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. Evidence that does not add any new information but that confirms facts that already have been established.






2. An attorney's written argument presented to an appeals court - setting forth a statement of the law as it should be applied to the client's facts.






3. '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.






4. Written questions sent by one side to the opposing side - answered under oath.






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






6. A witness who possesses skill and knowledge beyond that of the average person.






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






8. Law that deals with harm to society as a whole.






9. A statement of the court's decision in which the facts are either omitted or given in very general terms so that it will apply to a wider range of cases.






10. Cases that involve different facts and/or rules of law.






11. 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.






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






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






14. A grand jury's written accusation that a given individual has committed a crime.






15. A court order authorizing a sheriff to take property in order to enforce a judgment.






16. An activity that requires professional judgment - or the educational ability to relate law to a specific legal problem.






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






18. Not factually true - but accepted by the courts as being legally true.






19. Law that regulates how the legal system operates.






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






21. The law itself - such as statutes and court opinions.






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






23. Voluntarily and knowingly subjecting oneself to danger.






24. Courts that determine the facts and apply the law to the facts.






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






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






27. 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






28. Representing someone who is in a position adverse to a prior client.






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






30. A decision is overruled when a court in a later case changes the law so that its prior decision is no longer good law.






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






32. An ADR mechanism whereby a neutral third party assists the parties in reaching a mutually agreeable - voluntary compromise.






33. Relates to the ability of a witness to testify; generally - the witness must be capable of being understood by the jury; must understand the duty to tell the truth; and if a lay witness - must give testimony based on personal knowledge.






34. The questioning of your own witness.






35. The modern pretrial procedure by which one party gains information from the adverse party.






36. A paralegal who works as an independent contractor rather than as an employee of a law firm or corporation.






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






38. The party in a case who has initiated an appeal.






39. A summary of a court opinion that appears at the beginning of the case.






40. The educated ability to apply law to specific facts.






41. A contract that outlines the attorney's duties and the client's obligations regarding payment - on either an hourly or a contingency fee basis - as well as the client's responsibility reagarding costs and expenses.






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






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






44. In deductive reasoning - the statement of a broad proposition that forms the starting point; in law - the statement of a legal rule that you can find in a statute or court opinion.






45. A decision is reversed when an appellate court overturns or negates the decision of a lower court.






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






47. Any tangible object - like a bloody glove.






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






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






50. A judicial philosophy that supports an active role for the judiciary in changing the law.