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






2. Court decisions from an equal or a lower court from the same jurisidiction or from a higher court in a different jurisdiction; also includes secondary authority.






3. Law that deals with harm to an individual.






4. A reason for invalidating a statute where it covers both protected and criminal activity.






5. Ownership by two or more people. Ownership shares do not have to be equal - but each has an undivided interest in the property. When a tenant in common dies - that person's share passes either by will or by intestate statute.






6. An approach whereby the courts give a statute a narrow interpretation.






7. The highest federal appellate court - consisting of nine appointed members.






8. In writing - a technique used to help your reader move from one thought to the next and to see the connections between them.






9. The papers that begin a lawsuit-generally - the complaint and the answer.






10. In logic - an argument is considered to be valid or sound if the assumption underlying the argument are true.






11. A claim by one defendant against another defendant or by one plaintiff against another plaintiff.






12. Information about what happened procedurally to the cited case before it was heard by the cited court. Do not include this information in a citation.






13. The publication of false statements that harm a person's reputation.






14. A defense requiring proof that the defendant would not have committed the crime but for police trickery.






15. Examples of legal writing include case briefs - law office memoranda - and documents filed with the court.






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






17. The opinion of a jury on a question of fact.






18. A judgment entered against a party who fails to complete a required step - such as answering the complaint.






19. The authority of a court to hear a case when it is initiated - as opposed to appellate jurisdiction.






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






21. A document that lists statements regarding specific items for the other party to admit or deny.






22. A request that the court order a rehearing of a lawsuit because irregularities - such as errors of the court or jury misconduct - make it probable that an impartial trial do not occur.






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






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






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






26. 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.






27. A repeat offender; one who continues to commit more crimes.






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






29. A summary of one legal point in a court opinion; written by the editors at West.






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






31. All property that is not real property.






32. A method for excusing a prospective juror based on the juror's inability to serve in an unbiased manner.






33. A right to use property owned by another for a limited purpose.






34. 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.






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






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






37. Violation of a statute as proof of negligence






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






39. Evidence that is derived from an illegal search or interrogation is inadmissible.






40. Voluntarily and knowingly subjecting oneself to danger.






41. The number of hours - or parts of an hour - that can be charged to a specific client.






42. A professional entity in which the owners share in the organization's profits but are not liable for the malpractice of their partners.






43. Federal and state rules that regulate how criminal proceedings are conducted.






44. The standard of proof used in some civil trials. The evidence presented must be greater than a preponderance of the evidence but less than beyond a reasonable doubt.






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






46. An online legal database containing court decisions and statutes from the entire country - as well as secondary authority; a competitor to Westlaw.






47. 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.






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






49. Someone who has the power to act in the place of another.






50. Money is awarded to a plaintiff in payment for his or her actual losses.