ATLAS/BRIEFINGLaw, organized for consequential decisions.

GLOSSARY

Glossary

Working definitions of the terms ATLAS briefs use most. Each entry links to the desk where the term does the most work.

  • IMM · Immigration Strategy & Status

    Priority date

    The date that fixes a person's place in an immigrant visa queue — normally the date the underlying petition (or, in labor-certification cases, the ETA filing) was properly filed.

  • IMM · Immigration Strategy & Status

    Retrogression

    The backward movement of a visa cut-off date in a monthly Visa Bulletin chart, which happens when demand in a category exceeds the supply of numbers for the fiscal year.

  • IMM · Immigration Strategy & Status

    Adjustment of status

    The process of applying for lawful permanent residence from inside the United States rather than at a consulate abroad.

  • IMM · Immigration Strategy & Status

    Consular processing

    Applying for an immigrant visa at a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad, ending with admission as a permanent resident at a port of entry.

  • IMM · Immigration Strategy & Status

    Inadmissibility

    A statutory ground that bars a person from being admitted to the United States or from receiving a visa or adjustment of status unless a waiver applies.

  • IMM · Immigration Strategy & Status

    Public charge

    An inadmissibility ground concerning whether a person is likely to become primarily dependent on the government for subsistence, assessed under a totality-of-the-circumstances test.

  • IMM · Immigration Strategy & Status

    Affidavit of support

    A legally enforceable contract, normally Form I-864, in which a sponsor promises to maintain an intending immigrant at a statutory percentage of the federal poverty guidelines.

  • IMM · Immigration Strategy & Status

    Joint sponsor

    A second qualifying sponsor who independently meets the income requirement and accepts the same support obligation when the petitioner cannot qualify alone.

  • IMM · Immigration Strategy & Status

    Request for Evidence (RFE)

    A USCIS notice identifying evidence missing from a filing and setting a deadline for a response before a decision is made.

  • IMM · Immigration Strategy & Status

    Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID)

    A USCIS notice stating that the agency intends to deny a case for stated reasons, giving the filer an opportunity to rebut before denial.

  • IMM · Immigration Strategy & Status

    Unlawful presence

    Time accrued in the United States after the expiration of an authorized stay or after entering without admission or parole; certain amounts trigger bars on return after departure.

  • IMM · Immigration Strategy & Status

    Qualifying relative

    The specific family member whose hardship a waiver applicant must prove; the category is defined by the particular waiver statute, not by who is most affected in fact.

  • IMM · Immigration Strategy & Status

    Extreme hardship

    The discretionary standard used in several immigration waivers, requiring hardship to a qualifying relative beyond the ordinary consequences of family separation.

  • IMM · Immigration Strategy & Status

    Law-enforcement certification

    A signed statement from a qualifying agency confirming a person's helpfulness in the detection, investigation, or prosecution of qualifying criminal activity, required for a U visa petition.

  • IMM · Immigration Strategy & Status

    Cancellation of removal

    A form of relief granted by an immigration judge that stops removal and, for nonpermanent residents, requires continuous presence, good moral character, no disqualifying convictions, and exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to a qualifying relative.

  • IMM · Immigration Strategy & Status

    Mandatory detention

    Statutory custody that applies to certain noncitizens based on specified criminal or security grounds, in which an immigration judge generally has no authority to set bond.

  • IMM · Immigration Strategy & Status

    Specialized knowledge

    For L-1B purposes, knowledge of a company's product, service, research, systems, or procedures that is distinct or advanced relative to others in the industry and the organization.

  • IMM · Immigration Strategy & Status

    Labor certification (PERM)

    A Department of Labor process in which an employer tests the U.S. labor market and certifies that no able, willing, qualified, and available U.S. worker exists for the offered position.

  • IMM · Immigration Strategy & Status

    Prevailing wage determination

    The wage level assigned by the Department of Labor for a specific occupation and area of intended employment, which anchors recruitment and the offered wage.

  • FIN · Financial Regulation & Digital Assets

    Regulation E

    The rule implementing the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, governing consumer rights, disclosures, and error-resolution duties for electronic transfers from consumer accounts.

  • FIN · Financial Regulation & Digital Assets

    Provisional credit

    A temporary credit to a consumer's account during an error investigation, required in defined circumstances when the investigation extends beyond the shorter statutory window.

  • FIN · Financial Regulation & Digital Assets

    Safeguards Rule

    The FTC rule under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act requiring covered financial institutions to maintain a written information security program with specified elements.

  • FIN · Financial Regulation & Digital Assets

    Nonpublic personal information

    Personally identifiable financial information a consumer provides to, or that results from a transaction with, a financial institution — the data category GLBA privacy rules protect.

  • FIN · Financial Regulation & Digital Assets

    Beneficial owner

    An individual who ultimately owns or controls an entity, identified under reporting regimes by defined ownership percentages or by substantial control.

  • FIN · Financial Regulation & Digital Assets

    ACH authorization

    The consumer's or business's permission for a debit or credit through the automated clearing house network, subject to network rules on form, retention, and revocation.

  • FIN · Financial Regulation & Digital Assets

    True lender

    The doctrine asking which party has the predominant economic interest in a loan, used to test whether a bank partner or the platform is the real lender for licensing and rate purposes.

  • CORP · Corporate Operations & Risk

    Advancement

    A company's obligation to pay a director's or officer's defense costs as they are incurred, before any final determination of whether indemnification is owed.

  • CORP · Corporate Operations & Risk

    Indemnification

    A contractual or charter-based promise to reimburse another party for defined losses, claims, or expenses.

  • CORP · Corporate Operations & Risk

    Materiality qualifier

    Contract language limiting a representation to matters of significance, narrowing the circumstances in which a statement counts as breached.

  • CORP · Corporate Operations & Risk

    Basket and cap

    Deal mechanics setting a threshold that indemnity claims must exceed before recovery and a ceiling on total recoverable amounts.

  • CORP · Corporate Operations & Risk

    Earnout

    Deferred purchase price contingent on the acquired business hitting defined post-closing metrics.

  • CORP · Corporate Operations & Risk

    Additional insured

    A party added to another's liability policy by endorsement, giving it rights under that policy for defined claims.

  • CORP · Corporate Operations & Risk

    Waiver of subrogation

    A provision preventing an insurer from pursuing a contracting party after paying its insured's claim.

  • LIT · Litigation & Dispute Resolution

    Litigation hold

    A directive suspending routine deletion and instructing custodians to preserve potentially relevant information once litigation is reasonably anticipated.

  • LIT · Litigation & Dispute Resolution

    Spoliation

    The loss, destruction, or alteration of evidence that a party had a duty to preserve, which can support curative measures or sanctions.

  • LIT · Litigation & Dispute Resolution

    Personal jurisdiction

    A court's authority over a particular defendant, based on that defendant's connections to the forum state or on consent.

  • LIT · Litigation & Dispute Resolution

    Venue

    The proper geographic district or county in which a case may be filed, distinct from whether the court has jurisdiction at all.

  • LIT · Litigation & Dispute Resolution

    Electronically stored information (ESI)

    Data in electronic form — mail, messages, files, databases, logs — that is discoverable in civil litigation.

  • LIT · Litigation & Dispute Resolution

    Proportionality

    The federal discovery standard balancing the needs of the case, the amount in controversy, access to information, and burden against likely benefit.

  • LIT · Litigation & Dispute Resolution

    Genuine dispute of material fact

    The summary-judgment standard: a factual disagreement that could affect the outcome and on which a reasonable factfinder could find either way.

  • LIT · Litigation & Dispute Resolution

    Arbitral award

    An arbitrator's binding decision, reviewable by courts only on narrow statutory grounds rather than for ordinary legal error.

  • EMP · Employment & Workforce

    Mass layoff

    A defined reduction in force that, at specified headcount thresholds and at a single site of employment, can trigger advance-notice obligations.

  • EMP · Employment & Workforce

    Adverse action

    An employment decision based in whole or part on a consumer report, which triggers a pre-adverse-action notice and a later final notice under the FCRA.

  • EMP · Employment & Workforce

    Free and clear payment

    The federal wage principle that required minimum wage and overtime must reach the employee unconditionally, limiting deductions that cut into those amounts.

  • FAM · Family Transitions

    Status quo order

    An interim family-court order preserving existing financial and living arrangements while a case is pending.

  • FAM · Family Transitions

    Guardian ad litem

    A person appointed to represent a child's interests in a court proceeding; the exact role and reporting duties vary by state.

  • FAM · Family Transitions

    Best interests of the child

    The governing standard in custody decisions, applied through statutory factor lists that differ from state to state.

  • PROP · Property & Development

    Title exception

    A matter listed in a title policy that the insurer does not cover, such as recorded easements or survey conditions.

  • PROP · Property & Development

    Prescriptive easement

    A use right acquired through long, open, and continuous use of another's land without permission, on terms set by state law.

  • PROP · Property & Development

    Estoppel certificate

    A tenant's signed statement confirming lease terms, rent status, and claimed defaults, relied on by buyers and lenders.

  • PROP · Property & Development

    Constructive change

    Conduct that effectively directs extra or different work without a formal written change order, potentially entitling the contractor to added time or money.

  • PRIV · Privacy, Cyber & AI

    Privileged investigation

    A forensic investigation structured under counsel's direction so that its communications and work product may qualify for attorney-client privilege or work-product protection.

  • PRIV · Privacy, Cyber & AI

    Biometric identifier

    A measurement of a person's physiological characteristics — such as a fingerprint, voiceprint, or scan of face or hand geometry — regulated by several state statutes.

  • PRIV · Privacy, Cyber & AI

    Training-data clause

    A contract term controlling whether a vendor may use customer inputs or outputs to train or improve its models.

  • IP · Intellectual Property & Media

    Exclusive license

    A grant under which the licensor promises not to license the same rights to others, and often not to exploit them itself, within a defined field, territory, and term.

  • IP · Intellectual Property & Media

    Right of publicity

    A state-law right controlling commercial use of a person's name, image, voice, or other identifying attributes.

  • IP · Intellectual Property & Media

    Counter-notice

    A statutory response to a copyright takedown asserting mistake or misidentification, which can lead to restoration of the material after a waiting period.

  • EST · Estate, Tax & Succession

    Buy-sell agreement

    An owners' contract setting when interests must or may be bought, who buys, how price is determined, and how the purchase is funded.

  • EST · Estate, Tax & Succession

    Duty of loyalty

    A fiduciary's obligation to administer property solely in the beneficiaries' interest, avoiding self-dealing and conflicts.

  • EST · Estate, Tax & Succession

    Fiduciary accounting

    A formal statement of receipts, disbursements, and distributions that a fiduciary provides to beneficiaries or files with a court.

  • CRIM · Consumer & Criminal Procedure

    Identity theft report

    A report of identity theft filed with a federal or law-enforcement agency that unlocks specific consumer rights, including blocking fraudulent information on a credit file.

  • CRIM · Consumer & Criminal Procedure

    Security freeze

    A restriction placed on a credit file that blocks most new-credit access until the consumer lifts it.

  • CRIM · Consumer & Criminal Procedure

    Collateral consequence

    A legal disability or penalty flowing from a conviction that is not part of the sentence itself, such as licensing, housing, firearm, or immigration effects.