Legal project starters
What do you need
help with?
A useful first step for the legal work on your desk.
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8 starters
Founders and small teamsUnderstand a customer contractYou have a customer agreement and want to understand the questions it raises.Start with Three contract sections to explore and a choice of where to begin.
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Help me understand a customer contract before I sign it. Start with three sections worth examining and why they matter. Let me choose one to work through.
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Explaining one clause is different from reviewing the whole agreement and its attachments.
Choose the assignment you need from the options below, and confirm what the fee covers.
Have ready
The current draft, any linked terms or schedules, and your main commercial concerns. Tell counsel whether anything has already been signed.
Give your lawyer more than the PDF.
The agreement tells a lawyer what the other side wants. It does not tell them which promises your team can keep, where the deal is stuck, or who can approve a change. Bring that context when you ask a lawyer to review the agreement.
Which assignment are you buying?
Review. Ask for the issues to consider and the decisions needed before signing.
Proposed edits. Ask for a marked-up draft and an explanation of the changes. Confirm which documents and revision rounds are included.
Negotiation. Agree whether counsel will speak with the other side, handle later drafts and keep a record of unresolved decisions.
A filled-in brief: customer software agreement
Fictional buyer example. Use your own facts and leave open questions visible.
We sell scheduling software to retailers. The customer sent its subscription agreement and security exhibit. We need proposed edits and a short list of decisions for our team before our target signing date of [date]. Nothing has been signed.
The customer wants support outside our normal service hours and a right to end the agreement on 30 days’ notice. Our operations lead must confirm the support commitment; our founder will decide what commercial concessions we can offer after counsel explains the implications.
The security exhibit may be an older version. Governing law and the final exhibit need confirmation. Please tell us whether your proposed fee includes a call with the customer’s lawyer and review of their next draft. Our budget is [amount or approval process].
Counsel reviews. Your team makes the business call.
Share the documents listed under Have ready, plus any earlier commitments to this customer. Counsel assesses the legal issues and explains proposed changes; the people responsible for delivery, security and commercial terms confirm what the business can accept. Agree who sends the response and who approves a concession.
Founders and small teamsOutline my client agreementYou want an agreement structure you can adapt for different clients or projects.Start with A simple agreement outline, with reusable terms and project-specific details.
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Help me build a reusable agreement for my client work. Sketch a simple outline and show what stays the same versus what changes between projects. Then ask what kind of work I do.
Try a project that changes halfway through
For a fictional design studio, a larger deck is a proposed change, not an agreed expansion. Copy the follow-up below, open and send the starter above, then paste it after Agent’s first answer.
Use a fictional presentation-design studio. One project covers a 12-slide deck from client-approved copy, editable source files and two review rounds. Fees, delivery dates, approval deadlines and rights in the files have not been agreed. Make a two-part outline: reusable relationship terms to discuss with counsel, and the details of this project. Keep unknowns visible, not invented legal clauses. Then show how to record a client request for 18 slides without silently expanding the original scope.
Keep three things separate
The reusable framework. Payment process, confidentiality, rights in the work, scope-change approvals and ending the relationship belong in the reusable framework. Work with counsel to define who can approve extra work and how agreed changes are recorded.
This project. Record 12 slides, the editable files, client-approved copy and two review rounds. Decide who approves the work, what counts as one round, how acceptance works and which dates depend on client input. Leave the fee and rights questions open until agreed.
The change request. Keep 12 slides as the original scope and record 18 as the proposed change, awaiting approval. The studio owner proposes a fee and timeline for the six extra slides, checks whether their copy is approved and clarifies how the two review rounds apply. Record both sides’ approval of the revised scope, fee and dates before starting the extra work.
For your own agreement, bring counsel a project you expect to repeat and one likely change. Use them to test how the documents handle extra work.
Ready to bring in a professional?
Use your outline to discuss what an agreement should cover. A lawyer can tailor the terms to your work and explain how to use the final documents.
Agree which documents you need, such as a master services agreement and a statement of work. Ask counsel to identify changes that need another legal review.
Have ready
A description of your usual service, pricing and payment process, an example project scope and any agreement you currently use.
Business and legal teamsMap my product’s dataYou want to see what your product collects, where it goes and what happens next.Start with A small fictional map showing data from collection to deletion.
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Help me map how data moves through my product. Show me a tiny fictional example from collection to deletion, then help me make one for my product.
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Bring your product’s actual data map and open questions to privacy counsel. A fictional map helps you get started; it does not assess your product’s obligations.
Start with a review of the product and its data flows. Agree which notices, agreements or other documents counsel will update; engineering changes and security testing need their own owners.
Have ready
A product walkthrough, a data-flow summary, current notices and agreements, and a list of relevant service providers. Describe data categories rather than pasting personal records.
Founders and small teamsExplore a name for my businessYou have a business or product name in mind and want to know how to begin checking it.Start with What a quick name check tells you, what it leaves open and where to start.
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I’m choosing a name for a business or product. Help me understand what a quick name check can tell me and what it can’t. What should we look at first?
Turn search notes into questions for counsel
A search result needs its context: what you searched for, where, when and what you found. Try these deliberately incomplete fictional notes. Copy the follow-up below, then open the prompt above in Agent and send it. Paste the follow-up after Agent’s first answer.
Use Candidate A as a fictional label, not a real brand name. The planned service books appointments for fitness studios in the United States. Fictional notes: an exact-spelling search of the federal trademark database returned no results; a web search found a differently spelled name offering booking software; the preferred domain appeared available. No dates, search queries or result links were saved. No other searches were done. Organize these notes into observations, missing evidence and questions for trademark counsel. Do not search, invent results or decide that the name is cleared. Keep unknowns visible. Do not file anything, publish a job or contact anyone.
A useful result keeps these distinctions
No exact match is a limited observation. Record the database and exact-spelling search as described. Without the date and query, someone else cannot repeat it. Similar spelling, sound or meaning and related goods or services still need consideration. “No results” is not the same as “no conflict.” Name the sources that were not searched instead of marking them clear.
A similar name needs evidence. Keep the booking-software result as an unresolved lead. Find it again and save its URL, the name exactly as shown and the goods or services it offers. Do not turn a search snippet into a conclusion about ownership, current use or legal risk.
Domain availability answers a different question. Record the apparent availability separately. An available domain does not mean the name is free to use, and registering it does not by itself create trademark rights.
For your own notes, save the date, source, query and a link or screenshot of each result while you search. Ask counsel to define any further search and assess what the evidence means for using the name. Keep a filing decision separate from organizing the notes.
For U.S. searches, the USPTO explains search coverage, similar marks and the difference between domains and trademarks:
Ready to bring in a professional?
A lawyer can assess the proposed name, the scope of clearance work and any filing steps. A basic search or an available domain is not a legal clearance decision.
Agree the names, markets and search scope before work starts. Screening does not guarantee clearance or registration; a trademark application is a separate scope.
Have ready
The proposed name and alternatives, the goods or services it will cover, where you plan to use it and any searches you have already done.
Founders and small teamsWork out my equity questionsYou are considering equity and want to understand which questions fit your situation.Start with A comparison of cofounder, employee and advisor equity questions.
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I’m considering giving someone equity. Help me understand how the questions differ for a cofounder, employee or advisor so I can choose where to start.
Reconcile the conversation with the records
If you have already discussed equity with someone, the plan may now sit in several places. Try this fictional follow-up after the prompt above to practice turning scattered notes into a record list for counsel.
Use only these fictional notes. A founder discussed equity with a potential advisor. A later email says “we would like you to join; equity terms to follow.” An unsigned draft describes a six-month advisory role. A planning spreadsheet lists the person under “proposed grants.” No other records have been provided. Make a table showing what each source says, what it does not establish and what to ask or locate next. Keep proposed terms separate from documented actions. Do not decide whether anyone has legal rights, recommend equity terms or invent approvals. End with a short handoff to legal and tax counsel. Do not change records, send messages or take external action.
Check the output against the source
Conversation and email. The discussion and invitation are part of the history. Keep the exact wording and the order of events, including “terms to follow,” without turning either into a settled percentage or grant. Ask counsel what the communications mean in context.
Unsigned draft. Record the six-month advisory role as draft wording. Identify who prepared it and look for later versions, signatures or related correspondence. Ask counsel whether it matters that the draft is unsigned.
Planning spreadsheet. Keep “proposed grants” as the row’s status. Do not label it approved without a supporting record. Locate the records behind the entry and ask who maintains them. A missing document in this packet is an unknown, not proof that no action occurred.
For your own situation, list the actual records by date, note the person’s proposed role and where they are based, and flag any upcoming commitment. Give counsel the originals with the summary. Agent can help organize the notes; the summary does not settle ownership or the legal effect of what was said.
Ready to bring in a professional?
Once the role and goals are clearer, bring the plan to the appropriate legal and tax professionals for advice, approvals and documents.
Begin with advice on one specified proposal. Agree separately on document preparation, filings and any specialist tax advice; this starting comparison does not select an equity structure.
Have ready
Your entity details, current ownership records, relevant plans or agreements and a plain-language description of the change you want to make.
In-house legal teamsGet my contract queue movingYour in-house team has an agreement queue and needs a clearer next action for each matter.Start with An example triage board for routine work, blockers and decisions.
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Help me get a contract backlog under control. Show a simple triage board with examples of routine work, blocked work and decisions that need an owner. Then we can adapt it to my queue.
Ready to bring in a professional?
Use your actual documents and approved playbook to assign review and negotiation work to counsel. Name the people who decide exceptions and business commitments.
Define the agreement types, starting volume and period of support. Agree which playbook positions counsel can apply, when to escalate and whether negotiations or later rounds are included. Set a reporting rhythm and a handoff for unfinished work.
Have ready
A representative set of agreements, the current queue, approved templates or playbook, business deadlines and the person who can decide exceptions. If no playbook exists, say so before setting the review scope. Prepare the contract work brief
In-house legal teamsPlan legal-team coverageSomeone on your legal team will be away and you want a usable coverage handoff.Start with A short handoff outline for deadlines, unfinished work and decision owners.
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A lawyer on our team will be away. Give me a short handoff outline that makes deadlines, unfinished work and decision ownership easy to see. Help me spot what could fall through the cracks.
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If the handoff reveals work your team cannot cover, describe that gap to temporary counsel. Your team still needs to assign decision authority and backup approvers.
Agree the coverage dates, availability, matter types and decision limits. Include an initial handoff, access to approved guidance and an escalation contact who remains available. Define how new matters are assigned and who owns the return handoff.
Have ready
An active-matter list with key deadlines and pending decisions, the responsibilities to cover, templates or playbooks and the people who can approve decisions and system access. You do not need to explain why the colleague is away. Prepare the coverage handoff
Legal and legal operations teamsPlan a usable contract inventoryYou want to turn a folder of agreements into records your team can use.Start with A starter set of inventory fields and one fictional contract record.
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Help me plan a usable contract inventory. Suggest a small starter set of fields and show one fictional row, including how to flag missing or conflicting information. We can tailor it to my system afterward.
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Legal operations support can help organize source files and field definitions. Route questions about what a term means to counsel instead of treating a data entry as a legal conclusion.
Agree the repositories, agreement set and fields to prepare. Keep source wording separate from standardized values and legal interpretation. Start with a sample and name the legal reviewer for ambiguous terms. Platform configuration, integrations and running the migration need separate scope and owners.
Have ready
The repositories and file types involved, the target system’s required fields, a representative sample, existing data definitions and the reviewers who can resolve missing or conflicting information. Arrange approved access for the professional who will work with the files. Prepare the files and fields
Ready to hire?
Go straight to legal talent when you know what you need. Agree the scope and compare experience and proposed fees.