Chapter 1 Key Terms

Question 1

Continuing Legal Education (CLE)

Answer 1

Training in the law (usually short term) that a person received after completing his or her formal legal training or after becoming employed.

Question 2

certification

Answer 2

The process by which a nongovernmental organization grants recognition to a person who has met the qualifications set by that organization.

Question 3

networking

Answer 3

Establishing contacts and sharing information with people (a) who might become personal or professional resources for you and (b) for whom you might become a personal or professional resource.

Question 4

traditional paralegals

Answer 4

A paralegal who is an employee of an attorney.

Question 5

independent contractors

Answer 5

A self-employed person who operates his or her own business and contracts to perform tasks for others. In general, the latter do not control many of the administrative details of how the work is performed.

Question 6

transactional paralegal

Answer 6

One who provides paralegal services for an attorney who represents clients in transactions such as entering contracts, incorporating a business, closing a real estate sale, or planning an estate. A paralegal does not work in litigation.

Question 7

sole practitioner

Answer 7

An attorney who practices alone. There are no partners or associates in the office.

Question 8

independent paralegal

Answer 8

(1) An independent contractor who sells his or her paralegal services to, and works under the supervision of, one or more attorneys. (2) An independent contractor who sells his or her paralegal services directly to the public without attorney supervision. Also called freelance paralegal, or legal technician. In some states, however, the paralegal and legal assistant titles are limited to those who work under attorney supervision.

Question 9

document service provider (DSP)

Answer 9

(1) A non-attorney who works without attorney supervision to provide legal-document assistance to individuals who are representing themselves. (2) Someone who helps another prepare or process documents.

Question 10

unauthorized practice of law (UPL)

Answer 10

(1) Using or attempting to use legal skills to help resolve a specific person’s legal problem when the assistance is provided by someone who does not have a license to practice law and when the assistance requires such a license or other authorization. (2) A non-attorneys performance of tasks in a law office without adequate attorney supervision when those tasks are part of the practice of law. (3) Delegating tasks to a non-attorney that only an attorney can perform.

Question 11

paralegal

Answer 11

(1)A person who performs substantive legal tasks on behalf of others when those tasks are supervised by an attorney who would be required to perform the tasks if the office did not have a paralegal. (2) A person with legal skills who works under the supervision of an attorney or who is otherwise authorized to use those skills; this person performs tasks that do not require all the skills of an attorney and that most secretaries are not trained to perform.

Question 12

fees

Answer 12

The amount charged for services rendered.

Question 13

paralegal fees

Answer 13

A fee that an attorney can collect for the nonclerical work of the attorney’s paralegal. The fee covers the paralegal’s substantive legal work on behalf of the client.

Question 14

contingent fee

Answer 14

A fee is paid only if the case is successfully resolved by litigation or settlement, regardless of the number of hours spent on the case. (The fee is also referred to as a contingency.) A defense contingent fee (also called a negative contingency) is a fee for the defendant’s attorney that is dependent on the outcome of the case.

Question 15

court costs

Answer 15

Charges or fees (paid to and imposed by the court) that are directly related to litigation in that court. Example: court filing fees

Question 16

overhead

Answer 16

The operating expenses of a business (e.g., office rent, utilities, insurance, and clerical staff) for which customers or clients are not charged a separate fee. It should be noted, however, that some attorneys charge clients for clerical or secretarial time, which can be ethical if the client agrees and the amount charged is reasonable.

Question 17

engagement letter

Answer 17

A letter that identifies the scope of services to be provided by a professional and the payments to be made for such services.

Question 18

American rule

Answer 18

Each party pays his or her own attorney fees regardless of who wins the case.

Question 19

English rule

Answer 19

The losing side in litigation must pay the winner’s attorney fees. Also called loser pays.

Question 20

fee-shifting

Answer 20

Requiring one party to pay another partys attorney fees and paralegal fees because of prior agreement, bad faith, or special statute.

Question 21

bad faith

Answer 21

Dishonesty or abuse in ones purpose or conduct

Question 22

frivolous

Answer 22

Lacking merit. Pertaining to a legal position that cannot be supported by a good-faith argument based on existing law or on the need for a change in existing law.

Question 23

aggrieved

Answer 23

Injured or wronged and thereby entitled to a remedy.

Question 24

statutory-fee cases

Answer 24

A case applying a special statute that gives a judge authority to order the losing party to pay the winning party attorney fees (including paralegal fees) and costs

Question 25

remedy

Answer 25

(1) The means by which a right is enforced or the violation of a right is prevented, compensated for, to otherwise redressed. (2) To correct. The plural is remedies.

Question 26

lodestar

Answer 26

A method of calculating an award of attorney fees authorized by statute. The number of reasonable hours spent on the case is multiplied by the prevailing hourly rate in the community for similar work by attorneys. Other factors might also be considered above the lodestar in setting the fee, such as the quality of representation, any delay in receiving payment, and the risk at the outset of the litigation that the prevailing attorney will receive no fee.

Question 27

law clerks

Answer 27

(1) An attorney’s employee who is in law school studying to become an attorney or who has graduated from law school and is waiting to pass the bar examination. Also called clerk. If law clerks work only in the summer, they are sometimes called summer associates. (2) One who provides research and writing assistance to a judge. (3) A non-attorney who is a “trained professional doing independent legal work” in Ontario, Canada.

Question 28

amicus curiae brief (“friend of the court” brief)

Answer 28

An appellate brief submitted by a nonparty who obtains court permission to file the brief e setting out its views on how the case should be resolved.

Question 29

timekeeping

Answer 29

Recording time spent on a client matter for purposes of billing and productivity assessment.

Question 30

contemporaneous

Answer 30

Existing or occurring in the same period of time; pertaining to records that are prepared regarding events as the events are occurring or very shortly thereafter.

Question 31

leveraging

Answer 31

Making profit from the income-generating work of others

Question 32

billable

Answer 32

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

Question 33

closing

Answer 33

The meeting in which a transaction is finalized. AN example is the meeting to complete a real estate sale or other transaction. Also called settlement.

Question 34

billable hour quota

Answer 34

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

Question 35

rule of three

Answer 35

A general guideline used by some law firms to identify budget expectations from hiring paralegals; gross revenue generated through paralegal billing should equal three times a paralegal’s salary.

Question 36

realization rate

Answer 36

The percentage of total client billings of an attorney or paralegal that the office actually collects. Also called the collection realization rate. Because timekeepers often spend time on both billable tasks and nonbillable tasks, a further breakdown is a timekeeper’s billing realization rate. This is the percentage of the timekeeper’s total office time that is billable. For example, paralegals who spend half their time on nonbillable tasks and half on billable tasks have a 50 percent billing realization rate.

Question 37

attorney attestation

Answer 37

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.

Question 38

legal advice

Answer 38

A statement or conclusion that applies the law or legal principles to the facts of a specific person’s legal problem.