Role vs. Relation

Role sets out the role that an Entity plays in a matter regardless of its relation to your firm. Relation on the other hand, sets out the relation that an Entity has with your firm with respect to a specific matter.

Both Role and Relation are defined with respect to a specific Matter. In other words, it won't make sense to speak of Role and Relation outside of the context of a Matter. As an example, if we assign the relation "Client" to an Entity, that relation is with respect to a specific Matter, which means that the Entity is our Client in that Matter and not any other Matters. We could have the same Entity in another Matter and the relation in the latter Matter may be "None". A similar logic applies to Role. An Entity may have the Role "Purchaser" in one Matter and the Role "Seller" in another Matter.