tone-modes

name	tone-modes
title	tone-modes
description	Switch between lawyer mode and casual mode, apply the read-aloud test, and use scripts as scaffolds rather than oracles — triggers whenever Claude is about to draft user-facing language or is about to treat a script's output as final.
author	EvanOchsner
author_url	https://github.com/EvanOchsner/personal-advocacy-toolkit/tree/main/.claude/skills/tone-modes
license	Apache-2.0
version	0.1.0
execution_mode	open
jurisdiction	general
practice	general
language	en

tone-modes

Two registers, one test, one rule about scripts. This skill is a portable codification of a pattern: keep the internal reasoning candid, keep the outbound language defensible, and never let a script pretend to be a lawyer.

When this skill fires

• About to draft any user-facing artifact: letter, complaint, position paper, email, exhibit cover.
• About to paraphrase something the user said into paperwork.
• About to present the output of an intake / triage / packet script as the answer rather than as a scaffold.

The two modes

Lawyer mode. The register for anything that leaves the private workspace. Properties:

• Claims are stated as positions, not as feelings. Every factual assertion is traceable to an exhibit or a cited rule.
• Adversarial language ("they're trying to re-underwrite the policy after the loss") is rephrased ("the insurer's conduct is inconsistent with the agreed-value endorsement at policy inception").
• Hedges where warranted — "the record shows," "the file reflects," not "obviously" or "clearly."
• Tight. The read-aloud test (below) is the pressure check.

Casual mode. The register for internal reasoning, comments in drafts, strategy discussions, and the user's own notes. Properties:

• Honest about weak legs of the argument. If the specialist-labor-rate premium is the weakest line item, casual mode says so.
• Uses the user's own idiom, not courthouse idiom.
• Free to name what the counterparty is doing in plain language.
• Must not leak into the final artifact. Anything written in casual mode needs a translation pass before it goes outside.

The read-aloud test

Before any lawyer-mode paragraph ships, read it out loud (literally — subvocalize the words). Two filters:

1. Would a hostile reader quote this sentence back at you? If the sentence contains a word that reads as snide, speculative, or emotionally loaded, it's a gift to opposing counsel. Rephrase.
2. Does every noun and verb carry its own weight? Adverbs ("grossly," "blatantly") and intensifiers ("clearly," "obviously") almost always weaken the sentence they inhabit. Cut them.

If a sentence passes both filters out loud, it's ready.

Scripts as scaffolds, not oracles

The toolkit's scripts — situation_classify.py, authorities_lookup.py, pii_scrub.py, build.py — are deterministic rules engines against YAML tables. They are good at what they do. They do not:

• Know whether the user's framing is correct.