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Paralegal Terms and Definitions > Book 1 Glossary > Flashcards

Book 1 Glossary Flashcards

learn these definitions thoroughly

1
Q

abstract

A

a summary or abridgement

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2
Q

abuse of process

A

a tort consisting of the following elements (1) the use of civil or criminal proceedings, (2) for a purpose for which the process is not designed, (3) resulting in actual damage

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3
Q

a/c

A

accounts recievable; A list of who owes money to the office, how much, how long the debt has been due, etc.

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4
Q

accreditation

A

a form of acknowledgement (other than certification, registration, or licensing) that a school or training program meets specified standards

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5
Q

acquit

A

to declare that the accused is innocent of the crime

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6
Q

act

A

see statute

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7
Q

active voice

A

the grammatical verb form in which the subject or thing performing or causing the action is the main focus

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8
Q

ad damnum clause

A

a clause stating the damages claimed

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9
Q

add-on question

A

a question that is added to the end of another related question, both stated in one sentence. Also called the double-barreled question

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10
Q

adjourn

A

to halt the proceedings temporarily

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11
Q

adjudicate

A

to resolve or decide by judicial process; to judge

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12
Q

ad litem

A

for the purposes of this litigation

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13
Q

administrative agency

A

a governmental body, other than a court or legislature, that carries out (i.e. administers or executes) the statutes of the legistlature, the executive orders of the chief executive, and its own regulations

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14
Q

administrative code

A

a collection of administrative regulations organized by subject matter rather than chronologically or by date

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15
Q

administrative decision

A

an administrative agency’s resolution of a controversy (following a hearing) involving the application of the regulations, statutes, or executive orders that fovern the agency. Sometimes called ruling, administrative ruling

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16
Q

administrative hearing

A

a proceeding at an administrative agency presided over by a hearing officer (e.g., an administrative-law judge) to resolve a controversy involving the application of the regulations, statutes, or executive orders that govern the agency

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17
Q

administrative-law judge (ALJ)

A

a government officer who presides over a hearing at an administrative agency

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18
Q

Administrative Procedure Act (APA)

A

The statute that governs procedures before federal administrative agencies. Many states have their own version of the APA for procedures before the state administrative agencies

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19
Q

administrative regulation

A

a law written by an administrative agency designed to explain or carry out the statues, executive orders, or other regulations that govern the agency. Also called administrative rule

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20
Q

admiralty law

A

an area of the law that covers accidents and injuries on navigable waters. Also called maritime law

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21
Q

admissable

A

allowed into court to determine the truth or believability

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22
Q

admission

A

(1) an assertion of the truth of a fact (2) an official acknowledgement of someone’s right to practice law

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23
Q

admonition

A

a milder form of private reprimand. Also called private warning, private reproval.

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24
Q

advance sheet

A

a pamphlet that comes out before (in advance of) a later volume

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25
Q

adversarial

A

involving conflict and an adversary

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26
Q

adversary system

A

a method of resolving a legal dispute whereby the parties (alone or through their advocates) argue their conflicting claims before a neutral (impartial) decision maker

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27
Q

adverse

A

(1) opposed (2) hostile (3) having an opposing position (4) harmful, unfavorable

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28
Q

adverse interest

A

a goal or claim of one person that is different from or opposed to the goal or claim of another person

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29
Q

adverse judgement

A

a judgement or decision against you

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30
Q

advisement

A

careful consideration. If a decision is taken under advisement, it is delayed until the judge has time to consider it later

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31
Q

advocacy

A

the process by which you attempt to influence the goals or behavior of others

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32
Q

affidavit

A

a written or printed statement of facts made under oath by a person (called the affiant) before someone with authority to administer the oath

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33
Q

affirm

A

to agree with or uphold the lower court’s judgement

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34
Q

affirmative defense

A

a defense raising facts or arguments that will defeat the opponent’s claim even if the opponent’s allegations in the claim are proven

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35
Q

aged accounts receivable (A/R) report

A

a report showing all cases that have outstanding balances due and how long these balances are past due

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36
Q

agent

A

(1) a person authorized to act for another; a representative (2) a power or force that produces an effect

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37
Q

aggrieved

A

injured or wronged and thereby entitled to a remedy

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38
Q

allegation

A

a claimed fact. A fact that a party will try to prove at trial

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39
Q

alphabetical filing system

A

a method of storing client files in alphabetical order by the surname or organization name of the client

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40
Q

alternate

A

an extra juror who will take the place of a regular juror if one is removed or becomes incapaciatated during the trial

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41
Q

alternate fee arrangement (AFA)

A

billing for serivces other than by standard hourly fees

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42
Q

alternative dispute resolution (ADR)

A

a method or procedure for resolving a legal dispute without litigating the dispute in a court or administrative agency

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43
Q

ambulance chasing

A

approaching accident victims (or anyone else who might have a legal problem or claim) to encourage them to hire a particular attorney. If the attorney uses someone else to do the soliciting, the latter is called a runner. If this other person uses deception or fruad in the solicitation, he or she is sometimes called a capper or a steerer

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44
Q

American Rule

A

each party pays his or her own attorney fees (and paralegal fees) regardless of who wins the case)

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45
Q

amicus curiae brief

A

(“friend of the court” brief) an appellate brief submitted by a nonparty who obtains court permission to file a brief presenting its views on how the case should be resolved

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46
Q

analogize

A

to determine whether something is sufficiently similar to justify a similar outcome or result

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47
Q

analogous

A

(1) sufficiently similar to justify a similar outcome or result. (2) sufficiently similar to lend support. (3) on point; germaine. Involving the same or similar issues; involving facts and rules that are similar to those now under consideration

48
Q

analogy

A

a comparison of similarities and differences

49
Q

annotate

A

to provide notes or commentary. A text is annotated if such notes and commentary are provided along with the text

50
Q

annotated reporter

A

a set of books that contains the full text of court opinions plus notes or commentary on them called annotation

51
Q

annotated statutory code

A

a collection of statutes organized by subject matter rather than by date, along with research regerences such as historical notes and summaries of court opinions (notes of decision) that have interpreted the statutes

52
Q

annotation

A

(1) a note or commentary that summarizes or explains somehting. (2) a research paper in sets of volumes called American Law Reports (A.L.R)

53
Q

answer

A

(1) the first pleading of the defendant in response to the plaintiff’s claims (2) to assume someone else’s liability

54
Q

anticontact rule

A

an advocate must not contact an opposing party without perimssion of the latter’s attorney.

55
Q

antitrust law

A

the law governing unlawful interferences with competition such as through price fixing, monopolies, and other restraints of trade

56
Q

appeal by right

A

the appeal of a case than an appellate court must hear; it has no discretion on whether to take the appeal

57
Q

appeal

A

a proceeding in which a higher tribunal reviews or reconsiders the decision of an inferior tribunal

58
Q

appearance

A

formally coming before a tribunal as a party or as a representative of a party

59
Q

appearance of impropriety

A

conduct that is unethical because it appears to violate ethical rules eeeven though in fact no violation has occurred

60
Q

appellant

A

the party bringing an appeal because of disagreement with a decision of a lower tribunal

61
Q

appellate brief

A

a document that a party files with an appellate court (and serves on an apponent) in which the party present arguments on why the appellate court shoulf affirm (approve), revers, vacate (cancel), or otherwise modify what a lower court has done

62
Q

appellate jurisdiction

A

the power of a court to review and correct the decisions of a lower tribunal

63
Q

appellee

A

the party against whom an appeal is brought. also called respondant

64
Q

approval

A

a form of acknowledgement that a school of training program meets specified standards. The acknowledgement may be based on different standards than those used for accreditation

65
Q

arbitration

A

a method of alternatice dispute resolution in which the parties aboid litigation by submitting their dispute to a neutral third person (the arbitrator) who renders a decision resolving the dispute

66
Q

arraignment

A

a pretrial criminal proceeding in which the defendant is formally charged with a crime and enters a plea. Arrangements are then made for the next proceeding

67
Q

arrest

A

taking someone into custody to bring him or her before the proper authorities, e.g. to answer a criminal charge

68
Q

assigned counsel

A

an attorney (often in private practice) appointed by the court and paid by the government to represent and indigent person in a criminal or civil case. Attorneys who are government employees handling criminal cases might be called public defenders

69
Q

associate

A

an attorney employee of a partnership who hopes to eventually be promoted to partnership

70
Q

at common law

A

(1) referring to all the case law and statutory law in England and in the American colonies before the Revolution (2) Pertaining to judge-made law

71
Q

attentive listening

A

affirmative, ongoing steps taken by an interviewer to let an interviewee know that you have heard what he or she just said and that you consider the meeting with him or her to be important

72
Q

attestation clause

A

a clause stating that you saw (witnessed) someone sign a document or perform other tasks related to the validity of the document

73
Q

attorney attestation

A

a signed statement by an attorney that a paralegal applying for membership in an association meets one or more of the criteria of the association, the most common of which is that the paralegal performs paralegal duties

74
Q

attorney-client privelege (ACP)

A

a client of a client’s attorney can refuse to discloose any confidential (private) communication between them if the purpose of the communication was to facilitate the provision of legal services to the client

75
Q

attorney general

A

the chief attorney for the government

76
Q

attorney in fact

A

one authorized to act in place of another, often in a business transaction

77
Q

attorney lien

A

the right of an attorney to hold a client’s funds or property (retaining lien) or to keep a part of the funds coming to the client (a chargin lien) until the attorney’s fees and costs have been paid

78
Q

attorney of record

A

the attorney noted in court files as the attorney representing a particular party

79
Q

at-will employee

A

an employee who can be terminated for any reason that does not violate public policy. An employee with no union or other contractual protection

80
Q

authentication

A

(1) the use of evidence that a writing or other physical item is genuine and that it is what it purports to be (2) an official process by which the text of a law is certified as being complete and unaltered since the original version was approved

81
Q

award

A

(1) the decision of an arbitrator (2) a decision that grants damages

82
Q

bad faith

A

dishonesty or abuse in one’s purpose or conduct

83
Q

bail

A

(1) money or other property deposited with the court as security to ensure that the defendant will reappear at designated times. Failure to appear forfeits the security (2) release of the defendant upon posting this security

84
Q

bailiff

A

a court employee who keeps order in the courtroom and renders general administrative assistance to the judge

85
Q

bankruptcy petition preparer

A

a nonattorney who is authorized to charge fees for preparing (without an attorney’s supervision) a bankruptcy petition or any other bankruptcy document that a self-represented debtor will file in a federal court

86
Q

bar

A

prevent or stop

87
Q

barratry

A

the crime of stirring up quarrels or litigation. persistently instigating lawsuits, often groundless ones. The illegal solicitation of clients

88
Q

Bates stamp

A

a tool with which to manually or digitall insert a number (usually sequential) on a page. After using the tool on a page, it automatically advances to the next number, ready to stamp the next page

89
Q

battered woman syndrom

A

a woman’s psychological helplessness or paralysis because of conditions such as financial dependence, loneliness, guilt, shame, and fear of reprisal from her husband or significant other whoh has repeatedly subjected her to physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse in the past

90
Q

bench trial

A

a trial before a judge without a jury

91
Q

beyond a reasonable doubt

A

the standard of proof that is met when there are no doubts about the evidence that would cause prudent persons to hesitate before acting in matters of importance to themselves

92
Q

bias

A

(1) an inclination, tendency, or predisposition to think or act in a certain way (2) prejudice for or against something or someone (3) a danger of prejudgement

93
Q

bicameral

A

having two chambers in the legislature

94
Q

bill

A

a proposed statute

95
Q

billable

A

pertaining to those tasks requiring time that can be charged to (and paid by) a client

96
Q

billable hours quota

A

a minimum number of hours expected from a timekeeper on client matters that can be charged (billed) to clients per week, month, year, or other time period

97
Q

black letter law

A

a statement of a fundamental or basic principle of law

98
Q

blawg

A

an Internet journal or diary on a mainly legal topic

99
Q

blended hourly rate

A

a single hourly rate based on a blend or miz of the rates normally charged by different individuals, e.g., a partner, a senior associate, a junior associate, and sometimes a paralega

100
Q

blind ad

A

a want ad that does not give the name and address of the prospective employer. The contact is made through a third aprty, e.g., a newspaper or agency

101
Q

block billing

A

grouping multiple tasks under a single time charge rather than describing each task separately and assigning the actual time associated with each task. The timekeeper enters the total time spent working on blocks of tasks without itemizing the time spent on specific tasks for the case.

102
Q

board of appeals

A

the unit within an administrative agency to which a aprty can appeal a decision with the agency

103
Q

boilerplate

A

standard language that is commonly used in a certain kind of document. standard verbiage

104
Q

bona fides

A

good faith

105
Q

bond

A

an obligation to perform an act (e.g., pay a sum of money) upon the occurrence of a designated condition

106
Q

book

A

(1) to enter charges against someone in a police register. the process is called booking (2) to engage the services of someone

107
Q

bound over

A

held or transferred for further court proceedings

108
Q

boutique law firm

A

a law firm that specializes in one main area of the law

109
Q

breach of contract

A

a casue of action seeking a court remedy (usually damages) for the alleged failure of a part to perform the term(s) of an enforceable contract

110
Q

brief

A

(1) a summary of a court opinion that consists of ten parts: citation, parties, objectives of the parties, theories of the litigation, history of the litigation, facst, issues, holdings, reasoning, and disposition. also called case brief, brief of a case. (2) trial brief (3) appellate brief

111
Q

brief bank

A

a collection of appellate briefs and related documents drafted in prior cases that might be adapted for current cases and used as models

112
Q

budget performance report

A

a report that compares a firm’s actual income and expenditures with budgeted or projected income and expenditures

113
Q

bundled legal services

A

all tasks needed to represent a client; all-inclusive legal services

114
Q

burden of proof

A

the responsibility of proving a fact at trial

115
Q

calendar call

A

the time in court when a case on the calendar (docket) is called for a determination by the judge of the next step in the proceeding

Paralegal Terms and Definitions (1 decks)

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