Module 1

What this is & how to run it

What's a “plugin,” in plain terms?

You already know how a good associate works: they carry a mental playbook — what to look for in an NDA, how your firm phrases a board consent, which deadlines never slip — and they apply it the moment you hand them a task. A plugin packages that kind of know-how for Claude.

A plugin = packaged legal know-how + ready-made actions

Concretely, a plugin is a small bundle of files that teaches Claude a body of practice knowledge and gives it a set of named tasks you can call on. claude-for-legal isn't one plugin — it's a collection (a “marketplace”) of 12 practice-area plugins: commercial, corporate, privacy, employment, regulatory, AI-governance, litigation, product, IP, law-student, legal-clinic, and a builder hub — plus an external research plugin (CoCounsel). You install only the one that matches your work.

Source: claude-for-legal · README · QUICKSTART (“which plugin is for me?”)

We'll open up what's inside a plugin in Module 2. For now, the only idea you need: install one, and Claude gains a set of legal tasks it can do for you — each one a draft you review.

The two places it runs: Claude Code vs. Cowork

The same plugin can run in two different Claude apps. They share the exact same plugin underneath; what differs is the room you're sitting in.

Claude Code

Claude in your terminal

  • A command-line tool: you type, Claude works in the folder you're in.
  • “Not sure which you have? If you have a terminal window with Claude in it, that's Claude Code.”
  • You call plugin tasks by typing them, e.g. /commercial-legal:review.
  • The full toolbox is in play here — skills, commands, background helpers, automatic checks, and connectors.

Cowork

Claude in a desktop app for knowledge work

  • A friendlier, point-and-click window — no terminal required.
  • Skills appear in one list, reachable from the / or + button.
  • Connectors are added in Settings → Connectors.
  • The behind-the-scenes pieces (background helpers, automatic checks) run here too — Cowork is the full experience; it's plain claude.ai chat where those stay grayed out.

Source: QUICKSTART (install in Cowork / Claude Code) · Claude Code plugin docs · Use plugins in Claude (Cowork).

Our running world — meet Sablefield Robotics

Throughout this tour we'll work for a fictional Series-B robotics company, Sablefield Robotics, and its outside firm Cumberland & Ross LLP. Picture Sablefield's lone in-house lawyer staring at a vendor agreement from Wickline Perception. With the commercial-legal plugin installed, she could hand Claude the contract and her playbook and get back a flagged, first-pass review — a draft she then checks. That's the whole promise: faster first passes, never an unreviewed final answer. (All names are fictional.)

Install it

Pick the plugin that matches your work, then bring it into your Claude app. In Claude Code it's a short sequence you do one step at a time — type a command, press Enter, wait, then move to the next. (You've already done the unwritten step 1: know whether you're in Claude Code or Cowork.)

This tour assumes Claude Code

The walkthroughs here use Claude Code — the fuller, smoother experience, where the plugin saves your playbook (and your matters and registers) and reuses them every session. Cowork works too; it's just a step behind: it can't keep that saved playbook between sessions, so there you simply review with standard positions, or name your key positions right in the request. (Either way, to read your documents: Claude Code is automatic; in Cowork, grant it the folder they're in.)

The “try this” boxes below use the /plugin:skill form (e.g. /commercial-legal:review), which works in both apps. One rule that trips people up: send the slash command on its own — if you type the details on the same line, it reads as an ordinary prompt and the skill won't fire. So send the command first, then add your context (attach the file and say what you want). Or skip the slash entirely and just ask in plain words (“use commercial-legal to review this attached contract”) — that always works too.

Source: Get started with Claude Cowork (“Claude accesses only folders you explicitly grant permission to use”) · Cowork sandboxing.

Install in Claude Code — one step at a time

Step 1 — Add the marketplace. Type the command below, then drag the unzipped claude-for-legal folder onto the window to fill in the path, and press Enter. (Or just type the full path yourself.)

/plugin marketplace add /path/to/claude-for-legal

Step 2 — Install your plugin. When it asks, pick “user” scope, not “project” scope — project scope blocks the plugin from reading files outside one folder (your contract in Documents, your outline in Downloads).

/plugin install commercial-legal@claude-for-legal
⚠️ Step 3 — Activate the plugin (don't skip this)

A freshly installed plugin isn't live until you load it. Straight from the Claude Code docs, the quickest way is to type /reload-plugins — it activates the plugin without restarting. Because these plugins add a connector, Claude Code may ask you to confirm with /reload-plugins --force; that's expected. Closing and reopening Claude Code always works too, if you'd rather not think about it. Either way — if your next command comes back “command not found,” this is the step you skipped.
Source: Claude Code · plugins (“After installing, run /reload-plugins to activate the plugin”).

Step 4 — Run setup. A short interview (about 2 minutes quick, 10–15 for the full version) that teaches the plugin your playbook and saves it to a profile on your machine.

/commercial-legal:cold-start-interview

Step 5 — Connect a research tool. Without one, every citation the plugin produces is flagged unverified (it's coming from training data, not a live database). Some plugins come with a research connector built in — install litigation-legal, for example, and CourtListener arrives with it; you just sign in to authorize it with /mcp. Others, including commercial-legal, instead come with connectors to work systems (contract repositories, e-signature), so you add a research tool yourself: in Cowork, Settings → Connectors → add one (e.g. CourtListener).
Source: QUICKSTART (steps 2–6 + “install user-scoped, not project-scoped”)

Prefer the desktop app? (Cowork)
  • Install Claude Desktop and get access to Cowork.
  • Install your plugin from the in-app plugin manager (the QUICKSTART links a short video walkthrough).
  • Grant Cowork access to the folder your documents live in so it can read the contracts you want reviewed (see the note above).
  • Skip the persistent setup — Cowork can't save a playbook anyway. Just attach a document and ask for a review (it'll use standard positions), or state your positions in the request. The saved-playbook interview is the Claude Code path.
  • Add a research connector under Settings → Connectors — without one, every citation a plugin produces is flagged unverified.
What you're actually installing

In Claude Code, the setup interview learns your playbook and saves it to a practice-profile file on your machine (~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/<plugin>/CLAUDE.md). It's yours — edit it, re-run setup, or tell a skill to update it; every skill reads from it, which is why two lawyers get different output from the same plugin. (In Cowork that file isn't reachable — see the note above — so this persistent profile is a Claude Code feature.)
Source: QUICKSTART (“what you're installing”)

Tip — help Claude Code find your playbook

Claude Code doesn't always think to check your saved playbook before answering a quick, casual request — so a review can come back generic even though your profile is right there. A one-line reminder fixes it: in your Claude Code personal (global) instructions, add something like “Before answering, check the current project folder and my installed plugins' practice profiles for relevant context.” With that in place you can drop the formal /commercial-legal:review syntax and just say “use the commercial-legal plugin to review this agreement” — and it'll pick up your playbook and do the right thing. (A convenience, not a requirement — but it's what makes the casual phrasing reliable.)

Try it for yourself (Guided)

Guided · your first five minutes

If you have Claude Code or Cowork handy, do this now. If not, just read it — the rest of the tour works fine offline.

First, the interview — because nothing works from a blank slate. Ask this plugin for a contract review before setup and it politely refuses: “Run /commercial-legal:cold-start-interview first — I need to learn your playbook before I can review against it.” It reviews against your positions, not a generic checklist — so its first move is to interview you. Run step 4 from the install box, and when it offers the choice, take the 2-minute quick version: it fills in working defaults, and Module 3 replaces them with real positions.

No commercial practice of your own? Play the part. The quick interview asks only a few basics — who you are, your practice setting, your side, and what's connected — so answer as Sablefield's lawyer:

Quick version, please. I'm a lawyer, in-house — the only one at Sablefield Robotics, a Series-B industrial robotics company (Delaware corp, Nashville HQ), mostly purchasing-side (vendor and SaaS agreements). No CLM or e-signature connected.

Then throw it a contract. With setup done, the plugin is ready — it may even offer (“Want to throw a contract at me?”); either way, hand it one. Here's one to throw: a fictional vendor agreement from Wickline Perception, salted with deliberate landmines for exactly this purpose.

⬇ Download the synthetic vendor agreement (Word) or as plain text (.md)

Yes — review the attached vendor agreement. We're Sablefield, the customer.
Flag what you find, tell me which calls you're unsure about, and don't change
anything — this is a first pass for me to check.

This first review runs on quick-start defaults, so treat it as a taste, not a test. Notice the manner: it flags, it hedges where unsure, and it leaves the decisions to you. In Module 3 you'll give Sablefield a real purchasing-side playbook and run this same contract against it — with an answer key.

Check your understanding

Lab notebook

Governance note — the rule that never goes away

Two things to carry from page one. First, every output is a draft for attorney review; the plugins flag uncertainty and gate anything irreversible, but you verify and you own the result. Second, mind what data you point them at: a plugin reads the files you give it, on your machine, and a research connector reaches outside — so client confidentiality, privilege, and your engagement terms are your call before anything sensitive goes near it.

Source: QUICKSTART (“every output is a draft for attorney review”)