Amicus brief
(short for "amicus curiae brief")
Latin - «friend of the court»
Refers to a person or group who is not a party to an action but has a strong interest in the matter. This person or group will petition the court for permission to submit a brief in the action intending to influence the court’s decision. Such briefs are called "amicus briefs" (law.cornell.edu).
The purpose of an amicus brief is to offer information and expertise that may help the court make its decision.
Bar association
An organization, often mandatory for legal practice within a certain jurisdiction, that primarily consists of lawyers and promotes the interests of its members while fostering professional standards and ethics ("bar association," dictionary.justia.com).
Billable hours
The number of hours worked that require compensation. Billable hours apply only to clients. They’re designed to ensure financial compensation for any time spent on individual client cases, rather than on administrative tasks ("The Lawyer's Guide to Billable Hours", lawrank.com). The bill, in most cases, must, therefore, be paid by the client themself.
Cause lawyering
A legal practice in which lawyers use their professional skills and resources to promote social, political, or ideological goals that go beyond the interests of an individual client (cause lawyering, annualreviews.org). Cause lawyering is different from the usual pro bono lawyering, although there may be some overlap (private practice and cause lawyering, lawrepository.ualr.edu).
Class action
A procedural device that permits one or more plaintiffs to file and prosecute a lawsuit on behalf of a larger group, or "class". (Class action, law.cornell.edu)
Clearinghouse
(sometimes clearinghouses operate under a different name, such as “Pro Bono Center” or “Pro Bono Alliance)
Clearinghouse in Pro bono context is a broker or platform that helps to find free legal advice for individuals or organizations from practicing legal professionals. They act as intermediaries between people or organizations needing legal assistance and lawyers prepared and able to assist (Pro Bono Clearinghouse Manual, probonomanual.org).
Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
Corporate social responsibility (investopedia.com) is a self-regulating business model that helps a company be socially accountable to itself, its stakeholders, and the public.
CSR is generally related to the firm’s core business and contributing to its profitability, so it can be conceptualized as a set of practices integrating social, environmental and profit-related considerations ("What is corporate social responsability?", hec.edu).
ESG (environmental, social, governance)
ESG refers to a broad framework for addressing environmental, social, and governance issues in the context of business and investment. While the acronym itself is widely recognized, the concept lacks a single, fixed legal definition (ESG, law.cornell.edu).
Executive order
An executive order is defined as a declaration by the president or governor which has the force of law, usually based on existing statutory powers.
Executive orders do not require any action by the Congress or state legislature to take effect, and the legislature cannot overturn it. (Executive order, law.cornell.edu)
In-house
(In-house lawyer, in-house legal team...)
In-house lawyer is an attorney who is employed by a company and handles its in-house legal affairs (law.cornell.edu).
In the legal context, in-house means that a lawyer or legal team works directly within a company, providing legal services exclusively to their employer rather than to external clients.
Law Clinic
(Also legal clinic or law-school clinic)
A legal aid or law school program providing services to various clients and often hands-on legal experience to law students. Clinics are usually directed by clinical professors. (Black's Law Dictionary, 6th Edition, "clinical legal studies," (St. Paul, Minn: West Publishing Co., 1990), 254)
Legal clinics typically conduct pro-bono work, providing free legal services to clients.
Legal aid
A system of providing free advice about the law and practical help with legal matters for people who are too poor to pay for it. (Legal aid, dictionary.cambridge.org)
Litigation
The process of causing a disagreement to be discussed in the court of law so that an official decision can be made about it. (Litigation, dictionary.cambridge.org)
Pro bono
Latin – "for the good"
Being, involving, or doing professional and especially legal work donated especially for the public good (pro bono, merriam-webster.com). The term is used within the legal profession to refer to lawyers’ provision of free legal services to those in need but otherwise without access to such services. (Pro Bono Clearinghouse Manual, probonomanual.org).
Revenues
The income that business or government receive regularly, or an amount representing such income (revenue, dictionary.cambridge.org). In other words, it is the value of all sales of goods and services recognized by a company in a period (revenue, corporatefinanceinstitute.com).
About the glossary
The glossary was developed by Olena Sønsteby for the PROBONO project.