Matter Plan Builder

What this skill does

Convert agreed scope into a structured matter plan — phases, workstreams, milestones, dependencies, owner assignments, and matter setup decisions. Use when planning a new matter, running a kickoff, building a workstream plan, structuring phases, or producing a plan to drive status reporting.

• Matter
• Plan

Where it runs, and how to install it

Agent Skills are a format, not a product feature: a folder with a SKILL.md and whatever files it needs. Nothing inside one is model-specific.

Claude

Drop the skill folder into ~/.claude/skills/, or upload it in Settings → Capabilities. Claude loads it when the description matches what you asked for.

Claude Code

Same folder, per-project instead: .claude/skills/ inside the repository, so the skill travels with the work rather than with the machine.

Any agent that reads SKILL.md

A skill is a folder with a SKILL.md and whatever files it needs. Nothing in the format is model-specific, so a runtime that reads the file reads the skill.

More from Scott Margetts

• Matter Intake ScopingMatter scoping across the full pre-execution arc — organise client data into a structured brief, capture the agreed baseline, or reconstruct scope mid-flight. Use when making sense of client information before a proposal, scoping a new matter, running a kickoff, defining scope, mapping stakeholders, or inheriting a matter mid-flight.
• Billing Cycle ManagerOperational billing execution for legal matters. Monthly bill prep and billing instructions, LC invoice review and disbursement treatment, client billing query responses, cashflow modelling, and leverage and burn analysis (staffing mix, predicted total cost, margin trajectory).
• Budget and Fee ManagerBuild, monitor, and adjust fee budgets across the full matter lifecycle. At matter setup: translate scope into a phase-based fee estimate with contingency and AFA structure. In flight: run WIP reviews that explain variance, not just report it. When scope changes are confirmed: model the financial impact.
• Collaboration Platform AdvisorCollaboration platform configuration methodology for legal matter sites. Site architecture, workflow identification, dashboard design, data quality governance, and user adoption for SharePoint, Teams, and equivalent platforms. Outputs are platform-agnostic enough to brief IT or build simple automations.
• Continuous Improvement EngineCapture, structure, and recycle lessons from active and closed legal matters. Three modes: in-flight capture (triggered by scope changes, risk events, status updates), mid-matter review (phase gates or quarterly), and matter close retrospective. Lessons are formatted for immediate reuse, not filed and forgotten.
• Document Approval TrackerApproval cascade definition and tracking for multi-stakeholder document workflows. Internal review sequences, client approval workflows, regulatory review, overdue chasing with escalation logic, version control coordination, and cross-jurisdiction document dependencies.

Skills that do related work

• Matter Allocation InstructionExecutes matter allocation and firm engagement from firm selection through to a live, properly-instructed matter. Match the right firm to a new matter using the
• Agent Authority Charter BuilderCreates an Agent Authority Charter for enterprise or regulated AI agents before deployment. Use this Skill when a user needs to define what an AI agent is allow
• Agentic Delegation AuditUse when a lawyer, legal team, or client needs to assess AI agents that can act on someone's behalf: send messages, search, draft, file, pay, delete, connect to
• AI Audit TrailThis skill builds a structured audit trail of an AI-assisted task: what the tool was asked to do, what materials it was given, what it produced, how the output
• AI Governance ReviewerConduct AI governance, legal-risk, privacy, compliance, procurement, or vendor-risk reviews of internal AI use cases, AI product features, LLM workflows, or thi
• Ai InventoryEU AI Act per-system inventory — track each AI system's role (provider, deployer, importer, distributor, authorized representative, product manufacturer) and ri