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. A compilation of federal administrative regulations arranged by agency.






2. The person who is being asked questions at a deposition.






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






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






5. A tangible object or a right or ownership interest.






6. A business run by two or more persons as co-owners.






7. The theory holding manufacturers and sellers liable for defective products when the defects make the products unreasonably dangerous.






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






9. When nonlawyers do things that only lawyers are allowed to do. In most states this is a crime.






10. An approach whereby the courts give a statute a broad interpretation.






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






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






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






14. Fairness; a court's power to do justice. Equity powers allow judges to take action when otherwise the law would limit their decisions to monetary awards. Equity powers include a judge's ability to issue an injunction and to order specific performance






15. General principles that guide the courts in their interpretation of statutes.






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






17. Occurs whenever one person - through force or the threat of force - unlawfully detains another person against his or her will.






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






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






20. Voluntarily and knowingly subjecting oneself to danger.






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






22. Simultaneously representing adverse clients.






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






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






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






27. Voluntarily and knowingly subjecting oneself to danger.






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






29. The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution.






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






31. A person appointed by the court to manage the affairs or property of a person who is incompetent due to age or some other reason.






32. Establishes a direct link to the event that must be proven.






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. A transfer of real property rights that occurs after someone other than the owner has had actual - open - adverse - and exclusive use of the property for a statutorily determined number of years.






35. 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.






36. A constitutional fairness requirement that a defendant have at least a certain minimum level of contact with a state before the state courts can have jurisdiction over the defendant.






37. Monetary compensation - including compensatory - punitive - and nominal damages.






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






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






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






41. The transfer of a case from one state court to a federal court.






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






43. Law that deals with harm to an individual.






44. A situation in which a conflict of interest may arise in the future--for example - representing business partners.






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






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






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






48. The standard of proof most commonly used in civil trials. The evidence presented must prove that it is more likely than not the defendant committed the wrong.






49. The judge informs the jurors of the law they need to know to make their decision.






50. A court order requiring a person to appear to testify at a trial or deposition.