Although these terms might appear to be related, minutas should not be confused with “minutes.” When “minutes” refers to a document in which proceedings are formally recorded, it is appropriately rendered as acta. In this sense the term is used in expressions such as “minutes of the meeting” (acta de la reunion); “minutes of the annual shareholders’ meeting” (acta de la junta general); “minute(s) book” (libro de actas) or “to take the minutes of the meeting” (levantar acta de la reunión).

In contrast, in Spanish minuta has several legal meanings that are totally unrelated to “minutes.” For example, minuta often refers to a “proposal” or “draft” document, being a synonym of borrador. In the expression minuta del acta de la sesión pendiente de aprobación the term minuta has the meaning of “draft” or “proposal” and denotes the “draft minutes of the meeting pending approval.” Similarly, the attorney for a client who wishes to have a contract or other document recorded in a notarial instrument (escritura) often prepares a minuta para el notario stating all of the basic facts that the notary should include in the document. The notary then uses that minuta (“draft” or “proposal”) to prepare the escritura to be signed by the parties to the transaction. Thus, an expression such as queda redactada la presente escritura conforme a minuta indicates that the notarial instrument was “drawn up in accordance with the draft document” submitted by the notary’s client.

Likewise, in Spain certain court orders are often drafted by the court clerk (formerly, secretario judicial and now known as letrado de la administración de justicia—LAJ) to be approved and signed by the judge. These “draft court orders” or propuestas de resolución are also known as minutas.

And in other respects, minuta may also be a synonym of factura, denoting an itemized “invoice” or “bill.” Thus, for example, a minuta del abogado (a lawyer’s itemized bill for services rendered) may include honorarios (“attorney’s fees” or “legal fees”), suplidos (“disbursements”), aranceles (“fees”) and impuestos (“taxes”). In this context minutación is “billing”, which can include minutación por horas (“billing by the hour”) or minutación por gestión o asunto (often termed in English“flat fee billing”). In this context minuta has sometimes been mistranslated as “legal fees” or “attorney’s fees.” But as underscored above, minuta actually refers to the lawyer’s invoice or bill, which will certainly include, among other charges, his “legal fees” or “attorney’s fees” (called honorarios in Spain).