Law firm terms in Qatar

Putting off the hearing of a case to a later session; the reason is usually stated in the decision, such as submitting documents, serving notice on an opponent, or reviewing and replying.

In Murafe: When a decision to adjourn is recorded, the date, time and requirements of the next hearing are set; the hearing is created automatically and appears on its day’s roll.

See also: Hearing decision, Hearing (court session)

Writing an amount out in words alongside the figures in financial documents, to prevent confusion or alteration.

In Murafe: When vouchers are printed, the amount is written out automatically in Arabic words, in Qatari riyals, and the fee appears in figures and in words in the printed fee agreement.

See also: Receipt voucher, Payment voucher

A means of challenge by which a judgment given at first instance is put before an appellate court or circuit, which examines the dispute again on both the facts and the law.

In Murafe: The appeal file is opened from the case file with the “Open appeal / cassation / execution” command, and the client, the subject, the opponents and the case team are copied into it.

See also: Litigation degree (instance), Cassation (appeal in cassation), Challenge (appeal against a judgment)

The periods the law sets for challenging a judgment; they differ with the judgment’s degree and the type of case, so they need careful follow-up.

In Murafe: The system proposes the last day to appeal from the periods set under Settings → Appeal periods; these are values the office’s lawyers review and adjust, and legal responsibility for deadlines stays with the office.

See also: Challenge (appeal against a judgment), Judgment

What a party submits to the court or the competent authority to have a particular step taken, such as a stay of execution, a travel ban or a precautionary attachment.

In Murafe: The application is recorded with its type, the body it was submitted to, its number, its filing date and the person following it up, then updated with its decision: granted, partly granted or rejected.

See also: Order on petition (ex parte order), Executory formula (writ of execution)

A way of resolving a dispute in which the parties agree to put it to an arbitrator or an arbitral tribunal instead of the courts; it ends with an arbitral award.

In Murafe: “Arbitration and settlement” is a degree of its own, and the bodies preset for it include the “Qatar International Center for Conciliation and Arbitration”.

See also: Litigation degree (instance), Dispute settlement committee

The person responsible for the work on the file, such as the lawyer on a case or the adviser on a consultation.

In Murafe: The assignee appears on the file’s page and in the lists, which can be filtered by assignee, and the “Intake officer and assignee” report shows how many files were assigned to each employee during the period.

See also: Intake officer (file receiver), Case team

A record of the operations carried out on data, showing who carried them out and when, kept for review when needed.

In Murafe: Additions, edits, deletions, sign-ins, and the viewing, downloading and printing of documents are recorded, with the user’s name, the time and the device.

See also: Permissions, Backup

Keeping a copy of data and files in another place, so they can be restored if they are damaged or lost.

In Murafe: The office’s database and uploaded files are backed up every day, and a copy can be made on demand before any major change.

See also: Audit log (audit trail)

The members of the office assigned to work on a particular file alongside the person responsible for it.

In Murafe: The case team is set in the case file, so it receives the alerts for the case’s hearings and appeal deadlines and the client’s messages about the case, and an internal chat group can be created for it.

See also: Assignee (responsible lawyer), Confidential case

The last stage of challenge against judgments, heard by the Court of Cassation; it is concerned mainly with whether the law was applied correctly in the judgment challenged.

In Murafe: A cassation case has its own file, linked to the appeal and first-instance files of the same dispute, so the figures for each degree stay accurate in the statistics.

See also: Appeal, Litigation degree (instance)

The means the law provides for having a judgment reviewed and asking for it to be set aside or amended, such as appeal and cassation; each has its own conditions and time limits.

In Murafe: When a judgment is challenged, the “Judgment appealed” option is ticked, and the next degree’s file is opened from the case file in one click.

See also: Appeal, Cassation (appeal in cassation), Appeal periods (time limits for appeal)

A judicial panel within a court that hears a particular type of case, such as the civil or administrative circuits.

In Murafe: The circuit is set with the court in the case file, and it carries over automatically to the delegation letter, along with the courtroom and the date of the next hearing.

See also: Competent court, Delegation letter (letter of substitution)

The person or body that entrusts a lawyer with representing them in a case or carrying out legal work for them.

In Murafe: Every client has one file with an automatically generated number, bringing together their cases, services, consultations, agreements, powers of attorney, documents and financial balance.

See also: Opponent (opposing party), Power of attorney (POA), Client portal

An online space the client signs in to with a username and password, to follow the office’s work on their own matters.

In Murafe: For each client, the office sets what appears in the portal: hearings, documents of the permitted types, the financial account and services; the client also writes to the office from it.

See also: Client, Statement of account

The registration of a trader or a company with the competent authority, under a number that identifies it in its dealings.

In Murafe: The commercial registration number and the contact person are recorded in the file of a client of the “Company / establishment” type; a missing number is flagged among the incomplete details, and the number is used to detect duplicate files.

See also: Client, Qatar ID (QID)

The court the law gives jurisdiction to hear the dispute, according to its type, its value or its place.

In Murafe: The competent court is chosen in the case file from the preset names of the Qatari courts, and the system administrator adds any new body under Settings → Lists.

See also: Circuit (chamber), Dispute settlement committee

A request by the injured party, or whoever represents them, to the competent authority to take legal action over an act committed against them.

In Murafe: The complaint is recorded with the client, their capacity and the party complained against, and on referral to court it is linked to the file of the case that arises from it.

See also: Criminal report, Public Prosecution

A file the office restricts to a small number of its members, because of the sensitivity of its subject or its parties.

In Murafe: A confidential case is visible only to its team and to those with the “View confidential cases” permission, and inside it any document can be restricted to named people.

See also: Permissions, Case team

The fees the court sets for a lawyer it appoints to conduct the defence in a case; the client is not asked to pay them.

In Murafe: The case is given the assignment type “Court appointment”, and the fees set and the date they are paid are recorded; the “Court-appointment fees” page shows what has been paid and what has not, and the cases whose fees have not yet been set.

See also: Fee agreement (engagement letter), Statement of account

Informing the competent authority, such as the police or the Public Prosecution, that an act amounting to a crime has taken place; it may be made by the injured party or by anyone else who knows of it.

In Murafe: The report is recorded under “Reports and complaints” with the police station, the competent prosecution office and the reference number, and its status is followed from “Filed” to referral to court or shelving.

See also: Complaint, Public Prosecution

A paper by which a lawyer delegates a colleague to attend a hearing or take a step in the proceedings on their behalf, stating the details of the case and of the hearing.

In Murafe: The letter is filled from the case file with the court, the circuit, the courtroom, the date of the next hearing, the parties, the previous hearing’s decision and the number of the power of attorney in force, then printed on the office’s form.

See also: Power of attorney (POA), Hearing (court session), Hearing roll (cause list)

A committee with judicial jurisdiction that is given a particular type of dispute to decide, such as labour or rental disputes.

In Murafe: The committees come preset with their names, such as the “Labour Disputes Settlement Committee” and the “Rental Disputes Settlement Committee”, and they have a category of their own among the appeal periods.

See also: Competent court, Arbitration

A paper signed by the person receiving documents, confirming which documents were handed over and on what date, such as a client handing papers to the office or taking them back.

In Murafe: The acknowledgement is filled from the client or case file with a sequential form number, and its signed, scanned copy is attached on its page.

See also: Office forms (official forms), Intake officer (file receiver)

The stage in which what a judgment decided, or what another enforceable instrument provides, is obtained, by compulsion if it is not complied with voluntarily.

In Murafe: Execution is a degree of its own: its file is opened from the case file once the executory formula has been obtained, and the “Execution Court” is chosen in it from the lists.

See also: Executory formula (writ of execution), Objection to execution (execution dispute), Litigation degree (instance)

The official wording appended to a copy of the judgment or instrument, which makes it enforceable by compulsion.

In Murafe: Once it has been obtained, its option is ticked on the judgment and an “Execution” file is opened from the case file; “Executory formula” is also one of the application types, so the request for it can be followed until its decision.

See also: Execution (enforcement of judgments), Judgment, Application (motion)

An internal request by an employee for an amount needed for work on a file, such as fees and procedural costs, before it is actually paid out.

In Murafe: The request goes through the finance department’s approval and then senior management’s sign-off; the accountant then issues the payment voucher from its page, and the request is recorded as carried out.

See also: Payment voucher, Office forms (official forms)

A written agreement between the lawyer and the client setting out the work required, the amount of the fee and how it is to be paid.

In Murafe: The agreement is written with the total fee, its instalments and their due dates, linked to cases or services, and printed in the office’s own wording from the “Fee agreement template”.

See also: Fee instalment, Receipt voucher, Statement of account

A part of the agreed fee that falls due on a set date, when the fee is paid in stages.

In Murafe: Overdue instalments and those due within 7 or 30 days are shown on the “Fee instalments” page, with a list of all instalments and their statuses.

See also: Fee agreement (engagement letter), Receipt voucher

A judgment that can no longer be challenged by the ordinary means of appeal; it is called irrevocable when it can no longer be challenged by any means at all.

In Murafe: Once “Final / irrevocable judgment” is ticked on a judgment, the appeal-deadline alerts on it stop.

See also: Judgment, Challenge (appeal against a judgment)

An objection by the person concerned to an order or decision, asking for it to be revoked or amended, such as a grievance against an order on petition.

In Murafe: The grievance is recorded as a case of the type “Grievance”, with who filed it and the order challenged; the two files are linked automatically, and the grievance-deadline alerts on the order stop.

See also: Order on petition (ex parte order)

The appointed time at which the court or competent body sits to hear the case, attended by the parties or their representatives; it ends with a decision setting what comes next.

In Murafe: A hearing is added from the case file with its date, time, type, the attending lawyer and what it requires, and the responsible lawyer and the case team are alerted before it.

See also: Hearing decision, Hearing roll (cause list), Adjournment

What the court decides at the end of a hearing, such as adjourning the case for a stated reason, reserving it for judgment, or directing one of the parties to take a step or submit a document.

In Murafe: The decision is written as text or with ready phrases such as “Adjourned for documents”; when it is saved, the next hearing is created automatically, and the client can be told what happened by WhatsApp or email.

See also: Hearing (court session), Adjournment, Reserved for judgment

The list of cases set down to be heard on a given day before a court or circuit. In law offices, it also means the day’s schedule of hearings handed out to the lawyers and court representatives.

In Murafe: The daily hearing roll is shown sorted by court and time, and it is printed or saved as a PDF with the names of all the clients on each file.

See also: Hearing (court session), Delegation letter (letter of substitution)

In the organisation of law offices: the employee who received the client’s papers and opened the file, who may not be the lawyer who handles the work on it.

In Murafe: On every case, report, service and consultation, the intake officer is set automatically to whoever created the file and can be changed; the file stays visible to them even when it is assigned to someone else.

See also: Assignee (responsible lawyer), Document handover acknowledgement

The decision by which the court settles the whole dispute or part of it; it contains an operative part stating what the court decided, and the reasons on which it rests.

In Murafe: The judgment is recorded under the “Judgments” tab with its date, degree, type (definitive, preliminary, in absentia or summary), outcome, operative part and the amount awarded.

See also: Challenge (appeal against a judgment), Final judgment, Appeal periods (time limits for appeal)

The means by which the holder of a right turns to the courts to protect it or to have a dispute decided. In law offices, the word is also used for the file of a dispute before the court, with all its papers.

In Murafe: The case file brings together the clients and the opponents with their capacities, the court, the circuit, the case number and year, along with the hearings, judgments, applications, memoranda and documents.

See also: Statement of claim, Hearing (court session), Opponent (opposing party)

A legal opinion given by a lawyer or legal adviser on a question put by the person asking, orally or in writing; it may not be followed by any dispute before the courts.

In Murafe: A consultation is recorded with its category, channel, adviser, question, legal opinion, duration and fee, even when the person asking is not a client, and consultations are counted by month, category and adviser.

See also: Legal service (non-litigation matter), Client

Legal work that is not a case before a court, such as drafting contracts, incorporating companies, sending legal notices and registering trademarks.

In Murafe: A service is recorded with its type, the client, the responsible lawyer, the competent authority, the expected completion date and its fee, and its status is followed until “Completed”.

See also: Legal consultation, Fee agreement (engagement letter)

The stage at which a dispute is heard by the courts: it begins before a court of first instance, whose judgment may be challenged on appeal and then in cassation.

In Murafe: Every case is classed under one of five degrees (first instance, appeal, cassation, execution, arbitration and settlement), and each degree has a separate file linked to the files of the other degrees of the same dispute.

See also: Appeal, Cassation (appeal in cassation), Execution (enforcement of judgments)

A written document that a party or their representative submits to the court, setting out their defence, requests and supporting grounds.

In Murafe: A memorandum moves through “Being drafted”, then “Under review”, then “Ready to file”, then “Filed”, with an alert to the assigned lawyer and the reviewer as the filing date approaches.

See also: Statement of claim, Reserved for judgment

A dispute about the execution proceedings or about the instrument being enforced, brought before the competent judge, who may be asked to stay execution temporarily or to let it continue.

In Murafe: The objection is recorded as a case with the matter type “Objection” at the “Execution” degree, then linked to the execution file with the link type “Objection to execution”, so the two files show as linked.

See also: Execution (enforcement of judgments), Executory formula (writ of execution)

The standard forms an office adopts to document its requests and internal procedures in one consistent format, usually printed on its own paper.

In Murafe: Four official forms are filled from the file’s data: the service request form, the expense request form, the legal consultation form and the document handover acknowledgement, each with a sequential number.

See also: Expense request, Document handover acknowledgement

The other party to the dispute or legal proceeding, facing the client; it may be an individual, a company or a public body.

In Murafe: Opponents have a register of their own, with their capacity in each case; it is searched by ID or commercial registration number, and duplicates are detected and merged.

See also: Client, Lawsuit (case)

A provisional order the competent judge issues on a request submitted by petition, in the absence of the other party and without a hearing.

In Murafe: It is recorded with the matter type “Order on petition” and a “Last day for grievance”, which appears on the dashboard and in the agenda, and the lawyer and their team are alerted seven days and again two days before it.

See also: Grievance (objection), Application (motion)

A document proving that the office paid out an amount, with the reason for it, whether for an expense on a client’s file or for the office’s own expenses.

In Murafe: The voucher is linked to the case or service and marked “Charged to the client” where that applies, so it appears in the client’s statement of account; a voucher not linked to a client, case or service counts as an office expense.

See also: Receipt voucher, Expense request, Statement of account

The authorisations that determine what each user can see or do in the system.

In Murafe: Each section has view, add, edit, delete and print permissions, and a single employee can be given a permission or denied one without changing their role.

See also: Role, Audit log (audit trail), Confidential case

An instrument by which the client authorises a lawyer or another person to represent them and act on their behalf, within the limits it sets out.

In Murafe: The power of attorney is recorded with its number, type, dates of issue and expiry, issuing authority and agents, and the system alerts the office team before it expires, by the period set in the settings.

See also: Delegation letter (letter of substitution), Client

The judicial authority that investigates crimes and brings and pursues criminal proceedings before the courts.

In Murafe: In criminal cases, the competent prosecution office and its case number are recorded, and the prosecution offices come preset with their names, such as the “Capital Plenary Prosecution” and the “Cybercrime Prosecution”.

See also: Criminal report, Complaint

The official identity card issued to citizens and residents of Qatar; it carries a number and an expiry date, and its number is asked for in many transactions.

In Murafe: The ID number and expiry date are recorded in an individual client’s file; the office team is alerted before it expires (30 days before, by default), and the date appears in the agenda.

See also: Client, Commercial registration (CR)

A document proving that an amount was received from the client or someone else, stating the amount in figures and in words, what it is for, and how it was paid.

In Murafe: The voucher is issued on the office’s letterhead with the amount written out in words in Qatari riyals; once issued it is never deleted, only cancelled with a reason, and it stays visible, stamped “Cancelled”.

See also: Payment voucher, Amount in words (tafqeet), Fee instalment

The court’s decision to close the pleadings in a case and set a session for delivering judgment; in the meantime it may allow memoranda to be submitted.

In Murafe: “Case reserved for judgment” is one of the ready phrases for recording a hearing decision, and “Reserved for judgment” is one of the case statuses counted in the statistics.

See also: Hearing decision, Judgment, Memorandum (legal brief)

A set of permissions given to a group of users according to the nature of their work, such as lawyers, accountants or secretaries.

In Murafe: The office creates its roles and sets the permissions of each section in them; any change to a role applies to everyone who holds it, while each employee’s own exceptions remain in place.

See also: Permissions

A statement of a party’s financial transactions over a period: it starts with an opening balance, shows the debit and credit amounts, and ends with a closing balance.

In Murafe: The client’s statement shows the opening balance, the debit and credit transactions, the closing balance and a summary of agreements for any period, and the client can see it in the portal if the office allows.

See also: Fee agreement (engagement letter), Client portal

The written document by which a case is brought before the court; it usually sets out the parties’ details, the facts of the dispute and the claimant’s requests.

In Murafe: The drafting of statements of claim is followed with the memoranda, from preparation to filing, and a client can be allowed to see the “Statements of claim” type among their documents in the client portal.

See also: Lawsuit (case), Memorandum (legal brief)