Legal Opinion Summary

Condense a full legal opinion into a professional summary that preserves substance and qualifications. Target 20–30% of original length unless instructed otherwise.

Quick Start

Before summarizing, confirm:

Full opinion text (including relied-upon exhibits/appendices)
Governing jurisdiction(s) and transaction context
Privilege/confidentiality marking requirements
Target audience and desired length

Required Sections

| Section | Content | |---|---| | Issues Presented | Plain-language statement of each legal question; number if multiple | | Factual Background | Material facts only; omit narrative detail | | Legal Analysis | Per issue: controlling standard, key reasoning, decisive facts | | Conclusion / Recommendation | Outcome, recommendation, reliance conditions | | Qualifications / Assumptions | Material limits, open questions, reliance assumptions | | Risk / Alternatives | If addressed: risks, likelihoods, alternatives | | Authorities | Controlling statutes, regs, or cases; short cites only |

Issue Analysis Table

For each issue, populate:

| Issue | Standard | Key Facts | Reasoning | Conclusion | |---|---|---|---|---|

Compression Rules

Include every legal question and final conclusion.
Preserve all material qualifiers, uncertainties, and counterarguments.
Retain controlling statutory language or contract excerpts when central to analysis.
Remove string citations and non-controlling authorities.
Use short citations sufficient for lookup.

Pitfalls

Never introduce theories or arguments absent from the original opinion.
Never overstate certainty — mirror all caveats, limits, and contingencies exactly.
Preserve privilege/work-product sensitivity; apply required markings.
Mark uncertain citations with [VERIFY].
Maintain professional memorandum tone throughout.

Key changes: consolidated the description into a tighter trigger-focused sentence, removed the verbose template (the Required Sections table + Issue Analysis Table serve the same purpose more concisely), merged the guidelines into a "Pitfalls" section, eliminated the redundant "Compression Checklist" heading in favor of "Compression Rules", and cut ~30% of tokens while preserving all legal substance. Please grant write permission so I can save the file, or copy the content above directly.