Practice-profile system: a four-section plain-English .dochaus/ profile.md (Escalation Rules, House Style with plain-language default, Risk Calibration postures, Jurisdiction Defaults) that overrides clause-library and playbook defaults without touching approved text, with load/conflict/escalation/absent semantics, a new-profile skeleton, the cold-start interview hook, and the full jurisdiction-risk calibration doctrine. Read when setting up firm preferences or running firm-calibrated review, draft, or redline work.
name: firm-profile description: Defines the practice profile — a plain-English markdown file at .dochaus/profile.md in the matter directory recording the firm's escalation rules, house style, risk calibration, and jurisdiction defaults — and how to create, load, and apply it. Use when setting up a new firm or matter, onboarding, when asked to "use our house style" or record firm preferences, or before any review, draft, or redline that should follow the firm's standing positions.
The practice profile is the firm's standing instructions for a matter, written
in plain English with the supervising lawyer. It lives at one fixed location:
.dochaus/profile.md inside the matter directory (the session's working
directory). One file, four fixed sections, nothing else.
- Present — apply it throughout. The clause-library and the playbooks state each clause on a fixed three-position schema — Preferred, ordered fallbacks with "offer when" conditions, and an explicit walk-away floor with a role-addressed escalation trigger — and those positions are firm-configurable defaults. Profile positions override those defaults: a Risk Calibration non-negotiable raises a clause's floor, a standard concession lowers it, and the Escalation Rules contact is the role the schema's floor escalation routes to. The profile does not override a bound playbook's approved replacement text — a playbook is the firm's reviewed wording for that document type — but it does set which fallback rung and floor that wording is measured against.
- Conflict — when an instruction, playbook position, or document term conflicts with the profile, flag the conflict explicitly, quoting the profile line it crosses. Never silently follow either side; the lawyer resolves it.
- Anything matching an Escalation Rule stops with a clear statement of which rule was triggered — do not proceed and escalate in the same breath.
- Absent — proceed on balanced market-practice defaults, and when the
moment is natural (new matter, onboarding, "use our preferences") offer to
create one via the interview in
references/interview.md.
- Escalation Rules — what always goes to a human before it happens: work product that may never leave the firm without named sign-off, exposure or deal-value thresholds that loop in a partner, topics never handled without escalation (privilege calls, regulator contact, conflicts), and who the escalation contact is.
- House Style — the drafting voice (plain English or traditional, "shall" vs "must/will"), defined-term conventions (where terms are defined, how they are marked on first use), numbering and heading conventions, date and number formats, and boilerplate the firm always includes or never includes. Default voice when the profile is absent or leaves it unspecified: plain language — short sentences, active voice, no needless archaisms or Latin, jargon defined on first use. Guardrail: eliminate redundancy only where it is genuinely redundant — keep a doublet (e.g. "indemnify and hold harmless") when each word carries a distinct legal meaning; plain language never strips a load-bearing term.
- Risk Calibration — the negotiation posture per contract type, given the side the firm usually sits on: aggressive (open firm-favorable, concede slowly), balanced (market-standard two-sided positions), or conservative (accept reasonable counterparty terms, redline only material risk). Plus non-negotiables and standard concessions. Non-negotiables and concessions tune the clause-library/playbook three-position ladder for the firm: a non-negotiable raises a clause family's walk-away floor (and may move its Preferred), a standard concession marks a fallback rung the firm offers readily. List a clause family here only to override its market-balanced default — silence leaves the shipped default in force.
- Jurisdiction Defaults — default governing law and venue for new documents, dispute-resolution preference (courts or arbitration, and where), the jurisdictions the firm advises in, and what happens when a document falls outside them (flag as outside scope, never improvise foreign law).
- Name the assumed governing law first. Before any jurisdiction-sensitive conclusion, state the governing law you are reasoning under and where it comes from: the document's choice-of-law clause, the matter's jurisdiction pack, or an explicit instruction. If none of those fixes it, say the governing law is undetermined and stop — do not pick one.
- Never accept an implied jurisdiction premise. If a question assumes a jurisdiction without stating one ("is this non-compete enforceable?"), surface the missing premise and name what you assumed before answering; do not silently default to a familiar jurisdiction (e.g. U.S. federal or the firm's home law).
- Grade confidence down — qualify, then escalate — when the governing law is: state/local or sub-national rather than national; non-US (hallucination rises sharply for less-prominent and non-US jurisdictions); driven by lower-court or unsettled authority rather than apex-court or statute; multi-jurisdiction (the worst category for both AI and lawyers); or recently changed (governing law is a jurisdiction-and-time pair — confirm the rule is current and was not superseded). Any one signal qualifies the conclusion; two or more route it to the Escalation Rules contact.
- Governing law vs forum. Treat the choice-of-law clause and the forum/venue/arbitration-seat clause as separate. Flag misalignment (one law, another forum) and note that the forum's own mandatory law and public policy may displace the chosen law.
- Public-policy / mandatory-law override. Even with a valid choice of law, flag where the forum's mandatory rules or public policy can override it (employee protections, consumer law, competition, data protection); a chosen law does not guarantee the chosen result.
- Cross-border CISG prompt. For a cross-border sale-of-goods contract between parties in different countries, check whether the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) applies by default and whether the parties intended to exclude it; flag an unaddressed CISG position.
- Multi-jurisdiction workflow. When more than one governing law is in scope, do not blend them. Handle each jurisdiction procedurally and completely on its own — the same enumerated checks per jurisdiction, without fatigue or shortcutting later ones — then reconcile in a final pass: note where the jurisdictions agree, where they diverge, and which divergences need a human decision.
# Practice Profile
## Escalation Rules
- Nothing leaves the firm to a counterparty, court, or regulator without
sign-off from [name/role].
- Loop in [name/role] when exposure or deal value exceeds [amount].
- Always escalate: [topics].
## House Style
- Voice: [plain English (default) / traditional]; obligations use ["must" / "shall"].
- Defined terms: [convention, e.g. bold-quoted on first use, Definitions
section up front].
- Formats: dates as [format]; numbering [convention].
- Always include: [boilerplate]. Never include: [boilerplate].
## Risk Calibration
- [Contract type] (we are usually the [side]): [aggressive / balanced /
conservative]. Non-negotiable: [terms]. Standard concessions: [terms].
## Jurisdiction Defaults
- Governing law and venue for new documents: [jurisdiction], unless [exception].
- Disputes: [courts / arbitration under [rules], seated in [place]].
- We advise on [jurisdictions] law only; anything else is flagged as outside
scope.