Open-source template · No terminal required
Your voice, your intake rules, your templates and your matter notes, in one folder Claude reads before it writes anything. So the draft sounds like your firm instead of like ChatGPT. It is a folder of Markdown files. No app, no SaaS, no seat licence.
Ask Claude to draft a client update and you get something competent and generic. It does not know you decline cases under $5,000. It does not know your managing partner hates “I hope this email finds you well.” It does not know the Roseville office handles intake on Tuesdays.
So you re-explain your firm at the start of every conversation. Everyone on your team re-explains it separately. Nothing accumulates.
A firm brain fixes that. You write it down once, in a folder you own, and every conversation starts from there. When one person sharpens the intake rules, everyone’s assistant gets better on their next pull.
Interview me and fill in CLAUDE.md for my firm.
Draft a decline email for a case where the statute ran out in March.
Summarize where matter 2026-014 stands and what is still open.
Pull the latest from the team.
Run the morning leads briefing.
Open Claude Code and say:
Clone https://github.com/irfad7/Firm-Brain-Starter, open it, then interview me and fill in CLAUDE.md for my firm.
Claude asks about your practice areas, your attorneys, how you write and who you decline, then writes the file. That is the setup.
Setting this up for a team? Push it to a private repo and have everyone use GitHub Desktop. They click Pull origin when they start and Push origin when they finish. Or they just say “pull” and “push” to Claude and the bundled sync skill handles it.
Full instructions, including the team path, are in SETUP.md.
| Folder | What it does |
|---|---|
CLAUDE.md | The front page. Claude reads it first, every session. |
.claude/skills/ | Reusable procedures that load automatically: brain sync and the daily leads briefing. |
voice/ | How your firm writes, and the phrases it never uses. |
intake-rules/ | Who you take, who you decline, and why. |
templates/ | Engagement letter, intake script, case summary. |
matters/ | One folder per case, with a worked fictional example. |
examples/ | A completely filled-in CLAUDE.md to copy from. |
.env.example | Paths, timezone, and optional Slack, Sheets, Clio and Lawmatics keys. |
A folder of plain Markdown files holding what your firm knows: how you write, who you represent, what you decline, your standard documents, and notes on each matter. An AI assistant reads it before doing any work, so its output matches your firm instead of a generic average of the internet. The idea is that context should live in a file you own, not in a chat history that disappears.
CLAUDE.md is the file Claude reads first when it opens a folder. For a law firm it holds who you are, how you sound, where things live, and the hard rules Claude must follow, such as drafts only, never send, and never compute a filing deadline. This starter ships a template plus a completed example.
Everything stays in a folder on your own computer and nothing in the repo sends your data anywhere. Two rules matter: keep your firm’s copy of the repo private, because matter notes are privileged, and keep .env out of git, which .gitignore already handles. The shipped CLAUDE.md also tells Claude to keep client names and PII out of anything leaving the folder.
No. Your team installs GitHub Desktop, clicks Pull origin when they start and Push origin when they finish. Or they say “pull” and “push” to Claude and the firm-brain-sync skill runs it and explains what changed in plain English. One person sets up the repo once.
It is a folder you own, versioned in git and shared through GitHub. It works with any tool, moves between them, and keeps its history. A hosted project lives in one vendor’s account and disappears with it. It is also a team artifact: when one person improves it, everyone benefits on their next pull.
Yes. The skeletons lean personal injury because that is what the example firm does, but the structure is practice-agnostic. Replace the practice areas, disqualifiers and templates with yours. The bones are the same: how we sound, who we take, what we send, what we know.
No, and CLAUDE.md says so explicitly. Claude drafts, summarizes and organizes; a licensed attorney reviews and takes responsibility for anything that leaves the building. The shipped rules also stop it from computing filing deadlines or statutes of limitations, which is exactly the kind of confident wrong answer that causes real harm.
Nothing. It is open source under the MIT License. You need a Claude subscription. There is no hosted service and nothing to buy.
Irfad Imtiaz, Director of Technology at My Legal Academy, built and maintains it. My Legal Academy publishes it.