Chapter 14 Law Office Administration

Question 1

A form of business that does not have a separate legal identity apart from the one person who owns all of the assets and assumes all debts and liabilities.

Answer 1

Sole Proprietorship

Question 2

Liability that can be satisfied out of an individuals personal assets

Answer 2

Personal Liability

Question 3

Restricted liability; liability that can be satisfied out of business assets, not out of personal assets.

Answer 3

Limited Liability

Question 4

An attorney who practices alone- without partners or associates in the office.

Answer 4

Sole Practitioner

Question 5

A professional who handles any kind of case

Answer 5

General practitioner

Question 6

A firm that specializes primarily in one area of the law.

Answer 6

Boutique Law Firm

Question 7

(1) an employee who is still in law school or who has completed law school and is waiting to pass the bar. (2) One who provides research and writing assistance to a judge.

Answer 7

Law Clerk

Question 8

a student in a law office seeking practical experience

Answer 8

Legal Intern

Question 9

Attorneys who are sole practitioners share the use and overhead costs of an office.

Answer 9

Office Sharing

Question 10

The operating exposes of a business (e.g. office rent, furniture, insurance clerical staff) for which customers or clients are not charged

Answer 10

Overhead

Question 11

A voluntary association of two or more persons to place their resources in a jointly owned business or enterprise, with a proportional sharing of profits and losses. Partners make the ultimate decisions on how the business or enterprise should be managed

Answer 11

Partnership

Question 12

An attorney who brings fee generating cases into the office due to his or her extensive contacts an/or reputation as a skilled attorney.

Answer 12

rainmaker

Question 13

a partners advance against profits or net income

Answer 13

Draw

Question 14

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

Answer 14

Associate

Question 15

anyone hires from another law office

Answer 15

lateral hire

Question 16

an attorney who has been passed over for partner statues but who remains at the firm.

Answer 16

Senior Associate

Question 17

A special category of partner who does not own the firm in the sense of an equity or capital partner.

Answer 17

Nonequity partner

Question 18

A full owner partner in the firm

Answer 18

Equity partner

Question 19

a full time attorney employee who has no expectation of becoming a full partner.

Answer 19

Staff attorney

Question 20

an attorney who is semi retired or has some other special status in the law firm.

Answer 20

of counsel

Question 21

an attorney hired to work for a relatively short period of time, usually on specific cases or projects

Answer 21

contract attorney

Question 22

a corporation of persons performing services that require a professional license

Answer 22

Professional corporation (PC)

Question 23

A company or partnership whose owners are taxed like a partnership and have the limited liability of a corporation.

Answer 23

Limited liability entity

Question 24

a law office within a corporation containing salaried attorneys who advise and represent the corporation.

Answer 24

Corporate Legal Department

Question 25

the chief attorney in a corporate law department

Answer 25

General counsel

Question 26

a partner whose primary responsibility is management of the law firm

Answer 26

managing partner

Question 27

an individual, usually a non attorney, who has responsibility for the day to day administration of a law office.

Answer 27

Legal Administrator

Question 28

a paralegal who helps recruit, rain and supervise all paralegals in a law office

Answer 28

Paralegal Manager

Question 29

paying an outside company or service to perform tasks usually performed by one's own employees.

Answer 29

Outsourcing

Question 30

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

Answer 30

timekeeping

Question 31

A form used by some law firms that is the source document for the creation of all necessary accounting records that are needed when a law firm begins working on a new client case or matter.

Answer 31

New File Worksheet

Question 32

A case applying a special statute that gives a judge authority to order the losing party to pay the winning party's attorney and paralegal fees.

Answer 32

Statutory Fee Case

Question 33

a paper form on which timekeepers record how much time they spent on particular client matters.

Answer 33

Daily time sheet

Question 34

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

Answer 34

contemporaneous

Question 35

time spent on tasks for which clients cannot be asked to pay

Answer 35

nonbillable time

Question 36

concerning or involving legal serves that are provided for the public good without fee or compensation. Sometimes also applied to services given at a reduced rate.

Answer 36

Pro Bono

Question 37

Impoverished; without funds to hire a private attorney.

Answer 37

Indigent

Question 38

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

Answer 38

Blended hourly rate

Question 39

A method of charging for legal services based on factors such as the complexity of the case or the results achieved rather than solely on the number of hours spent on the clients case.

Answer 39

Value Billing

Question 40

A flat fee for services regardless of the amount of time needed to complete the case.

Answer 40

Fixed Fee

Question 41

An hourly rate leading to a final bill that will not exceed a predetermined amount.

Answer 41

capped fee

Question 42

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

Answer 42

bundled legal services

Question 43

appearing furor representing oneself;

Answer 43

pro se (on ones behalf)

Question 44

discrete task representation.

Answer 44

unbundled legal services

Question 45

charging a specific amount for each legal task performed.

Answer 45

task based billing

Question 46

an hourly rate charged until the nature and scope of the legal problem are known, at which time fixed fees are charged for services provided thereafter.

Answer 46

Hourly plus fixed fee

Question 47

an hourly or fixed fee that is reduced because the volume of business the client gives the office.

Answer 47

discounted hourly rate

Question 48

a fee that is paid only is the case is successfully resolved by litigation or settlement

Answer 48

Contingent fee

Question 49

a fee that is increased if a designated target is met; an increased fee for achieving an exceptional result.

Answer 49

incentive billing

Question 50

a fee received by the defendants attorney that is dependent on the outcome of a case.

Answer 50

defense contingent fee

Question 51

a client bill that is finalized after the services are rendered

Answer 51

retroactive negotiated fee

Question 52

charges or fees imposed by the court directed related to the litigation in that court.

Answer 52

court costs

Question 53

a form used by an office to indicate that an expense has been incurred for which the client may or may not be billed.

Answer 53

expense slip

Question 54

a position taken on behalf of a client that the attorney cannot support by good faith argument based on existing law or the need for a change in the law.

Answer 54

Frivolous Position

Question 55

(1) the act of hiring or engaging the services of someone, usually a professional. (2) the amount of money (or other property) paid by a client as a deposit or advance against future fees. costs, and expenses of providing services.

Answer 55

Retainer

Question 56

A billing memorandum prepared by a law office on a particular client case stating expenses, costs, time spent and billing rates of attorneys and paralegal working on the case.

Answer 56

Draft Bill

Question 57

deduct an amount from the bill

Answer 57

write down

Question 58

add an amount to the bill

Answer 58

write up

Question 59

determining whether there should be a write up or write down of a bill to be sent to a client

Answer 59

valuing the bill

Question 60

A bank account controlled by an attorney that con taints client funds that may not be used for office operating expenses or for any personal purpose of the attorney.

Answer 60

Client Trust account

Question 61

A program that helps fund legal services for the poor with funds that attorneys are required to turn over from interest earned in client trust accounts containing client funds.

Answer 61

IOLTA program

Question 62

mixing what should be kept separate, e.g., depositing client funds in a single account with general law firm funds or with an attorneys personal funds.

Answer 62

commingling

Question 63

someone in charge of files in a large office

Answer 63

record information manager

Question 64

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

Answer 64

alphabetical filing system

Question 65

a method of storing client files by numbers or letter number combinations.

Answer 65

Numerical Filing System

Question 66

A sequence of numbers and vertical lines of different shapes that can be read by an optical scanner.

Answer 66

bar code

Question 67

the file of a client whose case is no longer active in the firm.

Answer 67

closed file