Help: Understanding Legal Jargon

By Tim Shaw, Quality Assurance Lawyer at Minster Law

** This post may be out of date to view a more up to date list please visit our Glossary **

As a lawyer, it becomes completely normal over time to use legal jargon, especially when you deal with other lawyers on a day to day basis; it almost seems a shame not to use these phrases when you’ve spent so much time learning what they mean. To others, however, these phrases are often plain confusing.

Most lawyers are aware of this issue and try their best to explain legal matters, but even with the best will in the world lawyers sometimes use jargon without realising it.

So, in an attempt to help explain the mysterious world of legal jargon, here is a list of words and phrases often used by lawyers, together with explanations of what they mean.

Adjourn: to postpone a court hearing to a later date.

Barrister: a lawyer who specialises in court room representation, drafting certain legal documents and expert legal opinions.

Breach of duty: failing to do something required by the law, or doing something the law forbids.

Brief: a document prepared by a solicitor which contains the instructions for the barrister to follow when representing a Claimant or Defendant at a hearing.

Capacity: the ability, capability or fitness of someone to enter into a legal agreement.

Case management conference (CMC): a type of hearing.

Causation: whether a breach of duty has caused injury and/or financial loss.

Cause of action: the legal reason why someone is entitled to make a claim.

Claimant: a person making a claim.

Claims Portal: see MOJ Portal.

Compensation: an award, usually money, paid to a person for losses and/or injuries suffered.

Conditional fee agreement: a method of funding the legal costs involved in making or defending a claim, sometimes called a no-win, no-fee agreement.

Consent: to agree to something.

Contributory negligence: where your own negligence or breach of duty contributes to the injury and/or financial loss you suffer.

Counsel: another word for a Barrister.

Counterclaim: making a claim in court against someone who has already made a claim in court against you.

Damages: see Compensation.

Defendant: a person defending a claim which has been made against them.

Dependant: someone who depends on another person to support them financially.

Directions: steps that have to be taken by specific dates before the hearing, usually agreed between the solicitors for each side or imposed by a judge.

Disclosure: one party revealing to the other party the documents under their control that are relevant case and allowing them to be inspected.

Disposal: a type of hearing.

Duty of care: a person or body’s responsibility to take reasonable care to ensure the safety of others.

Full and final settlement: a settlement which covers all injuries and/or losses that have been or could have been made in a claim.

General damages: compensation for injuries and/or losses which cannot be precisely valued. It includes compensation for pain and injuries suffered and being unable to carry out hobbies and pastimes, as well as losses which will continue after the end of the claim, such as loss of earnings. They are separate and distinct from special damages.

Hearing: an appointment at court where a judge considers the evidence and law and then makes decisions on particular issues or the whole claim.

Infant approval: an appointment at court where a judge considers a proposed settlement on behalf of a minor and decides whether it is appropriate.

Jurisdiction: whether the court has power to deal with a particular claim.

Liability: blame or responsibility.

Limitation: the time period within which court proceedings must be started.

Litigation: court proceedings, or taking legal action through the courts.

Litigation friend: an adult who makes decisions for a minor or someone who lacks capacity.

Minor: someone who has not yet reached the age when they gain full legal rights and responsibilities; in the UK this is someone under the age of 18.

MOJ Portal: properly known as the Claims Portal, an electronic method of submitting certain types of claims up to a set value.

Negligence: failing to carry out a duty of care.

Pleadings: the legal documents setting out details of a claim and the allegations of the parties.

Provisional damages: a settlement which is full and final unless some specified medical condition arises at a later date; if that particular condition does arise, it is possible to reopen the claim and ask for additional compensation.

Settlement: an agreement to bring a claim to an end, usually in exchange for an agreed amount of compensation.

Solicitor: a lawyer who can deal with and give advice on legal matters and who is listed on the Roll of Solicitors kept by the Law Society.

Special damages: compensation for losses incurred up to the hearing for which a specific figure can be calculated; the judge will insist that they are provided with proof of these losses.

Third party: strictly, someone other than the two sides in a situation; more commonly, the other side in a legal dispute

Trial: see Hearing

Vicarious liability: where one person or body is legally responsible for the acts or omissions of another; a common example is a bus company, which is vicariously liable for the negligent driving of its drivers

Without prejudice: correspondence or discussions, generally with a view to reaching a settlement, which are confidential between the parties and cannot be made known to a judge at a hearing

Witness summons: an order that a person attend at a particular court on a particular date at a stated time, usually to give evidence to a judge at a hearing