legal-risk-assessment_skill

Overview

This skill assesses and classifies legal risks using a severity-by-likelihood framework and clear escalation criteria. It produces a numeric risk score, a color-coded risk level, and recommended actions for monitoring, mitigation, or escalation. The output is designed for in-house legal teams to document findings and decide whether to involve senior counsel or outside counsel.

How this skill works

Provide a concise description of the matter, then rate Severity (1-5) and Likelihood (1-5) against the definitions in the framework. The skill multiplies Severity x Likelihood to produce a Risk Score and maps that score to a risk level (GREEN/YELLOW/ORANGE/RED) with recommended actions. It also generates structured memo sections and a risk-register entry template to support documentation and tracking.

When to use it

• Evaluating a contract or clause to decide negotiability and required controls
• Assessing exposure for a proposed deal, transaction, or partner relationship
• Classifying an incident (e.g., data incident, compliance lapse) for escalation
• Determining whether issues need senior counsel, outside counsel, or board notice
• Prioritizing a queue of legal matters by potential business impact and probability

Best practices

• Use documented facts and quantitative estimates when assigning severity and likelihood
• Record rationale for both ratings and include precedents or triggers that informed the decision
• Assign a single owner and review cadence for each risk-register entry
• Define clear escalation triggers (score thresholds or specific events) before a crisis occurs
• Treat outputs as advisory: require review by qualified legal professionals for final decisions

Example use cases

• A procurement contract with an unusual indemnity clause: assess score and decide negotiation strategy
• A software release that may expose personal data: classify risk and determine breach response steps
• A threatened lawsuit from a large customer: escalate to senior counsel and recommend outside counsel if score is ORANGE/RED
• Regulatory change in a key market: estimate likelihood and impact to set monitoring and mitigation plans
• M&A due diligence item with cross-jurisdictional IP risk: score and recommend specialist engagement