Law Slang, Jargon, and New Words from Double-Tongued Dictionary

Law, courts, legal matters, etc. You can also see entries assigned to this category.

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apology law n. Apology laws, as they are called, allow doctors to express sympathy and compassion after a patient is injured without fear that their words will be used against them in a civil suit. [English Law Medical] [full cite] (Mar. 5, 2007)

attorney capping n. Two Santa Ana bail bondsmen pleaded guilty Friday to steering jail inmates to a prominent and well-connected criminal defense lawyer—a practice known as attorney capping. [English Law] [full cite] (Feb. 12, 2007)

aw shucks defense n. The legal strategy is now called in legal circles the “Aw Shucks Defence,” a term coined by the prosecutor, Assistant US Attorney William F Johnson, as he concluded the argument against Mr Ebbers in court. Prosecuting the founder and former head of Worldcom, he told the jury that the essence of Mr Ebbers’ argument was: “Aw shucks, I’m just not that sophisticated.” [English Law] [full cite] (Mar. 16, 2005)

banked adj. Learning of continued criminal behavior actually causes more work, so is largely avoided (as noted above at the end of the last paragraph). In fact, there are banked caseloads in the County of San Francisco that have over 20,000 people on them (source: a San Francisco Deputy Probation Officer I attended the Probation Officer Core Course with—name withheld for obvious reasons). In the event that you do not know what “banked” represents in Probation parlance, it means that the person is still on probation, but they are no longer required to report to Probation, and their file is merely maintained in the event that they either commit a new crime, or the Court wants additional information on their case. [English Law Police Jargon] [full cite] (Jan. 30, 2008)

black box settlement n. “This is what industry calls a ‘black box’ settlement,” said Jim Greenwood, director of the Office of Consumer Counsel, which participated in the settlement. “What it means is that although the parties could agree on a revenue number, they disagreed on certain principles.” [English Law Jargon] [full cite] (Oct. 24, 2006)

black robe syndrome n. I hope that I don’t forget all the things I’ve learned, what I like and don’t like in a judge. I hope I don’t get the black robe syndrome, where you suddenly think you’re a little smarter, because you’re not. [English Law Slang] [full cite] (Jul. 12, 2006)

black-coat n. The “black-coats” as the lawyers are being affectionately called these days, have never shown this kind of unity, nor this temerity, before. [English Pakistan Law] [full cite] (Mar. 19, 2007)

black-robe disease n. If some judges adopt the starchy demeanor and arrogant air that lawyers jokingly refer to as “black-robe disease,” Tom Porteous rarely surrendered his easygoing ways in two decades as a state and federal jurist. [English Law Slang] [full cite] (Jun. 26, 2006)

black-robe disease n. Mike has a better-than-the-rest-of-you attitude.…He’s a pompous elitist with black-robe disease. He’s got a God complex. [English Law Slang] [full cite] (Jul. 12, 2006)

blurter n. That Elton John and Kiki Dee could have come about as a result of a Gareth Gates (an innocent mistake) or a blurter (a bad judgment call). [English United Kingdom Law Slang] [full cite] (Jul. 15, 2007)

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