disclosure

Definition

The act of revealing previously confidential information, whether legally required or strategically chosen. In corporate and legal contexts, disclosure rules govern what must be shared with investors, regulators, or opposing counsel. It's transparency, but only after lawyers have thoroughly reviewed what transparency actually means.

Example Usage

The company made a full disclosure of its financial difficulties in the quarterly report.

Source: Legal and regulatory terminology

Related Terms

Intermediate

equitable relief

A court remedy that doesn't involve money damages, such as injunctions, specific performance, or rescission. It's what you seek when throwing money at the problem won't fix it, and you need the court to actually make someone do (or stop doing) something.

⚖️ Legal

Intermediate

mitigation

The art of making bad things less bad in legal contexts—reducing damages, softening penalties, or presenting evidence that explains why the defendant deserves leniency. It's what defense attorneys do during sentencing when they can't argue innocence anymore but can at least argue for mercy. Think of it as damage control for people who've already lost the main argument.

⚖️ Legal

Intermediate

privileged

Having special rights, immunities, or advantages that others don't enjoy, often by accident of birth or circumstance. In legal contexts, it refers to confidential communications protected from disclosure, like attorney-client conversations. Also describes that one coworker who somehow gets away with arriving late every day while the rest of us punch the clock.

⚖️ Legal

Advanced

freedom vendor

A delightfully cynical term for attorneys, acknowledging that the justice system operates more like a capitalist marketplace than blind equality. These licensed dealers in liberty sell your constitutional rights back to you at hourly rates that would make a surgeon blush. The quality of your freedom is directly proportional to the thickness of your wallet.

⚖️ Legal

Beginner

Retainer

A large sum of money you pay a lawyer upfront for the privilege of having them answer your phone calls, kind of like a subscription service for legal advice except Netflix never charged $500 an hour for buffering. Your lawyer's version of a security deposit.

⚖️ Legal

Intermediate

Plea Bargain

A deal where you agree to plead guilty to a lesser charge so everyone can go home early, which is basically the legal version of settling for the lunch special because the full menu takes too long.

⚖️ Legal

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