legal workaround
Lawful alternative route
A legal workaround is a method of achieving a goal while technically staying within the law, often by exploiting loopholes or ambiguities that legislators didn't anticipate.
The term carries a slight whiff of gaming the system—the letter of the law is followed while its spirit may be violated: Tax attorneys specialize in legal workarounds that minimize what clients owe.
Distinguished from illegal activity, but not always from ethically questionable behavior.
- loopholeExploitable gap in rules
- letter of the lawExact statutory language
- exploitNotable act or abuse
- circumventAvoid by going around
- dodgeAvoid by quick movement
technicality · gray area · sidestep · evasion · compliance · clause · fine print · maneuver · backdoor · escape hatch · creative accounting · shell company · asset protection · offshore · tax shelter · tax avoidance · wiggle room · plausible deniability
legal workaroundillegal act
Conduct prohibited by law
breaking the law · crime · tax evasion · fraud · criminal conduct
legal, legally, legality, legalize, legalization, illegal, illegally, illegality, legalese