PP Paralegal flashcards
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32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Informed consent
- A client's agreement to a proposed course of conduct after the lawyer has communicated adequate information about the material risks of and reasonably available alternatives to the proposed course of conduct.
- Attorney-client privilege
- A client-held evidentiary privilege that protects confidential communications between a client and lawyer made to obtain legal advice from compelled disclosure, unless the client waives it.
- Rule 1.6 confidentiality
- The ethical duty prohibiting a lawyer from revealing information relating to the representation of a client absent informed consent, implied authorization, or a recognized exception; it is broader than privilege.
- Concurrent conflict
- A conflict under Model Rule 1.7 that exists when representation of one client will be directly adverse to another client or a significant risk exists that the lawyer's personal interests will materially limit the representation.
- Nonlawyer assistance (Rule 5.3)
- The professional rule requiring a lawyer with managerial authority to make reasonable efforts to ensure that a nonlawyer's conduct is compatible with the lawyer's professional obligations.
- Unauthorized practice of law
- Conduct by a nonlawyer that constitutes giving legal advice, drafting or selecting legal documents for another, or appearing in court on behalf of another, which states prohibit.
- Trust account commingling
- The prohibited practice of mixing client or third-party funds with a lawyer's own funds; Rule 1.15 requires client funds to be held separately in a trust account.
- Negligence elements
- Duty, breach, actual causation, proximate causation, and damages; a plaintiff must prove all five elements by a preponderance of the evidence in a civil action.
- Diversity jurisdiction
- Federal subject-matter jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332 requiring complete diversity of citizenship between opposing parties and an amount in controversy exceeding $75,000, exclusive of interest and costs.
- Hearsay
- An out-of-court statement offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted; it is inadmissible unless a federal or state rule provides an exception or exclusion.
- Statute of repose
- A law that bars a claim after a fixed period measured from an event such as completion of construction, regardless of when the plaintiff discovers the injury.
- Adverse possession
- A doctrine allowing a person to acquire title to land through actual, open and notorious, exclusive, continuous, and hostile possession for the statutory period.
- Contract consideration
- A bargained-for exchange of value that induces each party to enter the contract; it is required at common law but not for a merchant's firm offer under UCC Article 2.
- Beyond a reasonable doubt
- The standard of proof in a criminal case requiring the prosecution to persuade the fact finder that no reasonable doubt exists about the defendant's guilt.
- IRAC method
- A legal analysis format with four parts: Issue, Rule, Application of the rule to the facts, and Conclusion; it is used in memoranda, exam answers, and briefs.
- Mandatory authority
- Law that a court must follow, such as a controlling statute or a decision by a higher court in the same jurisdiction; it is also called binding authority.
- Holding versus dicta
- A holding is the court's necessary resolution of the issue and binds later courts; dicta are nonessential statements that are persuasive only and not binding.
- Citator
- A research tool such as Shepard's or KeyCite that lists later cases and authorities citing a source and indicates whether the source remains good law.
- Annotated code
- A statutory compilation that reproduces the session law text and adds case annotations, cross-references, and research aids; pocket parts or supplements update the bound volumes.
- Bluebook
- The standard U.S. legal citation manual prescribing formats for cases, statutes, and secondary sources; local court rules control when they conflict with it.
- Active listening
- A communication technique using attention, reflection, clarification, and summarization to confirm understanding of a client's statements and to encourage complete disclosure.
- Open-ended question
- A question that invites a narrative answer and cannot be answered with yes or no, useful in client interviews to gather fuller facts and context.
- Plain language
- Writing that uses short sentences, active voice, and common words to make legal information understandable while preserving the precise legal meaning.
- Cultural competence
- The ability to recognize how a client's language, values, and experiences affect communication and to avoid assumptions based on background, ethnicity, or national origin.
- Client interview preparation
- Reviewing the file, conflicts results, and prior documents before meeting the client, and preparing an outline of open and closed questions to obtain relevant facts.
- Scope-of-representation letter
- A writing that defines the matter the lawyer will handle, the work the paralegal may perform, and what is excluded, helping prevent misunderstandings and unauthorized practice.
- Docket control
- A calendaring system that records court deadlines, statutory dates, and internal milestones, assigns responsibility, and sets advance reminders to prevent missed dates.
- Conflicts database
- A searchable record of clients, adverse parties, counsel, and related entities used to identify conflicts before opening a matter or adding a new party.
- Metadata
- Hidden electronic file information such as author, creation date, and revision history that can be exposed when producing or publishing documents and may require scrubbing.
- Privilege log
- A document-by-document list of materials withheld from discovery that states author, recipient, date, subject, and the basis for claiming privilege or work-product protection.
- Litigation hold
- A directive suspending routine destruction of documents and electronically stored information when litigation or an investigation is reasonably anticipated.
- Contemporaneous time entry
- A billing record made close to when the work was performed, describing the specific task, time spent, and person performing it, which supports the fee's reasonableness.