Umbrella Term Law and Legal Definition
An umbrella term is a term used to cover a group of concepts that all fall under a specific item. Umbrella term is also called a hypernym. Mostly, umbrella terms are more marketing oriented than technical. For example, in law the term "remuneration" is an umbrella term which encompasses any sort of exchange for value.. Likewise, sports law is an umbrella term used to describe the legal issues at work in the world of both amateur and professional sports.
“Misappropriation is the umbrella term under which the different ways of misusing client funds are grouped. Black's Law Dictionary defines it as the unauthorized, improper, or unlawful use of funds or other property for purposes other than that for which intended including not only stealing but also unauthorized temporary use for the lawyer's own purpose, whether or not he derives any gain or benefit therefrom. It thus includes defalcation, defined in Black's as misappropriation of trust funds or money held in any fiduciary capacity, and failure to properly account for such funds, and conversion, which is any unauthorized act which deprives an owner of his property permanently or for an indefinite time.”[ In re Lunt, 255 Kan. 529 (Kan. 1994)].
