---
title: Glossary
slug: glossary
description: The ratified vocabulary of legal work as an API — 25 load-bearing nouns, each with its definition, its boundaries, and what it is not.
cluster: glossary
status: ready
date: 2026-07-25
---

Agents can't practice law. They can call it. Calling it precisely requires a vocabulary where every noun has ratified edges — because in legal work, a blurred word is usually a blurred ethical line. This glossary covers the 25 most load-bearing nouns. Each entry gives the definition, what the term is not to be confused with, and the term used in a sentence.

## The unit of work

- [Matter](matter.md) — the unit of legal work: one Client, one objective, four forever-terminals
- [Asset](asset.md) — the perpetual thing a Matter acts on; Matters terminate, Assets accumulate
- [Signal](signal.md) — a named discovered fact on a Matter that policies key on
- [Consent](consent.md) — the Client's captured informed-consent artifact, executed by the actual Client

## The supply side

- [Gig](gig.md) — the claimable envelope of human work: one Review plus a flat fee fixed at post time
- [Signer](signer.md) — the credentialed human performing reserved acts under their own license
- [Engagement](engagement.md) — the limited-scope attorney-client relationship, formed at claim
- [Clearance](clearance.md) — the recorded claim-time act of conflict clearing
- [Conflicts Ledger](conflicts-ledger.md) — the practitioner-owned, hash-stored, append-forever conflicts registry
- [Packet](packet.md) — the full matter snapshot, unlocked only after claim plus Clearance
- [League](league.md) — the earned performance tier, L0 Applicant through L3 Counsel
- [Register](register.md) — the outcome-metered performance account; one shape for agents and humans

## Authority

- [Gate](gate.md) — the exclusive commit authority, bounded by the Signer's no and the Client's yes
- [Reservation](reservation.md) — the deterministic routing of reserved acts to credentialed humans
- [Reserved-Act Catalog](reserved-act-catalog.md) — the counsel-owned authority on what is reserved, per jurisdiction
- [Attestation](attestation.md) — the Signer's frozen, signed authorization of a reserved act
- [Declination](declination.md) — the Signer's post-Packet refusal: reasoned, paid, final

## Money

- [Rail](rail.md) — the fee-flow designation: Patent Rail live, State Rail a ratified shape
- [Meter](meter.md) — billing that releases only on proof: no filing, no charge
- [Legal Fee](legal-fee.md) — the flat per-act professional fee, 100% the Signer's own
- [Product Fee](product-fee.md) — the platform's separately invoiced charge for the non-legal product

## The clock

- [Deadline Ladder](deadline-ladder.md) — clock-driven safety machinery, closed only by evidence
- [Monitoring Engagement](monitoring-engagement.md) — who owns the deadline duty between acts

## Files and confidentiality

- [Client File](client-file.md) — what the Client owns and takes on termination, portable and complete
- [Privilege Boundary](privilege-boundary.md) — the access rule keeping engagement content with Client and Signer

---

`npx api.lawyer` — CLI, MCP server, and SDK in one unscoped package. Preview build; nothing here is a live-service claim.