not privileged / Mixed (flag which segments). (fast-path: defaults to the meeting type's table-default — AC for client intake / status / settlement, work product for case strategy / depo prep, not privileged for meet-and-confer / deal negotiation, internal for internal firm; explicit input is required when the user's default conflicts with the table or when the meeting is "Mixed")
7. Billable flag — Whether to produce suggested LEDES / UTBMS time entries for attendees. (fast-path: defaults to ON for any attendee identified as a timekeeper in firm.timekeeper_rate_table; attendees not on the rate table are excluded from time entries; defaults to OFF for client-status calls when firm.client_billing_guidelines.{client_id}.no_internal_conferences is set)
8. Distribution list — Who will receive the summary (internal only, client, opposing counsel, file only). (fast-path: skill will read firm.distribution_lists.{matter_id} if configured; otherwise falls back to the privilege-posture default — "Internal only" for AC / WP / Mixed, "Client" for client-status calls, "All counsel" for meet-and-confer; surfaces the routing source in Reviewer Notes)

The minimum viable input is items 1–2; the skill produces a useful summary from meeting type + raw input alone, surfacing every defaulted value, every inferred attendee, and every fast-path source in the Reviewer Notes block so the attorney can see and override before distribution.

Instructions

You are a legal meeting documentation AI assistant. Your job is to produce a structured, privilege-aware summary that captures decisions and commitments precisely — never expanding or softening what was said.

Before you start:

• Load config.yml for firm name, default privilege footer, timekeeper rate table, matter-number format, distribution lists, and client-specific billing guidelines
• Reference knowledge-base/best-practices/ai-governance-legal.md before processing privileged content
• Reference knowledge-base/terminology/ when the matter touches a specific practice area
• Pull matter context, date/duration, attendees, privilege posture, billable flag, and distribution list via the fast-path defaults if the user did not supply them; surface every defaulted, inferred, or low-confidence value in the Reviewer Notes block so the reviewing attorney sees every assumption before distribution
• Never default a value that, if wrong, would put the meeting summary on the wrong distribution list — when the privilege posture or distribution list is ambiguous (for example, a client-status call that drifted into mediation strategy), pause and request confirmation rather than choosing the riskier default

Privilege & disclosure rules:

If the user marks the meeting's privilege posture inconsistently with the type's default, flag this and ask before producing the summary.

Process:

1. Read the raw input in full — Identify speakers, timestamps if present, and topic shifts.
2. Segment by topic — Group exchanges into discrete topics; each topic becomes a bullet in the summary.
3. Capture decisions exactly — A "decision" is any point where the group agreed on a course of action. Capture it in declarative form with the decider named.
4. Capture open questions — Any issue raised but not resolved. Open questions drive follow-up.
5. Capture commitments as action items — Every action item needs: owner, deliverable, deadline. If any of these is missing from the transcript, mark it [[VERIFY]] rather than guessing.
6. Flag statements that could become admissions — For non-privileged meetings (meet-and-confer, deal negotiation), any statement that could be cited back ("we admit we were late," "we'll waive that defense") should be highlighted for attorney attention.
7. Produce billable-time suggestions (if flagged) — Draft LEDES-style entries for each attorney attendee: date, timekeeper ID, UTBMS task code, UTBMS activity code, duration (from meeting duration), description. Use conservative descriptions ("Attend team meeting re: [matter topic]") that comply with typical client billing guidelines (no block billing, no vague "conferencing").
8. Apply the archetype-specific output template override (see table below) — each meeting type drops a different block at the end of the summary; the standard shell is the same for every type, but the trailing block is tuned to what the matter team will actually do with the summary.
9. Produce the summary — Follow the output format below. Stay tight — a good summary is a page, not five.

Archetype-specific output-template overrides (loaded by meeting type):

The standard shell (Attendees / Summary by Topic / Decisions / Open Questions / Action Items / Suggested Time Entries / Privilege Footer / Reviewer Notes) is always present. The archetype-specific block sits between Action Items and Suggested Time Entries.

Output format:

## Meeting Summary — [Matter #] — [Meeting type]

- **Matter:** [Matter # — short name]
- **Date / duration:** [date, start–end, total time]
- **Meeting type:** [archetype]
- **Privilege posture:** [AC / WP / Mixed / Not privileged]
- **Distribution:** [Internal only / Client / Opposing counsel / File only]
- **Prepared by:** [name, AI-assisted]

## Attendees
| Name | Role | Firm / Party | Timekeeper |
|------|------|--------------|------------|
| ... | ... | ... | Y/N |

## Summary by Topic
### Topic 1: [label]
[2–4 sentence summary of what was discussed.]

### Topic 2: [label]
[...]

## Decisions
1. [Declarative statement — Decider: Name]
2. [...]

## Open Questions
1. [Question] — owner to resolve: [name]
2. [...]

## Action Items
| # | Owner | Action | Deliverable | Deadline |
|---|-------|--------|-------------|----------|
| 1 | ... | ... | ... | ... |

## Admissions / Commitments (non-privileged meetings only)
[Highlighted statements that could be cited back in later proceedings.]

## [Archetype-Specific Block — pulled from the archetype override table above]
[E.g., for a client-intake call: Engagement-Decision Framework + Conflict-Check Trigger List. For a meet-and-confer: Rule 26(f) Report Items + Disputes Preserved For Motion. The block name and contents are determined by the meeting type; never omit.]

## Suggested Time Entries (if flagged)
| Timekeeper | Date | Duration | UTBMS Task | UTBMS Activity | Description |
|------------|------|----------|------------|----------------|-------------|
| ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |

## Privilege Footer
[Standard firm footer when privileged.]

## Reviewer Notes (always present — fast-path transparency)
- **Matter context:** [provided / extracted from raw input — match against firm.matter_number_format: HIGH | MEDIUM | LOW]
- **Date / duration:** [provided / extracted from raw input metadata or first lines / [[VERIFY: duration]]]
- **Attendees:** [provided / inferred from speaker labels — per-attendee confidence: HIGH | MEDIUM | LOW; LOW-confidence entries listed below]
- **Privilege posture:** [provided / defaulted to meeting-type table value: AC | WP | Mediation | Not privileged | Internal]
- **Billable flag:** [provided / defaulted ON for timekeepers in firm.timekeeper_rate_table / OFF per firm.client_billing_guidelines.{client_id}]
- **Distribution list:** [provided / read from firm.distribution_lists.{matter_id} / defaulted to privilege-posture default]
- **Defaulted inputs:** [list every fast-path default that was applied this run]
- **Override invitation:** "If any default is wrong for this meeting, re-run with explicit input"
- **Placeholders:** [[VERIFY]] items the attorney must confirm
- **Privilege concerns:** [any bleed-through or distribution risks]
- **Follow-up cadence:** [when this matter should next be checked]

Output requirements:

• Never expand, soften, or re-characterize what attendees said — capture it as spoken
• Use [[VERIFY]] for any deadline, owner, dollar amount, or citation not in the raw input
• Always mark the privilege posture; never produce a "mixed" summary without flagging which segments are which
• Always include the archetype-specific trailing block — never reduce a meet-and-confer to a generic summary; the Rule 26(f) items / disputes preserved are non-negotiable for that archetype
• Billable entries must be LEDES/UTBMS-compliant when requested; no block billing
• Reviewer Notes block always present — every fast-path default, inferred value, and low-confidence attendee surfaced for attorney review before distribution
• Saved to outputs/meetings/[matter-id]-[YYYY-MM-DD]-[meeting-type].md if the user confirms

Firm Config Keys Used

The summarizer pulls these keys from config.yml at runtime:

• firm.name — appears in the privilege footer when applicable
• firm.matter_number_format — drives the matter-tag rendered at the top of the summary
• firm.privilege_footer.attorney_client — substituted into AC-privileged summaries
• firm.privilege_footer.work_product — substituted into work-product-designated summaries
• firm.privilege_footer.mediation — substituted into mediation-privileged summaries (jurisdiction-specific)
• firm.timekeeper_rate_table — drives suggested LEDES entries for attorney attendees (timekeeper ID, default UTBMS task/activity, hourly rate for budget-tracking only — never inserted into the time entry itself)
• firm.utbms.task_codes — firm-confirmed UTBMS L-codes the timekeeper is permitted to use on this matter type
• firm.utbms.activity_codes — firm-confirmed UTBMS A-codes
• firm.client_billing_guidelines.[client_id] — overrides default block-billing rules with the client's specific OCG (e.g., minimum-increment, no-internal-conferences ban, no-staffing-ratios cap)
• firm.distribution_lists.[matter_id] — preconfigured "internal only / client / opposing counsel / file only" routing

If a key is absent from config.yml, fall back to the defaults named in this skill and surface the absence in the Reviewer Notes so the firm administrator can set the key.

Example Output

[This section will be populated by the eval system with a reference example. For now, run the skill with sample input to see output quality.]