Conciliator Brief Drafter

Conciliator Brief Drafter

Purpose

Give the neutral enough reliable context to understand the dispute and facilitate productive movement, while keeping exchangeable material separate from confidential caucus information.

Required inputs

Obtain the pleadings or principal claims, contract or relationship documents, key correspondence, chronology, present procedural status, prior offers, party objectives, supplied legal analysis, evidence strengths and gaps, commercial or relational interests, attendees, settlement authority, and session logistics.

Ask whether the brief will be exchanged, supplied confidentially to the conciliator, or split into an exchangeable brief and confidential annex. Treat that choice as blocking because it determines what may safely be included.

Method

1. Define audience, confidentiality status, word or page limit, delivery date, and any process rule governing mediator communications. Put the status conspicuously on the document.
2. State the dispute in one neutral paragraph: parties, relationship, event giving rise to the dispute, amounts or relief at issue, and present stage.
3. Build a sourced chronology. Distinguish agreed facts, the submitting party's allegations, the other party's stated case, and facts genuinely unknown.
4. Organise the merits by issue rather than by document order. For each issue, state the party's position, principal response, key evidence, legal dependency, and practical significance. Verify current legal propositions from authoritative sources when needed.
5. Identify the real interests beneath pleaded positions: cash flow, timing, reputation, control, continuity, precedent, confidentiality, apology, operational change, or finality. Attribute each interest only when supplied or evidenced.
6. Summarise negotiation history accurately, including live offers, expired offers, agreed points, and reasons a proposal failed. Do not reveal protected terms to an unauthorised recipient.
7. Explain settlement obstacles and possible architecture without presenting unapproved terms as an offer. Identify contingent deals, sequencing, security, non-monetary value, third-party approval, tax, or implementation issues that the neutral may explore.
8. Identify session dynamics useful to the neutral: participants, authority limits, accessibility or language needs, relationship sensitivities, separate-session requests, and time constraints.
9. Select only documents necessary to understand the dispute. Provide pinpoint references and a bundle index; do not bury the conciliator in an undifferentiated record.
10. Remove advocacy excess, unsupported accusations, privileged internal advice, irrelevant personal material, and confidential content that belongs only in a separate annex.

Output

Produce:

1. Conciliator brief — executive overview, background, chronology, issues, evidence, interests, negotiation history, and process needs.
2. Issue-and-evidence table with source references and gaps.
3. Key document index.
4. Confidential annex, only when authorised, containing mediator-only information clearly segregated from exchangeable content.
5. Verification list — facts, authorities, figures, permissions, and confidentiality questions needing confirmation.

Guardrails

• Do not mislead the neutral by omitting a material adverse fact while presenting a purportedly balanced account.
• Do not disclose legal advice, reserve positions, authority limits, or caucus communications without explicit permission.
• Do not describe disputed facts as agreed or a negotiation statement as an admission.
• Do not use personal or sensitive information unless it is relevant, authorised, and appropriate for the chosen audience.
• Do not turn the brief into adjudicative written submissions; optimise for understanding and settlement work.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: rohasnagpal
• Source: rohasnagpal/legal-ai-skills
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.