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






2. Questions relating to the interpretation or application of the law.






3. The questioning of an opposing witness.






4. Generally someone operating within the law - representing persons before administrtive agencies that permit this practice.






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






6. Books that contain appellate court decisions. There are both official and unofficial reporters.






7. 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.






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






9. A statutory citation is a formalized method for referring to a statute's chapter (or title) and section numbers.






10. An advance or down payment that is given to engage the services of an attorney.






11. The process of finding the law.






12. An online legal databease containing court decisions and statutes from the entire country - as well as secondary authority; a competitor to Lexis.






13. An issue that the court has never faced before.






14. 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.






15. A statement in a judicial opinion not necessary for the decision of the case.






16. A decision is affirmed when the litigants appeal the trial court decision and the higher court agrees with what the lower court has done.






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






18. 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.






19. A law enacted by a state legislature or by Congress.






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






21. Information about what happened procedurally to the litigation after the case cited. Include this information in a citation.






22. 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.






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






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






25. Voluntarily and knowingly subjecting oneself to danger.






26. The standard of proof used in criminal trials. The evidence represented must be so conclusive and complete that all reasonable doubts regarding the facts are removed from the jurors' minds.






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






28. The power of a court to force a person to appear before it.






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






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






31. A defense requiring proof that the defendant was forced to take an action to avoid a greater harm.






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






33. 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.






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






35. A statute establishing and setting out the powers of an administrative agency.






36. The revocation of an attorney's license.






37. A group of people - usually 23 - whose function is to determine if probable cause exists to believe that a crime has been committed and that the defendant committed it.






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






39. A national association of paralegal managers.






40. To perform.






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






42. 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.






43. The doctrine stating that normally once a court has decided one way on a particular issue - it and other courts in the same jurisdiction will decide the same way on that issue in future cases given similar facts unless they can be convinced of the ne






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






45. When a higher court agrees with what lower court has done.






46. Consists of records - contracts - leases - wills - and other written instruments.






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






48. When the product was not being used for its intended purpose or was being used in a dangerous manner; it is a defense to a products liability claim so long as the misuse was not foreseeable.






49. 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.






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