Using CourtStairs well

• ›Tell us your jurisdiction. EU, national, or both. The rules can differ a great deal depending on which body of law applies.
• ›Give the facts that matter. Dates, what was said, what was signed. Use roles, not real names ("the landlord", "the employee", "the franchisee").
• ›Ask one thing at a time. Compound questions get diluted answers. CourtStairs remembers the thread, so follow-ups are free.
• ›If the first answer is too general, push back. "Be more specific to residential tenancies" or "what about the limitation period?" gets a sharper second pass.

• ›Use roles, not personal names. "The plaintiff" works as well as a real name and protects everyone if a screenshot ever leaves the screen.
• ›Do not upload documents covered by procedural secrecy, confidentiality clauses, or professional privilege you cannot waive.
• ›Skip full identifiers (tax numbers, banking details, card numbers). The system does not need them to answer the question.
• ›Sessions are stored to your account so you can come back to them. They are not training data and they are not visible to other users.
• ›If you work at a firm, treat CourtStairs the way you would treat a research memo you might one day have to disclose.

CourtStairs is a research assistant. Research is what you do before you act. Some signs you have moved from research into a moment that needs a licensed professional:

• ›A limitation period or filing deadline is running.
• ›A document is about to be signed and you cannot easily back out of it.
• ›The other side has lawyers and you do not.
• ›The answer depends on facts you have not put in the chat (often because you cannot, for confidentiality or strategic reasons).
• ›Being wrong would cost you more than the price of a consultation.

In Portugal that means an advogado registered with the Ordem dos Advogados or, within their scope, a solicitador. CourtStairs can help you prepare for that meeting. It cannot replace it.

The voice agent answers questions out loud the same way the chat does, with the same boundaries. It is good for:

• ›Walking through what a clause or article means in plain language.
• ›Explaining what a procedure looks like (injunção, eviction, an employment complaint).
• ›Pointing you to the right starting source.

It will not give you a position to take in negotiation or in court, fill in details so you can use them as advice, or replace a conversation with a lawyer who has read your file. If a call starts to feel like you are asking the agent to decide for you, that is the moment to hang up and find a person.

Portugal is a civil-law system. The Código Civil, the NRAU for residential tenancies, the Código do Trabalho, the Código de Processo Civil and the Lei de Defesa do Consumidor are the primary authorities for most everyday questions. On top of that sits EU law: regulations apply directly, directives are transposed into Portuguese statute, and CJEU case law binds the interpretation of both.

Say which layer you are asking about (for example, "under the Código do Trabalho" or "under EU law"). The system will pull from the right body of law. If you switch jurisdictions mid-conversation, say so out loud, otherwise assumptions from the previous question carry over.