4478631
| Question | Answer |
| JURISPRUDENCE (ju·ris·pru·dence) | A system of law, or the accumulated body of court decisions in that system. |
| NALA | National Association of Legal Assistants (Incorporated in 1975) |
| ABA | American Bar Association (Founded August 21, 1878, Saratoga Springs, NY) Purpose of organization was defined as "the advancement of the science of jurisprudence, the promotion of the administration of justice, and a uniformity of legislation throughout the country. |
| PARALEGAL (LEGAL ASSISTANT) | A legal assistant or paralegal is a person qualified by education, training, or work experience who is employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, corporation, governmental agency, or other entity, who performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible. |
| NFPA | The National Federation of Paralegal Associations (Founded in 1974) A Professional Organization of state & local paralegal associations. Goal is to provide a unified nation voice & networking for paralegals |
| PERSONAL PROFILE | Includes the information about you (your qualifications, education, experience and your expectations) that allows you to reasonably assess your employment opportunities and earnings potential. |
| CASE CITATION | The reference to the volume and pages of a legal authority, such as the published decisions of a certain court, that will allow the reader to look up the decision. |
| AMICUS CURIAE | Literally, “friend of the court.” A person with strong views on the subject matter of a lawsuit, but not involved in it directly, may ask the court for permission to file a brief giving their views on the subject. |
| ACTION | a lawsuit (there are civil actions and criminal actions) |
| BRIEF | A written statement submitted to a court for the purpose of persuading the judge of the correctness of one’s position. A brief argues the facts of the case and the applicable law, supported by citations of authority. |
| BURDEN OF PROOF | the duty of establishing the truth of a matter, or proving a fact that’s in dispute (the burden of proof in a criminal case is always on the prosecutor, not the defendant) |
| CAUSE OF ACTION | circumstances that give a person the right to bring a lawsuit |
| DEPOSITION | the transcript of a witness’s testimony given under oath outside of the courtroom, usually before the trial |
| DISCOVERY | a way of providing a party, before trial, access to facts that are known by the other side, so that neither side is at a disadvantage |
| INTERROGATORIES in·ter·rog·a·to·ry | written questions put by one party in a lawsuit to another before trial (interrogatories are a form of discovery) |
| LITIGATION | a legal action, or lawsuit; also the area of law having to do with trial work |
| PARTY | one of the opposing sides in a lawsuit |
| PLEADINGS | Formal statements by the parties to an action which outline their claims or defenses |
| TRIAL NOTEBOOK | A book for keeping track of important dates, documents, witnesses, and outlines of trial strategy for a particular case. |
| MOTION | An application made to a court for the purpose of obtaining an order that something be done in favor of the applicant. |
| PLAINTIFF | The person that files a lawsuit asking for damages. |
| DEFENDANT | The person that the lawsuit is filed against. |
| DAMAGES | A money award. |
| SECURITIES | Stocks, bonds, and other means of investment. |
| REVERSED | A court decision set aside by a court of appeals. |
| DEPUBLISHED | A state supreme court decides, after it has approved a lower court’s decision for publication, that a decision conflicts with previous decisions of the state supreme court or the Constitution. The decision may no longer be cited or relied upon by lawyers or courts. |
| RULES OF COURT | Are administrative regulations allowing courts to control their workload and the attorneys and persons who appear before them. (There are federal, state, and local Rules of Court, and each may be very different from the others.) |
| STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS | A law prescribing the maximum period of time after the occurrence of an injury or a crime, during which a civil or criminal action may be taken. |
| ATTORNEY - CLIENT PRIVILEGE | The doctrine that by law, most information a client tells his or her attorney in connection with his or her representation can’t be disclosed by the attorney or any of the staff. |
| WORK PRODUCT | Any material produced by an attorney while preparing for trial, such as notes and memos. |
| EX POST FACTO LAW | A law making a person criminally liable for an act that wasn’t criminal at the time it was committed. |
| PRACTICE OF LAW | Generally defined as services that an attorney is authorized by law to provide to a client. |
| PERJURY | Giving false testimony in court, or lying under oath. It’s a crime, and it’s also a crime for a lawyer to knowingly allow a client or witness to do it. |
| FIDUCIARY | A person entrusted with handling money or property for someone else. The fiduciary has a duty to act with honesty and loyalty when dealing in the other person’s interests. |
| ALLEGATION | Accusation that the accusing party intends to prove in court. |
| FIDUCIARY DUTY | The fiduciary has a duty to act with honesty and loyalty when dealing in the other person's interests. |
| DUE DILIGENCE | A term used in many of the laws relating to lawyers’ duties, meaning the correct level of care and attention. It isn’t well-defined, but rather depends on the circumstances of each case. |
| ZEAL | Passionate Interest |
| ADVERSARIAL SYSTME | The system of justice practiced in this country, where opposing parties battle against each other in court trying to get a result that favors them. The judge acts as an independent magistrate, making sure each side is treated fairly. There’s always a winning and a losing side in such a system. |
| FEDERAL RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE 11 | Authorizes the imposition of sanctions, including the award of attorney fees, for the filing of any paper which is "not well-grounded in fact." |
| ABA MODEL RULE 3.1 | Requires a lawyer to analyze the intent of the client with an objective standard that prohibits the presentation of a frivolous claim or defense. |
| PROBABLE CAUSE | A reasonable basis for belief in something, or that something is reasonably more likely to have occurred than not.. It's a standard used often in law, and doesn't demand the complete and unquestionable truth of an allegation, but rather the reasonable belief in the truth of the allegation. Thus, id a person has probable cause to believe in something and they're later proved wrong, they aren't open to prosecution for their belief.. |
| GAMESMANSHIP | When lawyers, zealously representing their clients, step across the lines of truth, and start making misleading and false representations of authority to the court. |
| SPOLIATION OF EVIDENCE | The intentional destruction or alteration of evidence. |
| CITE | To refer to legal authorities in support of an argument or proposition of law. |
| CONFLICT OF INTEREST | When a legal professional representing a client has information about the other party involved in the client’s case, or has some kind of relationship with the other party. |
| DILIGENCE | Steady, energetic, active attention and care to something. This is required of a lawyer representing a client. |
| DISCLOSED | Made public. |
| DISCRETION | The power of a judge to act according to his or her judgment after reviewing the facts of a case and the law that applies. |
| EXAMINE | To ask question of a witness at trial. |
| EXECUTOR | A person who has the duty to dispose of the property of an estate, according to the provisions of the will. |
| LAW CLERKS | Law students who haven’t graduated, and recent law school graduates who haven’t yet been admitted to the state bar. |
| MOTION TO DISMISS | A motion that asks the court to dismiss the plaintiff’s claim without further consideration. |
| PARALLEL CITE | A citation to a court decision that’s printed in more than one reporter. |
| PROBATE | The process of having a will declared valid by a judge. The probate court will also often supervise the actions of the executor. |
| RECOVERABLE | Capable of being recovered. For example, the winning party can be awarded money or items by the court. |
| RESTRAINING ORDER | Court order to stay away from someone. |
| SANCTION | A penalty or other means of enforcement used as an incentive to obey the law or rules and regulations, including imposing fines, seizing property, or suspending a license. |
| SUPERSEDED | Overruled by a law of a higher level of government. Federal or state laws will almost always supersede, or be given greater weight, than a city ordinance. |
| TO WAIVE | To voluntarily give up a right you know you have and could have enforced in court. |
| United States Code | All the laws of the federal government, organized by subject matter into sections, and published in many volumes. |
| WORK PRODUCT DOCTINE | The doctrine that any material produced by an attorney while preparing for trial, such as notes and memos, isn’t subject to discovery by the opposing side. |
| ZEALOUS | Over-eagerness and ardent interest in pursuing something. |
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