1. A court’s complete and official record of a case (the associate went to the courthouse to verify that the motion is in the file).
2. A lawyer’s complete record of a case (the paralegal stored the file in three drawers in her office).
3. A portion or section of a lawyer’s case record ( the janitor found the correspondence file behind the copy machine).
4. A case (Jonah was assigned the Watson file after Amy left the firm).
file, vb.
1. To deliver a legal document to the court clerk or record custodian for placement into the official record (Tuesday is the deadline for filing a reply brief).
— Also termed (in BrE) lodge.
2. To commence a lawsuit (the seller threatened to file against the buyer).
3. To record or deposit something in an organized retention system or container for preservation and future reference (please file my notes under the heading “research”).
4. Parliamentary law. To acknowledge and deposit (a report, communication, or other document) for information and reference only without necessarily taking any substantive action.
