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. Including more than one count in a complaint; the counts do not need to be consistent.






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






3. A claim by the defendant against the plaintiff.






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






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






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






7. A national association of paralegal managers.






8. The principle that courts cannot decide abstract issues or render advisory opinions; rather - they are limited to deciding cases that involve litigants who are personally affected by the court's decision.






9. A defendant's personal promise to appear in court.






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






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






12. Proof that the evidence is what it is said to be.






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






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






15. 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.






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






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






18. 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






19. A person who initiates an appeal.






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






21. Liability without having to prove fault.






22. A nonlawyer who provides legal services directly to the public without being under the supervision of an attorney. Absent a statute allowing this activity - it constitutes the unauthorized practice of law.






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






24. The background documents created during the process of a bill becoming a statute. These documents can include alternative versions of the legislation - proceedings of committee hearings and reports - and transcripts of floor debates.






25. A trial conducted without a jury.






26. 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.






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






28. A lawsuit brought by a person as a representative for a group of people who have been similarly injured.






29. When the law is applied to the client's facts and the result is not obvious - an issue is created.






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






31. Violation of a statute as proof of negligence






32. Also known as real estate; land and items growing on or permanently attached to that land.






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






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






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






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






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






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






39. A court opinion that establishes new law in an important area.






40. The delivery of a pleading or other paper in a lawsuit to the opposing party.






41. A meeting of the attorneys and the judge prior to the beginning of the trial.






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






43. The law that sets the length of time from when something happens to when a lawsuit must be filed before the right to bring it is lost.






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






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






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






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






48. A statute that changes the common law.






49. When a judge formally recognizes something as being a fact without requiring the attorneys prove it through the introduction of other evidence.






50. A body of principles and rules that are either explicitly stated in - or inferred from - the constitutions of the United States and those of the individual states.