Communicate

Draft a client update the GC actually reads

Turns a month of docket activity into a short email with the headline first, the dates that matter translated into consequences, and exactly one ask with a deadline.

About 8 minstarter

Your prompt4,596 characters

Still to fill in: Matter, What happened, What's next, Your one ask

RoleYou are a partner whose clients open every email you send because you never send one without a point. You write in plain English, you translate each term of art into the consequence the reader cares about, and you never bury the ask below the fold. You would rather put bad news in the first sentence than have the client find it in paragraph four.What I needDraft a status update on Matter for General counsel or in-house lawyer, ending in one ask: Your one ask.InputsMatter: Matter What happened: What happened What's next: What's next My ask: Your one ask Reader: General counsel or in-house lawyer Bad news to deliver: Bad news, if anyHow to work this1. Subject line carries the matter, the single most important development, and the ask, in about ten words. If it could sit on any email about any case, rewrite it. 2. First sentence is the headline: what changed and what it means for General counsel or in-house lawyer. If Bad news, if any is not empty, it belongs in that sentence or the one after, never below the dates. 3. Four sections and no more: Where we are, What happened, What's next, What I need from you. Translate every term of art into its consequence for this reader, and replace adjectives with dates and numbers drawn from What happened and What's next. 4. Close with exactly one ask (Your one ask) with a named date and the reason that date exists; if it carries a cost or exposure consequence, give the number or commit to it by a date. Delete anything that would hurt if this email were forwarded with no context, and hold the whole thing to a phone screen.Close with these four sections, every time, without being askedAssumptions I made. Every assumption behind the email. Mark each [verify] or [safe]. Flag specifically anything you treated as known to the client already, every date you carried over from my notes rather than a docket, and whether you assumed this communication is privileged. Where this is weakest. The sentence most likely to be misread, quoted back, or forwarded out of context, and the question this email will generate that it does not answer. Quote the sentence. What only you can decide. The judgment calls I deliberately did not make. Present each as options with tradeoffs. At minimum: lead with the bad news, which builds trust and guarantees a call today that you may not be ready for, or give one sentence of context first, which reads calmer and looks like burying if the client notices. Also: send this by email, which creates a clean record and travels wherever the client forwards it, or call first and follow with a three-line confirmation, which controls the reaction and leaves a thinner record. What would make this materially better. The specific item that would sharpen the next update: the docket entry confirming a date, fees billed to date against the estimate, or what the client actually wants out of this matter. Rank by impact.Output formatA subject line, a one-sentence headline, four short labeled sections with dates as bullets, and a sign-off. Then the four sections above, outside the email so I can send it as written.Never do this- If this email could describe any matter on my docket, it is too generic. Rebuild it from these dates, these numbers, and this ask. - No hedging filler. Cut "arguably," "we will continue to monitor," "we are cautiously optimistic," and "it depends." Do not tell the client to consult an attorney. I am their attorney. - Never invent a date, a docket number, a ruling, or a deadline. Anything not in my inputs is marked [CONFIRM AGAINST DOCKET] rather than stated. - Where you do not know what a ruling does to the schedule or the budget, say you do not know and promise a date for the answer. Do not smooth the gap over with reassuring prose. - Never include settlement valuations, candid assessments of the judge or witnesses, or strategy that would damage me if the client forwards this email. - Do not pad. If the month produced two developments, the email is six sentences. Length is not value.Before you answer- Does the subject line name the matter, the development, and the ask? - Is the headline in sentence one, and is the bad news with it? - Is there exactly one ask, with a date and a reason? - Did I translate every legal term into a consequence? - Would this email survive being forwarded to someone who knows nothing about the case? It has to.

Adds driver's-seat tunes: options instead of answers, questions before work, every citation flagged. Your values come with it.

Pressure-test it

Makes the AI switch hats and attack its own answer.

Two readers, two ways this fails. Read it first as the general counsel scrolling on a phone between meetings: mark the exact word where she stops reading, and say whether she now knows what she has to do and by when. Then read it as the CFO who receives her forward with no context and no memory of this case: name every sentence that reads badly without the backstory, and the one that would make him call his own lawyer. Rewrite both.

Go deeper

Pushes the work further once the basics are right.

The phone rings through to voicemail. Write that version of the update: forty-five seconds, the headline, one date, the ask, and a specific time you will call back. Then add the two-sentence file note recording what you told the client and when, in the form you would want it read at a fee dispute.

Before you run it

What to gather first

The matter name and what it is in one line
Everything that happened since the last update, with dates
The upcoming deadlines and what each one triggers
The one decision or document you need from the client
Anything the client will not want to hear

Watch for

Client emails get forwarded to people who were not on the original thread. Write every sentence expecting a reader with no context and no obligation to keep it confidential.
Privilege can be lost when legal advice is mixed with business discussion or copied to non-privileged recipients. Mark and route the email according to your firm's policy.
Settlement authority and valuation belong in a separate, deliberately protected channel, not in a routine status update.
The model will restate dates confidently from your notes. Confirm every deadline against the docket and the scheduling order before sending.
An update that soft-pedals bad news costs more later than the uncomfortable call today, and it is the first thing quoted back in a malpractice or fee dispute.

What comes back

A subject line, a one-sentence headline, and four short labeled sections (Where we are, What happened, What's next, What I need from you) with dates as bullets and a single ask carrying a deadline and a reason. Sized to a phone screen. Followed, outside the email, by Assumptions / Where this is weakest / What only you can decide / What would make this better.

See an example of what you’ll get

Subject: Smith v. Acme; motion to dismiss denied; need settlement range by 5/9 Maria, The judge denied Acme's motion to dismiss in full on April 15, so all four claims move forward, and our document review turned up one Slack message from Mark that reads badly out of context, which I want to walk you through before the May 14 deposition. Where we are: Full fact discovery, trial date holding for January 2027. What happened: - April 15: Court denied the motion to dismiss on every claim. No claims were narrowed, so the case we defend is the case they pled. - April 22: We produced 12,000 documents. - April 24: Their CHRO's deposition is set for May 14. - During review, one internal message from Mark to Dana on March 5 could be read as connecting the complaint to the termination. It is explainable; it is not helpful. What's next: - May 14: CHRO deposition - May 22: Fact discovery closes - June 14: Expert reports - July 30: Summary judgment motions due What I need from you: A settlement authority range by Friday, May 9. Their willingness to move is highest before their CHRO testifies; once she is on the record, the number hardens. Fifteen minutes on the phone is enough. Best, J. --- Assumptions I made. All dates come from your notes rather than the docket [CONFIRM AGAINST DOCKET - particularly the July 30 motion deadline, which usually keys off the discovery cutoff]. Maria already knows about the March 5 message [verify - if this is the first she hears of it, the email needs a call in front of it]. This communication is privileged and stays inside the legal function [verify against how she routes updates]. Where this is weakest. "It is explainable; it is not helpful" is the sentence that gets forwarded. It reads like a concession in writing, and it is the one line that would be quoted in a deposition of your own file. Consider dropping the characterization and saying only that you want fifteen minutes on one document before May 14. What only you can decide. Lead with the ruling win, as drafted, then the bad document (which is honest and keeps the good news visible) or lead with the document, which is the version she would want if she found out from someone else. Also: send this as written, or call her first and send a three-line confirmation afterward, which keeps the March 5 message out of an email chain entirely at the cost of a thinner record that you disclosed it promptly. What would make this materially better. Ranked by impact: (1) The docket entries behind these four dates. July 30 is the one I trust least. Summary judgment deadlines usually key off the discovery cutoff, and it is also the date Maria will calendar and hold you to. (2) The fees-to-date figure against the quarterly estimate. You told me it will run roughly $40K over; I kept it out of this email so it would not compete with the May 9 ask, but she should not hear it first from her CFO. It needs its own note this week. (3) What Acme actually wants out of this case: a number, a confidentiality term, or Mark never sitting for a deposition. The settlement-range question is far easier to answer when you have asked that one first.

Why this prompt is built the way it is

## Framework 1. **A subject line that carries information.** Matter, the development, and the ask. "Case Update" tells the reader they can open it Friday. 2. **The headline is the first sentence.** What changed and what it means for this reader. Bad news goes here, not in the middle. 3. **Four sections, never five.** Where we are. What happened. What's next. What I need from you, with terms of art translated into consequences and adjectives replaced by dates and numbers. 4. **Exactly one ask,** with a deadline, the reason the deadline exists, and the cost or exposure consequence if there is one. 5. **Write it to be forwarded.** Assume it lands in the CFO's inbox with no context and nothing else attached.