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. 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.






2. Liability without a showing of fault.






3. A statute that changes the common law.






4. A claim by a defendant against someone in addition to the persons the plaintiff has already sued.






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






6. The process of finding the law.






7. Law dealing with ownership.






8. A fee calculated as a percentage of the settlement or award in the case.






9. Not susceptible to a precise definition; a belief based on specific facts that a crime has been or is about to be committed; more than a reasonable suspicion.






10. 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.






11. 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.






12. The division of governmental power among the legislative - executive - and judicial branches.






13. Evidence that suggests the defendant's innocence.






14. 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.






15. Specific questions that usually demand very short or yes-no answers.






16. A public or private statement that an attorney's conduct violated the code of ethics.






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






18. A judicial philosophy that supports a limited role for the judiciary in changing the law - including deference to the legislative branch.






19. The power of a court to hear a case.






20. A motion brought before the beginning of a trial either to eliminate the necessity for a trial or to limit the information that can be heard at the trial.






21. Evidence that supports previous testimony but that comes in a different form.






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






23. A trial conducted without a jury.






24. 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.






25. '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.






26. A computer search that identifies every place in which the search term appears in the actual text of the document being searched.






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






28. A witness who has not been shown to have any special expertise.






29. A national voluntary organization of lawyers.






30. A request that the court order that certain information not be mentioned in the presence of the jury.






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






32. The status of being formally recognized by a nongovernmental organization for having met special criteria - such as fulfilling educational requirements and passing an exam - established by that organization.






33. A means of gaining appellate review; in the U.S. Supreme Court the writ is discretionary and will be issued to another court to review a federal question if four of the nine justices vote to hear the case.






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






35. The questioning of your own witness.






36. A question that suggests the answer; generally - leading questions may not be asked during direct examination of a witness.






37. In a case brief - facts that deal with what happened to the parties before the litigation began.






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






39. 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.






40. Negligence by the plaintiff that contributed to his or her injury. Normally - it is a complete bar to the plaintiff's recovery.






41. A system of government in which the authority to govern is split between a single - nationwide central government and several regional governments that control specific geographical areas.






42. Voluntarily and knowingly subjecting oneself to danger.






43. The process of legislative enactment of areas of the law previously governed solely by the common law.






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






45. An error made by the trial judge sufficiently serious to warrant reversing the trial court's decision.






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






47. Governmental publication of court opinions.






48. A method for measuring the relative negligence of the plaintiff and the defendant - with a commensurate sharing of the compensation for the injuries.






49. A claim that based on the law and the facts is sufficient to support a lawsuit. If the plaintiff does not state a valid cause of action in the complaint - the court will dismiss it.






50. The way in which a question of fact is established. Evidence can consist of witness testimony or documents and exhibits. It is the proof presented at a trial.