Below is our attempt to make some common legal terms a little more digestible.  We hope it’s clear none of this is intended to replace having a lawyer explain your particular legal situation to you — it’s not!  Instead, this is meant to be a resource if you need it or for if and when we end up overestimating the average familiarity with legal concepts.  This Glossary is a work in progress.  We will update it from time to time, try to clarify anything that’s less than clear, and generally work to make sure it is as useful as possible for non-lawyers/non-legal professionals who want to better understand our legal system. 

• 160.50 Release:  New York’s Criminal Procedure Law 160.50 “seals” records relating to a criminal case (that is, makes them not accessible to the public), when the case ends in favor of the person accused of a crime.  In order to proceed at certain stages of a civil case, you may need to sign a release that unseals those records — which gets called a “160.50 release”  so all parties can look at them (because they are relevant to the case). 
• 50-h Hearing:  Under New York’s General Municipal Law 50-h, a municipality is entitled to take an examination (almost always in the form of questions under oath) of a person who wants to sue that municipality.  That examination is what the city or town essentially trades under New York State law for a waiver of its sovereign immunity and allowing people to sue under state law.  Attending the hearing is a necessary step in suing any New York city or town under New York State tort law (but not federal law, and certain statutory causes of action). 
• Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal (ACD):  In New York’s criminal courts, a common resolution of charges is an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal, or  “ACD.”  The basic idea is that a person’s charges are adjourned far into the future, with the intention that they will ultimately be dismissed if nothing changes (e.g., the person doesn’t get charged with other criminal conduct, and the like). 
• Bivens:  Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents, 403 U.S. 388 (1971), or “Bivens” for short, is a Supreme Court case where the Supreme Court found that a person could sue federal actors for damages for violating constitutional rights.  Unfortunately, the modern Supreme Court has signaled it does not like the case, and it only applies in a few, very narrow situations — in all other situations, you cannot sue federal actors for money for federal constitutional violations. 
• Certificate of Disposition:  A formal document that shows how a New York criminal case resolved. 
• Claims:  When we talk about “claims,” we are talking about the legal theories in a civil case that provide some way for a plaintiff to win.  So, for example, a person might have a set of “federal claims” because a government actor violated their federal constitutional rights.
• Complaint:  The document that starts a lawsuit.  It typically sets out the parties, why it is brought in the particular court it is filed in, the basic facts, and then describes the legal theories that it is presenting — that is, whatever source of  law the plaintiff claims says “if the Defendant did XYZ, I get to recover money.”  
• Comptroller:  The official whose job includes finances and accounting.  In New York City (like in many other governments), the City’s Comptroller (or at least, their office) is responsible for deciding whether and how much money to offer to settle cases — both during a lawsuit and as part of a pre-suit process. 
• Contingency:  One of the ways a lawyer can take a case.  There are many variations on this, but the basic idea is that the lawyer does not get paid by the client, they get paid by winning the case and getting some share of the recovery. 
• Damages:  Lawyers use “damages” to refer to an award for a violation of someone’s rights.  In American law, damages must be specifically proven.  So, your damages are all the ways you can quantify how a legal injury hurt you.  Examples can include time lost from work, the pain from an injury, the amount you will have to pay for future support for the injuries, as well as the emotional pain from how you’ve been harmed. 
• Declaratory Relief:  “Declaratory” relief refers to the power a court has to “declare” the state of the law (as between parties to the case).  So, declaratory relief could be, for example, a declaration that a particular law is unconstitutional, a declaration that a contract is void, or a declaration that a particular act was unlawful. 
• Defendant:  The person who a lawsuit or criminal case is brought against.  Their name is the second name in the title of the lawsuit.  
• Deposition:  In the process of a case, parties (and sometimes non-parties) will eventually sit for depositions.  Depositions are typically a few hours long, and involve a lawyer asking questions of a witness under oath — but without a judge, jury, or other fact finder there.  Depositions are often on a written record, taken down by a court reporter who can type at a ridiculous speed, but they can also be video or audio recorded in certain circumstances. 
• Desk Appearance Ticket (DAT):  A Desk Appearance Ticket or DAT (“dee-ay-tee”) is one of several ways a criminal proceeding can start in New York.  It is a full-size white piece of paper, issued by the police, listing specific charges.  It is not a charging document in and of itself — and instead, it means there will be a later decision by a prosecutor on whether or not to prosecute the case.  DAT  processing currently typically takes 2-10 hours from the time of arrest.  During that processing, a person may be fingerprinted if they’re charged with a misdemeanor, but it’s not legal to fingerprint people arrested for low-level “noncriminal” offenses.  The DAT will tell a person when and where to appear for future proceedings. 
• Discovery:  Discovery is the investigative process within a lawsuit.  During discovery, each party to a suit gets to request documents, ask questions, take depositions, and do a few other things to try to build a factual record.  Unlike how law often appears on TV, there are really very few (if any) surprises in most litigation, because the parties have already taken discovery and know the world of the case very well (and indeed, trying to hold things back during discovery will usually result in penalties, as well as not being able to use whatever was held back).    
• Judgment:  A resolution to a case where a court enters a formal document saying who won, and providing some relief (usually an amount of money) to that party.  A judgment is often referred to as “in favor of” the person who won, so if a plaintiff won a jury award of $100, a court would then (assuming no other issue comes up) enter a judgment of $100 in favor of that plaintiff. .  
• HIPAA:  The  Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA, not HIPPA!) is a federal law that (as relevant to us here) (1) ensures health providers keep your records private but also (2) requires them to produce them to you when you ask for them.  Often in our cases, we will need HIPAA releases from clients to obtain their medical records, in order to prove their damages.  
• Injunctive Relief:  A court is providing "injunctive" relief when it orders someone to do something.  This can be in an emergency posture (usually called a “temporary restraining order,” or “TRO”), something done when there isn’t time to fully litigate a case or to maintain things the way they were before the dispute (usually called a “preliminary injunction” or “PI”), or it can come at the end of a case and be the final decision of the court (a "permanent injunction”).  
• Lien:  In many contexts, when someone does work in many contexts, with the expectation they will be paid later, they are often entitled to what’s called a “lien:”  A entitlement that can be asserted against some future property or money.  In civil rights cases, this can come up in two ways.  First, sometimes medical payers (like Medicaid or Medicare) will do work to address your injuries, but assert a right (the lien) to recover payment for those services if you recover for damages from those injuries.  Second, if you have one lawyer work on your case on contingency, and then change to another lawyer, the first lawyer may assert a right (again, this is the lien) to get some of the money from your ultimate recovery. 
• Monetary Relief:  See, damages, above. 
• Notice of Claim (NOC):  See also, 50-h hearing.  Under New York law, to file state law torts against certain government entities (including the City), within 90 days of an incident (e.g., an arrest, an assault, or whatever gives rise to the claim), you need to give notice to the relevant government unit that you intend to sue.  That is done in a notice of claim.  So, it’s a very good idea to call lawyers quickly!  
• Plaintiff:  The person who is bringing a lawsuit, and whose name is first in the lawsuit.  
• Retainer:  A retainer can mean (at least) two things in legal contexts.  If it’s being used as short for “retainer agreement,” it refers to the written agreement between a client and a lawyer that defines their relationship.  If it’s short for a “retainer payment,” it refers to money — typically, specifically a lump sum that the lawyer can bill against — that a client gives to their lawyer to “retain” their services.  And, just because language is obnoxious, often the retainer (agreement) sets out the amount to be paid as a retainer (payment).  
• Rule 68 Offer: Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a defendant can make a special kind of quasi-settlement offer under Rule 68.  The offer works like this:  The plaintiff gets to enter a judgment — the same thing they would get if they won the whole case — on certain terms that the defendant proposes.  So, a defendant could make a Rule 68 offer of $100, and if the plaintiff accepted, she would get a judgment for $100.  However, if the plaintiff refuses to accept, but then does not get a better judgment after trial, there are certain consequences, including needing to pay certain of the defendant’s costs.  So, a Rule 68 offer forces a plaintiff to think very hard about whether the offer being made is a good one. 
• Section 1983:  In 1871, in the wake of the Civil War, Congress created a way for people to sue government actors that violate Constitutional rights:  The Civil Rights Act of 1871 (also known as “Section 1983,” because it is codified in Section 1983 of Title 42 of the United States Code).  Section 1983 is an invaluable tool when state actors like a City police officers, mayors, governors, or other state officials violate the (federal) Constitution — and even allows lawyers who win cases to get paid a separate award of attorneys’ fees, to incentivize firms like ours to take these cases.  Unfortunately, Section 1983 only applies to state actors, and does not let anyone sue the Federal government — a major loophole that makes getting justice when the Federal government violates the Constitution quite difficult (see also, “Bivens”). 
• Settlement:  Lawsuits can end in any number of ways.  One of those ways is a “settlement.”  A settlement happens when the parties to the suit agree to end the suit, with terms (often including payment) that they agree on.  Something like 97% of civil lawsuits end in a settlement, so it is the most common outcome.  Settlements can also happen at any stage of a suit, since all that is required is an agreement between the parties:  It can happen before a suit is even filed, in the middle of litigation, or even at trial while the jury is deliberating. A typical civil settlement, with a few other terms, will end the lawsuit for good (“with prejudice”) in exchange for a payment that reflects a valuation of damages combined with the risk each side sees of losing. 
• Statute of Limitations (SOL):  A law that sets the maximum amount of time that can pass before you are no longer allowed to file a lawsuit.  The amount of time varies depending on the claim.  You have 90 days to file a notice of claim for New York State law tort claims, and then the statute of limitations for filing those claims is a year and 90 days.  Federal claims under Section 1983 must be filed within a longer 3 year period in New York (it varies state to state, so don’t rely on this number outside New York!). 
• Summons (Criminal court):  A criminal court summons is one of several ways a criminal proceeding can start in New York.  It is a pink slip (as part of a packet of carbon paper—but the person receiving it gets the pink one), smaller than a standard piece of paper.  It is not a charging document in and of itself.  The process it initiates goes to Summons Court, where there is no District Attorney (or “DA”), in Summons Court, the judge essentially acts as the DA, making plea offers and if there's a trial, the judge asks the witnesses questions as if they were the prosecutor.  Among case-starting criminal documents, a summons is the quickest processing option, meaning it will typically take approximately 1-6 hours from time of arrest to being released with the summons.  The pink ticket will direct a person to show up to summons court at a specified, future date for further proceedings. 
• Summons:  When not referring to the criminal court document, a “summons” is the document that formally summons someone to court to start a case.  It is, mechanically speaking, how a court gets the power to order someone to do something.  Once a person is served with a summons, the court it is from gets jurisdiction over them, and a case can begin. 
• “With prejudice” or “Without prejudice”:  Courts can end lawsuits for a lot of reasons.  Sometimes, they end because they have no chance of winning, other times, they end because of some technical defect that could be fixed (for example, filing the suit in the wrong court).  When the court ends a lawsuit, it will typically indicate whether the suit can be filed again (dismissing it “without prejudice”), or it is done for good (dismissing it “with prejudice”).  And for the nerds among you, “pre-judice” means, essentially, “decided [‘judice’] in advance [‘pre’],” so “with prejudice” means that the court has decided any future suit on the same topic in advance. 

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