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 decision is overruled when a court in a later case changes the law that the decision in the earlier case is no longer good law.






2. A nonlawyer who provides legal services directly to the public without being under the supervision of an attorney. Absent a statute allowing this activity - it constitutes the unauthorized practice of law.






3. Generally - an emergency situation that allows a search to proceed without a warrant.






4. The tort theory that an employer can be sued for the negligent acts of its employees.






5. Information about what happened procedurally to the litigation after the case cited. Include this information in a citation. There is no entry for the topic Husband and Wife.






6. Consists of the description of events that a witness testifies to under oath in a legal proceeding.






7. A tort committed by one who intends to do the act that creates the harm.






8. An affidavit signed by the client indicating that he or she has read the complaint and that its contents are correct.






9. A rule of evidence that prevents an attorney or a paralegal from being compelled to testify about confidential client information.






10. The rules whereby all members of a law firm are treated as though they had represented the former client.






11. A defense whereby the defendant offers new evidence to avoid judgment.






12. A form in which statutes are published; they are printed individually at the time they are first enacted.






13. The power of the federal courts to hear matters of state law if the opposing parties are from different states and the amounts in controversy exceeds $75 -000.00






14. Liability without a showing of fault.






15. Affiliated with the federal government's Legal Services Corporation - these offices serve those who would otherwise be unable to afford legal assistance.






16. The transfer of a case from one state court to a federal court.






17. The background documents created during the process of a bill becoming a statute. These documents can include alternative versions of the legislation - proceedings of committee hearings and reports - and transcripts of floor debates.






18. Violation of a statute as proof of negligence






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






20. A transfer of real property rights that occurs after someone other than the owner has had actual - open - adverse - and exclusive use of the property for a statutorily determined number of years.






21. Voluntarily and knowingly subjecting oneself to danger.






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






23. In a complaint - one cause of action.






24. A bank account used to hold money belonging to the client or to a third party.






25. Defendant's reply to the complaint. It may contain statements of denial - admission - or lack of knowledge and affirmative defenses.






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






27. The requirement in a legal malpractice case that the plaintiff-client prove that but for the attorney's negligence - the client would have won.






28. A court where a permanent record is kept of the testimony - lawyers' remarks - and judges' rulings.






29. A court order requiring a party to perform a specific act or to cease doing a specific act.






30. A court's prior permission for the police to search and seize.






31. Law that deals with harm to a person or a person's property.






32. The ethical rule prohibiting attorneys and paralegals from disclosing information regarding a client or a client's case.






33. Disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk that harm will result.






34. 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.






35. An agreement supported by consideration.






36. An actual incident or condition; not a legal consequence.






37. A statement of the court's decision that contains many of the case's specific facts - thereby limiting its future applicability to a narrow range of cases.






38. An intentional act that creates a reasonable apprehension of an immediate harmful or offensive physical contact.






39. Also known as cause in fact - this is measured by the 'but for' standard: But for the defendant's actions - the plaintiff would not have been injured.






40. Techniques for resolving conflicts that are alternatives to full-scale litigation. The two most common are arbitration and mediation.






41. An approach whereby the courts give a statute a broad interpretation.






42. 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.






43. A separable part of a statute that must be satisfied for the statute to apply.






44. A trial conducted without a jury.






45. Courts that determine whether lower courts have made errors of law.






46. 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.






47. A set of ethical rules developed by the American Bar Association in the 1980s. The Model rules have been adopted by most of the states.






48. A statute that changes the common law.






49. A method for excusing a prospective juror; no reason need be given.






50. Either a subcategory of relevancy or simply another word for relevancy - the requirement that the evidence be more probative than prejudicial.