The firm's lexicon of legal terms

The lexicon is the firm's own list of the terms of Ghanaian law and practice that it relies on. Each term says what it means, how it works, what it means in plain English for a client, and where it comes from. The firm adds its own terms, and a lawyer approves a term before the firm relies on it.

Where it is

Lexicon is an item in the sidebar. It has two tabs: Terms, the register of every term, and Check a document, which reads a document's text for the terms it defines and uses.

Everyone who works at the firm can read the lexicon and propose a term. Partners approve terms and keep them. See Who may do what, at the foot of this article.

The register

Terms lists each term with its definition beneath it, its Practice areas, its Standing and when it was last Changed. Search finds a word in a term, in its other names or in its definition. Narrow the list by Letter (A to Z), by Practice area or by Standing. Choose a row to open the term. The register can be exported like any other; see Export a register to CSV.

A term's Standing is one of:

• Awaiting review: a draft that a lawyer has not yet approved. Do not rely on it yet.
• Approved: a lawyer has approved it and the firm relies on it.
• Retired: it stays on file but the firm no longer relies on it.

What a term holds

A term's page is headed Term details. It reads in sections:

• Meaning: the definition, in one sentence, and the explanation for lawyers.
• For clients: the explanation in plain English. It also shows how a document reads it, for example {{term.writ-of-summons.plain}}.
• As shipped: only on a shipped term that the firm has rewritten. It keeps Docavra's words beside the firm's own.
• Sources and examples: where the term comes from, as a statute, rule or case by citation, and how it reads in a document.
• Facts, beside the sections: the Standing, the Other names (spellings and abbreviations), the Practice areas, the Jurisdiction, who Approved it and when, who it was Proposed by (a shipped term reads "Shipped with Docavra") and the Related terms, each a link.

The shipped base

Docavra ships about 280 terms, across the practice areas a firm is set up with: civil litigation, debt recovery and enforcement, settling disputes, land and conveyancing, wills and estates, companies, banking, intellectual property, tax, criminal law, employment, family and immigration. Each cites the statute, rule or case it comes from.

Every shipped term arrives as a draft, Awaiting review. Its page says so: "Shipped with Docavra and awaiting a lawyer's review. Rely on it once the firm has approved it." Read the term and its sources, then approve it, rewrite it or retire it.

When Docavra later improves the words of a shipped term, the term takes the new words. If the firm had already written its own, the firm's words stand and the page says "The shipped words changed after the firm wrote its own." Compare the two under As shipped and edit the term if the firm's words should follow. A term the firm retired stays retired.

Propose a term

1. In Lexicon, choose Propose a term.
2. Under The term, give the Term (up to 200 characters), the Definition (one sentence, up to 500 characters) and, if useful, Other names, one to a line, an Explanation for lawyers and an Explanation for clients in plain English.
3. Under Where it comes from, choose the Practice areas (up to 15), check the Jurisdiction (it starts as Ghana), and give the Sources and Examples, one to a line.
4. Choose Propose term.

The term is saved Awaiting review, and the page says it awaits a lawyer's review before the firm relies on it. Its address, the name documents read it by, is made from the term in lower case with hyphens, such as writ-of-summons. A term that would take an address already in use gets the next number, such as writ-of-summons-2. The address does not change if the term is later renamed.

Change a term

Open the term, choose Term actions, then Edit. The page is Change term. Choose Save changes when done.

• You can change a draft you proposed yourself until it is approved.
• Once a term was proposed by someone else, has been approved, or was shipped with Docavra, only a partner can change it. For anyone else the change is refused.
• On a shipped term, the Term, Definition, Explanation for lawyers and Explanation for clients you write replace Docavra's words in the firm's lexicon. Docavra's words are kept and shown under As shipped.
• If someone changed the term while you were editing it, you are told to reload and try again.

Changing a term does not change its standing: an approved term stays approved.

Approve or retire a term

A partner opens the term, chooses Term actions, then:

• Approve, and confirms "Approve this term?". The firm relies on the term from then on, and the page names who approved it and when. A retired term can be approved again.
• Retire, and gives the reason, which is required. The term stays on file, read as Retired.

Every proposal, change, approval and retirement is recorded in The audit trail.

Only approved terms are used by the check below and by templates. A draft or a retired term is not.

Related terms

Related in a term's facts lists the terms it points to, such as Probation beside Contract of employment. Each is a link to that term. The shipped terms arrive with their related terms already set.

Check a document's defined terms

Check a document reads the text of a draft agreement or letter for two faults.

1. Open Lexicon, then Check a document.
2. Paste the document's text into Text, up to 500,000 characters. Nothing you paste is kept.
3. Choose Check the terms.

The result has two lists, each reading "None found" when it is empty:

• Defined and never used: each term the document defines and does not use again.
• Used and never defined: each approved term of the lexicon that the document uses but never defines. Each is a link to the term, with its definition beneath, so you can add a definition that matches.

The check reads a definition in either of two forms, with straight or curly quotation marks:

• A term in quotation marks, starting with a capital letter, followed by means, shall mean, has the meaning, refers to or includes, as in "Completion Date" means the day the price is paid.
• A term in quotation marks inside brackets after a name, as in (the "Seller").

A term counts as used when it appears again as a whole word, with the same capital letters. A term of the lexicon counts as used when the document writes it, or one of its Other names, with a capital first letter. It is judged defined if the document defines that name or any of its other names.

Terms in templates

A template can print a term's explanation for clients with a merge token, such as {{term.writ-of-summons.plain}}. The token is the term's address between term. and .plain. It prints the Explanation for clients, in the firm's own words where the firm rewrote a shipped term. The merge token catalogue under Settings, Documents, Templates, Merge tokens lists it among the Open families as term.<slug>.plain; see Templates and document generation.

A document is not made with a blank in its place. If the token names a term that is not approved, or an approved term with no explanation for clients, the document stops and says which token and why.

Who may do what

• Read the lexicon and check a document (lexicon.read): everyone who works at the firm.
• Propose a term and change your own draft (lexicon.propose): everyone who works at the firm.
• Approve, rewrite and retire terms, including the shipped base (lexicon.manage): partners and the managing partner.

To give someone else the right to keep the lexicon, see Roles, permissions and scopes.