Test your basic knowledge |

Paralegal 101

Subject : law
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. A criminal proceeding at which the court informs the defendant of the charges being brought against him or her and the defendant enters a plea.






2. The law that sets the length of time from when something happens to when a lawsuit must be filed before the right to bring it is lost.






3. In a case brief - facts that relate to what happened procedurally in the lower courts or administrative agencies before the case reached the court issuing the opinion.






4. A computer program that allows the user to retrieve web documents that match the key words entered by the searcher.






5. A statute enacted to correct a defect in prior law or to provide a remedy where none existed.






6. Summary of one legal point in a court opinion; written by the editors at West.






7. A term used to describe two cases that are almost identical - with similar facts and legal issues.






8. Evidence that suggests the defendant's guilt.






9. A person appointed by the court to manage the affairs or property of a person who is incompetent due to age or some other reason.






10. The standard of proof most commonly used in civil trials. The evidence presented must prove that it is more likely than not the defendant committed the wrong.






11. A person who initiates a lawsuit.






12. In a case brief - the court's answer to the issue presented to it; the new legal principle established by a court opinion.






13. An ADR mechanism whereby the parties submit their disagreement to a third party - whose decision is binding.






14. Including more than one count in a complaint; the counts do not need to be consistent.






15. Information about the law - such as that contained in encyclopedias and law review articles.






16. In deductive reasoning - the statement of a broad proposition that forms the starting point; in law - the statement of a legal rule that you can find in a statute or court opinion.






17. An intentional act that creates a harmful or offensive physical contact.






18. Information that tells the reader the name of the case - where it can be located - the court that decided it - and the year it was decided. The Bluebook gives precise rules as to how case citations are to be written.






19. An opinion that disagrees with the majority's decision and reasoning.






20. The educated ability to apply law to specific facts.






21. A test that provides that the defendant is not guity due to insanity if - at the time of the killing the defendant could not control his or her actions.






22. A grand jury's written accusation that a given individual has committed a crime.






23. The final paragraph in a written legal analysis that summarizes the writer's conclusions.






24. The failure to act reasonably under the circumstances.






25. A privately published statutory code that includes editorial features - such as summaries of court opinions that have interpreted the statutes.






26. The new legal principle established by a court opinion.






27. A trial conducted without a jury.






28. Relates to the ability of a witness to testify; generally - the witness must be capable of being understood by the jury; must understand the duty to tell the truth; and if a lay witness - must give testimony based on personal knowledge.






29. Something of value exchanged to form the basis of a contract.






30. What the prosecution or plaintiff must be able to prove in order for the case to go to the jury-that is - the elements of the prosecution's case or the plaintiff's cause of action.






31. The general jurisdiction trial courts in the federal system.






32. An ADR mechanism whereby a neutral third party assists the parties in reaching a mutually agreeable - voluntary compromise.






33. Law that regulates how the legal system operates.






34. The purpose of the legislature at the time it enacted the statute.






35. An examination of a prospective juror to see if he or she is fit to serve as a juror on a specific case.






36. An authoritative secondary source - written by a group of legal scholars - summarizing the existing common law - as well as suggesting what the law should be.






37. An assumption that something that is not real is real-for example - saying that a corporation is a person for purposes of its being able to sue and be sued.






38. The process of signaling that you are really listening - accomplished by using verbal and nonverbal clues - paraphrasing - and reflecting the client's feelings.






39. Being informed of some act done or about to be done.






40. A determination that an attorney may not practice law for a set period of time.






41. Violation of a statute as proof of negligence






42. A contract that outlines the attorney's duties and the client's obligations regarding payment - on either an hourly or a contingency fee basis - as well as the client's responsibility reagarding costs and expenses.






43. When a judge formally recognizes something as being a fact without requiring the attorneys prove it through the introduction of other evidence.






44. Information that can be presented in a court of law as proof of some fact.






45. A trial court error that is not sufficient to warrant reversing the decision.






46. 'The thing speaks for itself'; the doctrine that suggest negligence can be presumed if an event happens that would not ordinarily happen unless someone was negligent.






47. A professional entity in which the stockholders share in the organization's profits but have their liabilities limited to the amount of their investment.






48. An opinion that agrees with the majority's result but disagrees with its reasoning.






49. A decision is reversed when an appellate court overturns or negates the decision of a lower court.






50. When a person must be brought into a lawsuit as either a plaintiff or a defendant.