Glossary

Account — A CRM record representing an organisation. Has one or more contacts and an assigned account manager.

Activity — A short log entry on a matter ("Filed motion", "Met with client"). Distinct from tasks.

Appraisal — A structured performance review in HR, with a self-assessment step and a reviewer step.

AR aging — Accounts receivable bucketed by how long they've been outstanding (0–30, 31–60, 61–90, 90+ days).

Brief — A case submission or written argument stored on a matter in the Briefs tab.

Check-in / check-out (documents) — Locking mechanism that prevents two people overwriting each other while editing a document.

Client — An engaged billable party, the target of invoices. Can be an individual or an organisation.

Complaint — A formally logged client complaint, tracked through to resolution.

Conflict check — A search of existing matters for any involvement of a given opposing party, run before opening a new matter.

Consultation — A first meeting with a prospective client, logged in CRM.

Contact — A person record in CRM. Not the same as a client.

CRM Action — A follow-up task (call, email, meeting) logged against a contact, prospect, lead or client.

Custom field — A firm-specific field added to matters, clients or other entities.

Deadline rule — A configured automatic calculation of follow-up deadlines from a triggering event.

Department — An organisational unit within the firm (Litigation, Corporate, HR, etc.).

Dispatch — An outgoing delivery (courier, service of process) logged at the front desk.

Entry (time entry) — A record of hours worked on a matter.

Excuse duty — A non-leave absence requiring approval.

Expense category — A classification for expense entries, used in reporting and invoicing.

Free day — A personal day off that isn't leave, e.g. birthday.

Front desk executive — A role focused on reception activities: visitors, dispatches, reservations.

General manager — A senior operations role inheriting all *_manager permissions.

Important date — A hearing, deadline, or statute date recorded on a matter. Feeds the calendar.

Invite — Email link that lets a new user set their password and join the firm.

Invoice states — DRAFT, PARTNER_REVIEW, APPROVED, SENT, PAID, PARTIALLY_PAID, OVERDUE, DISPUTED, CANCELLED.

Lead — An active sales opportunity in the CRM pipeline.

Leave balance — How much of each leave type a given employee has remaining.

LEDES — A standard format for legal electronic billing. The billing module can export invoices in this format.

Library — The firm's knowledge store: precedents, templates, research, media.

Matter — A discrete piece of legal work for a client.

Matter type — The kind of work (Litigation, Transaction, Legal Opinion, Alternative, Mediation).

Merge field — A placeholder in a document template that gets filled with live data when the template is rendered.

Next of kin — Emergency contact for an employee.

Operating account — The firm's own bank account, as tracked in the Trust module. Distinct from trust accounts.

Opposing party / lawyer — The other side on a litigation matter.

Position — A job title within a department (Partner, Senior Associate, Clerk, etc.).

Practice area — A legal domain (Corporate, Tax, IP, etc.).

Prospect — A potential client in the CRM pipeline.

Realization rate — Ratio of billed to collected revenue.

Reference data — Shared lists used throughout the app: practice areas, sectors, courts, judges, currencies.

Reminder — A time-based notification, created manually or automatically.

Review period — A named window for appraisals (e.g. Q1 2026).

Role — A named bundle of permissions. Users get roles; roles get permissions.

Sector — A client industry classification.

Spend — An expense logged against a matter.

Statute of limitations — The legal deadline for filing a matter. Tracked as an important date with warnings as it approaches.

Subdomain — Your firm's unique address (e.g. yourfirm.legal.proguardinnovations.com).

Task — A work item assigned to one or more users, with due date and status.

Tenant — The workspace for a single firm. Tenancy is what keeps firms isolated from each other.

Timeline — A composed view of everything that has happened on a matter in chronological order.

Trust account — A separate account holding client funds, distinct from the firm's operating account.

Visitor — A person logged at the front desk with check-in and check-out times.

Workflow rule — An automated reaction to an event, configured by an administrator.