# Law and Professional Services Glossary

> 31 terms from the Workplace & Collaboration book's Law and Professional Services part, each defined in a line and linked to the chapter that explains it.

- **Block billing:** combining several tasks in one time entry with a single total, which e-billing audits flag or reject ([Time, Billing & E-Billing](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/time-billing-and-ledes#time-entry)).
- **Client trust account:** a bank account holding client and third-party money separate from the firm's own, as Model Rule 1.15 requires ([Trust Accounting & IOLTA](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/trust-accounting-iolta#whose-money-it-is)).
- **Collection rate:** cash collected divided by the value billed ([Time, Billing & E-Billing](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/time-billing-and-ledes#realization-and-collection)).
- **Commingling:** mixing the firm's own money with client money in trust, including leaving earned fees there ([Trust Accounting & IOLTA](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/trust-accounting-iolta#whose-money-it-is)).
- **Conflict check:** a recorded search of the firm's parties and matters for current, former and prospective client conflicts before a matter opens or a party is added ([Matters, Intake & Conflicts](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/matters-intake-and-conflicts#conflict-search)).
- **Contingent fee:** a fee that is a percentage of the recovery, which Model Rule 1.5(c) requires in a writing signed by the client ([Time, Billing & E-Billing](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/time-billing-and-ledes#rates-and-fee-arrangements)).
- **CTAPP:** California's Client Trust Account Protection Program, requiring yearly trust account registration, certification and self-assessment ([Trust Accounting & IOLTA](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/trust-accounting-iolta#state-rules)).
- **Document management system (DMS):** a matter-organized repository for a firm's documents and filed email, with profiles, versions and wall-aware security ([Legal Documents, DMS & AI](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/legal-documents-and-ai#the-matter-workspace)).
- **E-billing:** submitting invoices to a client's platform as LEDES files, where they are audited against the client's billing guidelines ([Time, Billing & E-Billing](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/time-billing-and-ledes#e-billing-and-outside-counsel-guidelines)).
- **Email filing:** moving relevant email from personal mailboxes into the matter workspace, deduplicated and confirmed ([Legal Documents, DMS & AI](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/legal-documents-and-ai#email-filing)).
- **Engagement letter:** the document setting the scope of a representation and the basis or rate of the fee ([Matters, Intake & Conflicts](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/matters-intake-and-conflicts#engagement-letters)).
- **Ethical wall:** a screen that keeps named people out of a matter (or limits it to a named team) across every system, including search and AI ([Matters, Intake & Conflicts](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/matters-intake-and-conflicts#ethical-walls)).
- **Formal Opinion 512:** the ABA's July 2024 opinion applying competence, confidentiality, communication, supervision and fee rules to generative AI ([Legal Documents, DMS & AI](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/legal-documents-and-ai#generative-ai)).
- **Imputation:** the rule that one lawyer's conflict is attributed to every lawyer in the firm, under Model Rule 1.10 ([Matters, Intake & Conflicts](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/matters-intake-and-conflicts#the-conflict-rules)).
- **IOLTA:** Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts, pooled trust accounts for nominal or short-term client funds whose interest funds civil legal aid ([Trust Accounting & IOLTA](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/trust-accounting-iolta#iolta)).
- **LEDES:** the Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard formats for invoices, budgets and timekeeper data, maintained by the LEDES Oversight Committee ([Time, Billing & E-Billing](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/time-billing-and-ledes#ledes)).
- **LEDES 1998B:** the 24-field pipe-delimited invoice format most US e-billing runs on ([Time, Billing & E-Billing](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/time-billing-and-ledes#ledes-1998b)).
- **Matter:** one engagement for one client, the unit of conflicts, time, documents, trust money and retention ([Law Firms & Professional Services](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/law-firms-and-professional-services#the-matter-centric-model)).
- **Nominal or short-term funds:** client money that cannot earn the client net interest, which goes into IOLTA rather than a separate interest-bearing account ([Trust Accounting & IOLTA](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/trust-accounting-iolta#iolta)).
- **Outside counsel guidelines:** a corporate client's rules for its law firms on billing, staffing, expenses and security ([Time, Billing & E-Billing](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/time-billing-and-ledes#e-billing-and-outside-counsel-guidelines)).
- **Pre-bill:** the draft invoice a responsible lawyer reviews, edits and approves before it goes to the client ([Time, Billing & E-Billing](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/time-billing-and-ledes#pre-bills)).
- **Privilege designation:** document metadata recording attorney-client privilege or work product status, used in review and production ([Legal Documents, DMS & AI](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/legal-documents-and-ai#privilege)).
- **Professional services automation (PSA):** software for agencies and consultancies that plans resources and tracks time and project margin ([Law Firms & Professional Services](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/law-firms-and-professional-services#professional-services-beyond-law)).
- **Prospective client:** a person who consults a lawyer about a possible representation and is protected by Model Rule 1.18 even if no engagement follows ([Matters, Intake & Conflicts](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/matters-intake-and-conflicts#intake-and-prospective-clients)).
- **Realization rate:** billed value divided by the standard value of recorded time ([Time, Billing & E-Billing](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/time-billing-and-ledes#realization-and-collection)).
- **Screened:** isolated from any participation in a matter through timely procedures, as defined in Model Rule 1.0(k) ([Matters, Intake & Conflicts](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/matters-intake-and-conflicts#the-conflict-rules)).
- **Self-learning tool:** in Opinion 512's sense, a GAI tool that uses inputs to improve outputs for others, which requires client informed consent before client information goes in ([Legal Documents, DMS & AI](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/legal-documents-and-ai#generative-ai)).
- **Three-way reconciliation:** proving that the adjusted bank balance, the trust book balance and the total of client ledgers agree, with no negative ledger ([Trust Accounting & IOLTA](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/trust-accounting-iolta#three-way-reconciliation)).
- **Timekeeper:** a person whose time is billed, with a LEDES classification and dated rates, separate from a platform account ([Law Firms & Professional Services](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/law-firms-and-professional-services#how-to-build-it)).
- **UTBMS:** the Uniform Task-Based Management System of task, activity and expense codes used on legal invoices ([Time, Billing & E-Billing](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/time-billing-and-ledes#utbms-codes)).
- **Utilization:** billable hours recorded divided by available working hours ([Time, Billing & E-Billing](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/time-billing-and-ledes#realization-and-collection)).

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