Legal Request Triage

Overview

This skill provides a structured approach to triaging incoming legal service requests in ServiceNow Legal Service Delivery. It helps you:

• Identify and review new or unassigned legal requests from the sn_legal_request table
• Classify requests by type: contract review, compliance inquiry, intellectual property, employment law, litigation, or regulatory
• Assign priority based on urgency indicators and business impact assessment
• Route requests to the appropriate legal team or specialist
• Document triage decisions with work notes for audit trail

When to use: When legal requests are submitted through the Legal Service Delivery portal and need to be reviewed, categorized, prioritized, and routed to the correct legal team for action.

Plugin required: com.sn_legal_service_delivery

Prerequisites

• Roles: sn_legal_case_user, sn_legal_case_manager, or sn_legal_admin
• Access: Read/write access to sn_legal_request, sn_legal_case, and sn_legal_task tables
• Knowledge: Understanding of your organization's legal team structure, request categories, and routing rules
• Plugin: Legal Service Delivery (com.sn_legal_service_delivery) must be activated

Procedure

Step 1: Identify Requests Requiring Triage

Query for active legal requests that are in a new or unassigned state.

Using MCP (Claude Code/Desktop):

Tool: SN-Query-Table
Parameters:
  table_name: sn_legal_request
  query: active=true^assigned_toISEMPTY^ORstate=1
  fields: number,short_description,description,state,priority,request_type,requested_by,opened_at,assignment_group,assigned_to
  limit: 25

Using REST API:

GET /api/now/table/sn_legal_request?sysparm_query=active=true^assigned_toISEMPTY^ORstate=1&sysparm_fields=sys_id,number,short_description,description,state,priority,request_type,requested_by,opened_at,assignment_group,assigned_to,urgency,impact,business_unit&sysparm_limit=25&sysparm_display_value=true

Step 2: Classify Each Request by Type

For each request, analyze the short description and description fields to determine the legal request type:

1. Contract Review - Keywords: "contract", "agreement", "NDA", "MSA", "SOW", "amendment", "renewal", "terms"
2. Compliance Inquiry - Keywords: "compliance", "regulation", "GDPR", "HIPAA", "SOX", "policy", "audit", "reporting requirement"
3. Intellectual Property - Keywords: "patent", "trademark", "copyright", "IP", "trade secret", "licensing", "infringement"
4. Employment Law - Keywords: "employment", "termination", "harassment", "discrimination", "workers comp", "FMLA", "ADA", "severance"
5. Litigation - Keywords: "lawsuit", "litigation", "claim", "dispute", "subpoena", "court order", "discovery", "deposition"
6. Regulatory - Keywords: "regulatory", "filing", "government", "agency", "investigation", "consent decree", "enforcement"

Using MCP to retrieve request details:

Tool: SN-Get-Record
Parameters:
  table_name: sn_legal_request
  sys_id: [request_sys_id]
  fields: number,short_description,description,state,priority,request_type,requested_by,business_unit,urgency,impact,opened_at

Step 3: Assess Priority

Evaluate priority using a combination of urgency and business impact:

Impact / Urgency	Critical (1)	High (2)	Medium (3)	Low (4)
Enterprise-wide (1)	P1 - Critical	P1 - Critical	P2 - High	P3 - Medium
Business Unit (2)	P1 - Critical	P2 - High	P3 - Medium	P4 - Low
Department (3)	P2 - High	P3 - Medium	P4 - Low	P4 - Low
Individual (4)	P3 - Medium	P4 - Low	P4 - Low	P5 - Planning

Urgency escalation indicators:

• Regulatory filing deadline within 30 days
• Active litigation with court-imposed deadline
• Contract expiration within 14 days
• Executive or board-level request
• Potential financial exposure exceeding $100K
• Data breach or security incident with legal implications
• Government investigation or subpoena

Step 4: Route to the Appropriate Legal Team

Map request types to legal teams (customize for your organization):

Request Type	Assignment Group	Escalation Path
Contract Review	Contracts & Commercial	Senior Contracts Counsel
Compliance Inquiry	Compliance & Ethics	Chief Compliance Officer
Intellectual Property	IP & Technology	IP Counsel
Employment Law	Employment & Labor	Employment Counsel
Litigation	Litigation & Disputes	General Counsel
Regulatory	Regulatory Affairs	Regulatory Counsel
Unknown/Mixed	Legal Operations	Legal Triage Manager

Find the assignment group sys_id:

Tool: SN-Query-Table
Parameters:
  table_name: sys_user_group
  query: nameLIKEContracts
  fields: sys_id,name,manager,description
  limit: 5

Using REST API:

GET /api/now/table/sys_user_group?sysparm_query=nameLIKEContracts&sysparm_fields=sys_id,name,manager,description&sysparm_limit=5&sysparm_display_value=true

Step 5: Update the Legal Request

Apply the triage classification, priority, and assignment.

Using MCP:

Tool: SN-Update-Record
Parameters:
  table_name: sn_legal_request
  sys_id: [request_sys_id]
  data:
    request_type: contract_review
    priority: 2
    urgency: 2
    impact: 2
    assignment_group: [group_sys_id]
    state: 2

Using REST API:

PATCH /api/now/table/sn_legal_request/{sys_id}
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "request_type": "contract_review",
  "priority": "2",
  "urgency": "2",
  "impact": "2",
  "assignment_group": "[group_sys_id]",
  "state": "2"
}

Step 6: Create a Legal Case if Warranted

For requests that require formal legal engagement, create a legal case record.

Using MCP:

Tool: SN-Update-Record
Parameters:
  table_name: sn_legal_case
  sys_id: new
  data:
    short_description: "Contract Review - Vendor MSA Renewal for Acme Corp"
    description: "[Details from the legal request]"
    legal_request: [request_sys_id]
    priority: 2
    assignment_group: [group_sys_id]
    case_type: contract_review
    state: 1

Using REST API:

POST /api/now/table/sn_legal_case
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "short_description": "Contract Review - Vendor MSA Renewal for Acme Corp",
  "description": "[Details from the legal request]",
  "legal_request": "[request_sys_id]",
  "priority": "2",
  "assignment_group": "[group_sys_id]",
  "case_type": "contract_review",
  "state": "1"
}

Step 7: Document the Triage Decision

Add work notes to the legal request documenting the triage rationale.

Tool: SN-Add-Work-Notes
Parameters:
  table_name: sn_legal_request
  sys_id: [request_sys_id]
  work_notes: |
    === LEGAL REQUEST TRIAGE ===
    Analyst: AI Legal Triage
    Timestamp: [current_timestamp]

    Classification: Contract Review
    Keywords detected: "MSA", "renewal", "vendor agreement"
    Business Unit: Procurement

    Priority Assessment:
    - Urgency: 2 (High) - Contract expires in 21 days
    - Impact: 2 (Business Unit) - Procurement operations affected
    - Calculated Priority: P2 - High

    Routing: Contracts & Commercial Team
    Rationale: Vendor MSA renewals are handled by the Contracts team per legal routing policy

    Legal Case Created: LC0004521
    Next Steps: Contracts team to review renewal terms and redlines within 5 business days

Tool Usage

MCP Tools Reference

Tool	When to Use
SN-Natural-Language-Search	Natural language queries for legal requests
SN-Query-Table	Structured queries for requests, groups, users
SN-Get-Record	Retrieve a single legal request by sys_id
SN-Update-Record	Update request type, priority, assignment, state
SN-Add-Work-Notes	Document triage decisions and rationale

REST API Reference

Endpoint	Method	Purpose
/api/now/table/sn_legal_request	GET	Query legal requests
/api/now/table/sn_legal_request/{sys_id}	PATCH	Update legal request
/api/now/table/sn_legal_case	POST	Create a legal case
/api/now/table/sn_legal_task	POST	Create legal tasks
/api/now/table/sys_user_group	GET	Find legal assignment groups

Best Practices

• Respond promptly: Legal requests with regulatory deadlines or litigation holds should be triaged within 4 hours
• Classify accurately: Misclassification causes delays; when uncertain, route to Legal Operations for manual review
• Document thoroughly: All triage decisions must include rationale for audit and compliance purposes
• Check for duplicates: Before creating a new case, query sn_legal_case for existing matters involving the same parties or subject
• Escalate P1 immediately: Critical requests (active litigation deadlines, regulatory enforcement) require immediate notification to the General Counsel
• Protect privilege: Never include privileged legal analysis in work notes visible to non-legal staff; use internal-only fields
• Track SLAs: Legal request SLAs vary by type; contract reviews typically have 5-day SLA, litigation matters require same-day response

Troubleshooting

"Legal request table not found"

Cause: Legal Service Delivery plugin is not activated Solution: Verify that com.sn_legal_service_delivery plugin is active. Navigate to System Definition > Plugins and search for "Legal Service Delivery."

"Cannot assign to legal group"

Cause: Assignment group does not have the legal type or is inactive Solution: Query sys_user_group with type=legal^active=true to find valid legal groups. Verify group membership includes active attorneys.

"Request type field not available"

Cause: The request_type choice list may not include your classification Solution: Check sys_choice table: name=sn_legal_request^element=request_type to see available values. Add new choices through the dictionary if needed.

"Insufficient permissions to create legal case"

Cause: Missing sn_legal_case_user or sn_legal_case_manager role Solution: Verify user roles via sys_user_has_role table. The sn_legal_admin role includes all legal permissions.

Examples

Example 1: Contract Review Request Triage

Input: Legal Request LR0001234 - "Need legal review of new cloud services vendor agreement before signing"

Analysis:

• Keywords: "legal review", "vendor agreement", "signing" - Contract Review
• Urgency: Medium (no stated deadline)
• Impact: Department level (single procurement)
• Priority: P3

Action:

Tool: SN-Update-Record
Parameters:
  table_name: sn_legal_request
  sys_id: abc123...
  data:
    request_type: contract_review
    priority: 3
    assignment_group: [contracts_group_sys_id]
    state: 2

Example 2: Urgent Regulatory Compliance Request

Input: Legal Request LR0001235 - "SEC filing deadline in 10 days - need review of 10-K disclosures for new acquisition"

Analysis:

• Keywords: "SEC filing", "deadline", "10-K", "disclosures" - Regulatory + Compliance
• Urgency: Critical (regulatory deadline in 10 days)
• Impact: Enterprise-wide (SEC filing affects entire company)
• Priority: P1

Action:

1. Set priority to P1 - Critical
2. Assign to Regulatory Affairs team
3. Notify General Counsel immediately
4. Create a legal case with deadline tracking

Example 3: Employment Law Inquiry

Input: Legal Request LR0001236 - "HR needs guidance on employee termination process for underperformance in California office"

Analysis:

• Keywords: "termination", "employee", "California" - Employment Law
• Urgency: Medium (no immediate deadline stated)
• Impact: Individual level
• Priority: P4

Action:

Tool: SN-Update-Record
Parameters:
  table_name: sn_legal_request
  sys_id: def456...
  data:
    request_type: employment
    priority: 4
    assignment_group: [employment_group_sys_id]
    state: 2

Related Skills

• legal/legal-matter-summarization - Summarize legal matters and case timelines
• legal/contract-analysis - Analyze contracts for key terms and risks
• legal/contract-obligation-extraction - Extract obligations from contracts
• security/incident-response - Security incidents with legal implications
• grc/control-objective-management - Compliance and regulatory controls