ADAC-Legal-US 0.9.0-draft.1 — Field Vocabulary Guide (Practitioner Edition)

Audience: US attorneys, litigation support teams, e-discovery and records professionals

This guide explains the vocabulary additions used by the United States jurisdiction profile.

1. Inheritance

A us matter uses:

Related subset guides:

Use us when the matter is governed by US federal law or by a common-law state system and no more specific subdivision profile is needed.

Term	Meaning in Practice	Use When
`complaint`	Initial civil pleading.	The matter begins with a complaint or petition.
`answer`	Responsive pleading with defenses/counterclaims.	The responding party answers the complaint.
`summons`	Court-issued summons.	A summons is issued to compel response/appearance.
`rule26InitialDisclosure`	FRCP initial disclosure package.	US federal discovery requires Rule 26 disclosures.
`interrogatoryResponse`	Written responses to interrogatories.	Discovery involves interrogatories.
`requestForProduction`	Request for production or response.	Discovery involves document/ESI requests.
`requestForAdmission`	Request for admission or response.	Discovery involves admissions practice.
`rule30b6Deposition`	Organizational deposition topic examination.	FRCP 30(b)(6) practice applies.
`stipulation`	Party agreement filed or exchanged in writing.	A formal stipulation is used.
`protectiveOrder`	Discovery confidentiality order.	The court restricts discovery disclosure.
`indictment`	Grand-jury criminal charge.	Criminal case begins by indictment.
`informationCharge`	Prosecutor-filed criminal charge without grand jury.	Criminal case proceeds by information.
`pleaBargainAgreement`	Written plea agreement.	Criminal plea resolution is documented.
`sentencingMemorandum`	Sentencing advocacy memorandum.	Criminal sentencing submissions are filed.

Term	Meaning in Practice	Use When
`aeoAttorneysEyesOnly`	Outside counsel only.	Protective order excludes clients/in-house teams.
`aeoSourceCode`	Highly restricted source-code review tier.	Source-code review requires controlled inspection.
`controlledUnclassified`	Sensitive but unclassified government information.	Government-sensitive material is not formally classified.

Term	Meaning in Practice
`chapter7Bankruptcy`	Chapter 7 liquidation proceeding.
`chapter11Bankruptcy`	Chapter 11 reorganization proceeding.
`chapter13Bankruptcy`	Chapter 13 wage-earner adjustment.
`chapter15Bankruptcy`	Cross-border insolvency proceeding.
`classAction`	Rule 23 class action.
`multidistrictLitigation`	Federal MDL proceeding.
`quiTam`	False Claims Act relator action.
`section1983`	Civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
`socialSecurityAppeal`	Social Security review in federal court.
`federalHabeasCorpus`	Federal habeas proceeding.

Term	Meaning in Practice	Use When
`producedInDiscovery`	Produced in discovery.	The production event is specifically part of US discovery.
`lodgedWithCourt`	Lodged with court pending ruling or disposition.	Material is submitted but not treated as ordinary filing.
`filedUnderSeal`	Filed under seal.	Court filing is sealed from public access.
`clawback`	Returned after inadvertent privileged production.	FRE 502 / privilege clawback practice applies.

Term	Meaning in Practice	Use When
`attorneyClientPrivilege`	US attorney-client privilege doctrine.	The privilege basis is the classic US doctrine.
`workProductDoctrine`	US work-product doctrine.	The protected material was prepared for litigation.
`jointDefensePrivilege`	Shared defense communications protection.	Co-parties share privileged communications in a common defense.
`commonInterestPrivilege`	US common-interest doctrine.	Shared legal-interest communications need a US-specific label.

Term	Meaning in Practice
`foiaExemption1`	Classified defense/foreign-policy information.
`foiaExemption5`	Deliberative, attorney-client, or work-product style exemption.
`foiaExemption6`	Personal privacy exemption.
`foiaExemption7c`	Law-enforcement privacy exemption.
`grandJurySecret`	Grand jury secrecy protection.
`sealedIndictment`	Sealed indictment protection.
`taxReturnConfidentiality`	Tax return confidentiality.
`juvenileRecord`	Juvenile record confidentiality.

Prefer producedInDiscovery over generic produced when the event is specifically a discovery production.
Prefer attorneyClientPrivilege over legalProfessionalPrivilege when doctrinally precise US terminology is desired.
Prefer workProductDoctrine over neutral litigationPrivilege in ordinary US practice.