# Statute plain-language summary — from pasted text

Turns a pasted statute into a structured plain-language summary: elements, deadlines, penalties, cross-references, and undefined terms. Reach for it the first time you read an unfamiliar statute on a live matter.

## Prompt

## Context
You are helping a solo attorney read a statute fast. I will paste the full statute text below. Work only from the pasted text. Do not pull statutory language, case law, or interpretations from memory. Do not cite any case, statute, or regulation I did not paste.

Statute citation: [STATUTE CITATION]
Jurisdiction: [JURISDICTION]
Why I am reading it: [MATTER CONTEXT OR CLIENT QUESTION]
Full text: [PASTE FULL STATUTE TEXT]

## Task
Produce a plain-language summary with these numbered sections:
1. One-sentence answer — what this statute does.
2. Who it covers and who it exempts, per the text.
3. Elements or requirements, numbered. For each, quote the exact statutory language, then restate it in plain words beside the quote.
4. Deadlines and time limits, with what starts each clock.
5. Penalties, remedies, and who can enforce.
6. Cross-references — every other section, statute, or regulation the text mentions, listed for me to pull separately.
7. Open questions — terms the statute uses but does not define, and any language that could read more than one way, marked "ambiguous; needs case law."

## Standards
- Quote the statute exactly wherever word choice could matter. Plain-language restatements sit next to quotes; they never replace them.
- Flag every defined term and point to where the definition lives, if the paste includes it.
- Take no position on how courts have read ambiguous language. You have no case law in front of you.
- If the pasted text looks incomplete, cut off, or internally inconsistent, say so and stop rather than summarize a fragment.

## Input checklist

- [ ] The full current text of the statute, copied from Westlaw, Lexis, or the official code — not from a secondary site
- [ ] Confirmation you copied the version in force on the date that matters to your matter
- [ ] The definitions section if your statute relies on one — paste it too
- [ ] Your one-line reason for reading it, so the summary points at your question
- [ ] If the matter context identifies a client, generalize it, or confirm your AI tool sits under your firm's confidentiality and bar guidance (see ABA Formal Op. 512)

## Verification checklist

- [ ] Compare every quoted phrase in the summary against your pasted text character for character — AI sometimes 'corrects' statutory language silently
- [ ] Confirm in Westlaw, Lexis, or the official code that you pasted the current version: check effective dates, pending amendments, and session laws. A summary of a superseded version is worse than no summary
- [ ] Pull and read every cross-reference in section 6 yourself before relying on the summary's account of the main statute — exemptions often hide there
- [ ] Treat section 7's ambiguity flags as a research list: run the disputed terms through case law in Westlaw or Lexis. Never act on the AI's plain-language gloss of an ambiguous term
- [ ] If the output cites anything you did not paste, strike it — then verify your suspicion that it was invented. Never use a citation you have not read in the reporter or code itself
- [ ] Check the deadline section against the text twice; off-by-one readings of 'within' and 'after' clauses are a known AI failure

## Customization notes

Works for any code section — swap the section list for criminal statutes (elements, mental state, grading, defenses) or tax provisions (triggering event, computation, exceptions). For multi-section schemes, run it once per section, then ask for a combined map. Add your state's effective-date conventions to Standards if your legislature uses delayed effective dates.

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From The Solo Attorney's AI Practice Library — vetslearn.com/libraries/attorney