Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

Attorney malpractice.

see legal malpractice under malpractice.

Malpractice

An instance of negligence or incompetence on the part of a professional. ( To succeed in a malpractice claim, a plaintiff must also prove proximate cause and damages. - Also termed professional negligence.

Practice

n. 1. The procedural methods and rules used in a court of law <local practice requires that an extra copy of each motion be filed with the clerk>. 2. PRACTICE OF LAW <where is your practice?>.

Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure

A group of judges, lawyers, and legal scholars appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States to advise the Judicial Conference of the United States on possible amendments to the procedural rules in the various federal courts and on other issues relating to the operation of the federal courts. 28 USCA § 331. "[Under 28 USCA § 331], the Judicial Conference of the United States has created a Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure and has authorized the appointment from time to time of various advisory committees. These committees make recommendations regarding amendments of the rules to the Judicial Conference, which in turn transmits those recommendations it approves to the Supreme Court. Under this new plan, as under the machinery in effect from 1934 to 1956, the Court retains the ultimate responsibility for the adoption of amendments to the rules." 4 Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1007, at 35 (2d ed. 1987).

Uniform Customs and Practice for Commercial Documentary Credits

A publication of the International Chamber of Commerce that codifies widespread customs of bankers and merchants relating to the mechanics and operation of letters of credit. 0 Courts look to this publication to supplement and help interpret primary sources of credit law, such as UCC Article 5. - Abbr. UCP.

Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act

A type of Baby FTC Act that provides monetary and injunctive relief for a variety of unfair and deceptive acts, such as false advertising and disparagement. See BABY FTC ACT.

actual reduction to practice

The use of an idea or invention - as by testing it - to establish that the idea or invention will perform its intended purpose. Brunswick Corp. v. United States, 34 Fed. Cl. 532 (1995).

charge and discharge. Equity practice. Court ordered account filings by a plaintiff and a defendant. ( The plaintiff's account (charge) and the defendant's response (discharge) were filed with a maste

constructive reduction to practice

Filing a patent application on an invention or design. Brunswick Corp. v. United States, 34 Fed. Cl. 532 (1995).

corrupt-practices act

A federal or state statute that regulates campaign contributions and expenditures as well as their disclosure. "Corruption of blood is, when any one is attainted of felony or treason, then his blood is said to be corrupt; by means whereof neither his children, nor any of his blood, can be heirs to him, or to any other ancestor, for that they ought to claim by him. And if he were a noble or gentleman before, he and all his children are made thereby ignoble and ungentle . . . ." Termes de la Ley 125 (1st Am. ed. 1812).

deceptive sales practice

See DECEPTIVE ACT

employment practices liability insurance.

Insurance that provides coverage forclaims arising from an insured's injury-causing employment practice, such as discrimination, defamation, or sexual harassment. -Abbr. EPL insurance.

employment-practices-liability insurance.

See INSURANCE.

employment-related-practices exclusion

A provision in some commercial general liability policies, excluding coverage for damages arising from an insured's employment practices, including any policy, action, or omission - such as coercion, demotion, evaluation, reassignment, discipline, defamation, harassment, humiliation, or discrimination -that is directed at the person injured.

law practice

An attorney's professional business, including the relationships that the attorney has with clients and the goodwill associated with those relationships. Cf PRACTICE OF LAW.

legal malpractice

A lawyer's failure to render professional services with the skill, prudence, and diligence that an ordinary and reasonable lawyer would use under similar circumstances. - Also termed attorney malpractice.

legal practice

See PRACTICE OF LAW.

malpractice insurance

See INSURANCE.

medical malpractice

A doctor's failure to exercise the degree of care and skill that a physician or surgeon of the same medical specialty would use under similar circumstances. - Often shortened to med. mal.

office practice.

A law practice that primarily involves handling matters outside of court, such as negotiating and drafting contracts, preparing wills and trusts, setting up corporations and partnerships, and advising on tax or employment issues.

practice act

A statute governing practice and procedure in courts. ( Practice acts are usu. supplemented with court rules such as the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

practice book

A volume devoted to the procedures in a particular court or category of courts, usu. including court rules, court forms, and practice directions.

practice court

1 MOOT COURT. 2. (cap.) BAIL COURT.

practice of law

The professional work of a duly licensed lawyer, encompassing a broad range of services such as conducting cases in court, preparing papers necessary to bring about various transactions from conveying land to effecting corporate mergers, preparing legal opinions on various points of law, drafting wills and other estate-planning documents, and advising clients on countless types of legal ques-tions. ( The term also includes activities that comparatively few lawyers engage in but that require legal expertise, such as drafting legislation and court rules. - Also termed legal practice. Cf. LAW PRACTICE.

reduction to practice

Patents. The physical act of producing the desired results by means conceived by an inventor; the physical construction of an inventor's conception into actual working form. ( The date of reduction to practice is critical in determining priority between inventors competing for a patent on the same invention. See INVENTION.

sharp practice

Unethical action and trickery, esp. by a lawyer. - Also termed (archaically) unhandsome dealing. - sharp practitioner, n.

third-party practice

See IMPLEADER.

unauthorized practice of law

The practice of law by a person, typically a nonlawyer, who has not been licensed or admitted to practice law in a given jurisdiction. - Abbr. UPL. "The definitions and tests employed by courts to delin-, eate unauthorized practice by non-lawyers have been vague or conclusory, while jurisdictions have differed significantly in describing what constitutes unauthorized practice in particular areas. "Certain activities, such as the representation of another person in litigation, are generally proscribed. Even in that area, many jurisdictions recognize exceptions for such matters as small-claims and landlord-tenant tribunals and certain proceedings in administrative agencies. Moreover, many jurisdictions have authorized law students and others not locally admitted to represent indigent persons or others as part of clinical legal education programs. "Controversy has surrounded many out-of-court activities such as advising on estate planning by bank trust officers, advising on estate planning by insurance agents, stock brokers, or benefit-plan and similar consultants, filling out or providing guidance on forms for property transactions by real estate agents, title companies, and closing-service companies, and selling books or individual forms containing instructions on self-help legal services accompanied by personal, non-lawyer assistance on filling them out in connection with legal procedures such as obtaining a marriage dissolution. The position of bar associations has traditionally been that non-lawyer provisions of such services denies the person served the benefit of such legal measures as the attorney-client privilege, the benefits of such extraordinary duties as that of confidentiality of client information and the protection against conflicts of interest, and the protection of such measures as those regulating lawyer trust accounts and requiring lawyers to supervise non-lawyer personnel. Several jurisdictions recognize that many such services can be provided by non-lawyers without significant risk of incompetent service, that actual experience in several states with extensive non-lawyer provision of traditional legal services indicates no significant risk of harm to consumers of such services, that persons in need of legal services may be significantly aided in obtaining assistance at a much lower price than would be entailed by segregating out a portion of a transaction to be handled by a lawyer for a fee, and that many persons can ill afford, and most persons are at least inconvenienced by, the typically higher cost of lawyer services." Restatement (Third) of the Law Governing Lawyers § 4 curt. c (1998).

unfair labor practice

Any conduct prohibited by state or federal law governing the relations among employers, employees, and labor organizations. ( Examples of unfair labor practices by an employer include (1) interfering with protected employee rights, such as the right to self-organization, (2) discriminating against employees for union-related activities, (3) retaliating against employees who have invoked their rights, and (4) refusing to engage in collective bargaining. Examples of unfair labor practices by a labor organization include causing an employer to discriminate against an employee, engaging in an illegal strike or boycott, causing an employer to pay for work not to be performed (i.e., featherbedding), and refusing to engage in collective bargaining. 29 USCA §§ 151-169.