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. Located in most codified statutes - this table lists statutes by their popular names along with their citations.






2. Law that regulates how the legal system operates.






3. A method for interpreting statutes in which the ordinary meaning of the statute's language is examined.






4. The pleading that begins a lawsuit.






5. A fee based on how many hours attorneys or paralegals spend on the case. Different hourly rates are often charged for different attorneys and paralegals within the firm - based on their seniority and experience.






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






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






8. A decision is reversed when the litigants appeal the trial court decision and the higher court disagrees with the decision of a lower court.






9. The defense's request that the court find the prosecution failed to meet its burden and that it remove the case from the jury by finding the defendant not guilty.






10. Broad questions that put few limits on the freedom of the respondent.






11. Money awarded to a plaintiff in cases of intentional torts in order to punish the defendant and serve as a warning to others.






12. Used to describe legislation that changes the common law.






13. A court order that a person who is not a party to the litigation appear at a trial or deposition and bring requested documents.






14. The rule requiring that the original document be produced at trial.






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






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






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






18. A pamphlet inserted into the back of a book containing information new since the volume was published.






19. A defendant's plea meaning that the defendant neither admits nor denies the charges.






20. A rule that states that evidence obtained in violation of an individual's constitutional rights cannot be used against that individual in a criminal trial.






21. In law - a per curium decision (or opinion) is a ruling issued by an appellate court of multiple judges in which the decision rendered is made by the court (or at least a majoirty of the court) acting collectively and anonymously.






22. The power of government to take private property for public purposes.






23. The process of using Shepard's citations to check a court citation to see whether there has been any subsequent history or treatment by other court decisions.






24. The party in a case against whom an appeal has been filed.






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






26. A system developed to shield an attorney or a paralegal from a case that otherwise would create a conflict of interest.






27. An opinion in which a majority of the court joins.






28. 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.






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






30. The pretrial oral questioning of a witness under oath.






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






32. '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.






33. Evidence that suggests the defendant's innocence.






34. A trial conducted without a jury.






35. In a case brief - the general legal principle in existence before the case began.






36. A book that contains court opinion headnotes arranged by subject matter.






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






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






39. An act by a landlord that makes the premises unfit or unsuitable for occupancy.






40. A defense requiring proof that the defendant was not mentally responsible.






41. A person who initiates a lawsuit.






42. A court's power to hear any type of case arising within its geographical area.






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






44. Determined by whether the evidence leads one to logically conclude that an asserted fact is either more or less probable.






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






46. A judgment that reverses the verdict of the jury when the verdict had no reasonable factual support or was contrary to law.






47. A process whereby the prosecutor and the defendant's attorney agree for the defendant to plead guilty in exchange for the prosecutor's promise to charge him or her with a lesser offense - drop some additional charges - or request a lesser sentence.






48. 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.






49. The court's power to review statutes to decide whether they conform to the Constitution.






50. A requirement that a party fulfill his or her contractual obligations.