Intro to Paralegal

Billing rates for paralegals range from

$60-$155 an hour

Example of substantive law:

A law prohibiting employment discrimination

An example of procedural law

A law requiring that a complaint be filed to begin a lawsuit

The APC designation means that

A legal assistant has passed a test demonstrating competence in a legal specialty

Professional association responsible to setting educational standards for Paralegals

AAfPE

A larger card inserted in the filing cabinet in the place of a temporarily removed file is called

An out card

In larger firms the paralegal manager or legal assistant manager is

And employee who is responsible for overseeing the paralegal staff and paralegal professional development

The first step to opening a new file is to

Assigned the case a file number

The latest information technology trends and which files and programs are stored online so they are accessible from any computer or smart phone or tablet connected to the Internet it's called

Cloud based computing

Mixing together a clients funds with the law firm's funds called ___ is one of the most common ways in which attorneys reach their professional obligations regarding client funds

Commingling

Substantive law is law that:

Creates legal rights and legal obligations

Billing more than one client for the same billable time

Double billing

Employment policies relating to compensation employee benefits performance of valuation employment termination and other rules of the workplace are usually spelled out in an

Employment policy manual

Paralegals typically obtain their training through:

Experience and education

Sexual harassment is a form of

Gender based discrimination

The paralegal advanced competency exam PACE can be taken by paralegals who

Have at least 2 years of work experience and meet specific educational requirements

Marta meets with her attorney, Norm, to incorporate her florist shop. The bill for the attorneys services is 1,500- 3 hrs at $500/hr this is an example of

Hourly fee

As a general rule clients pay __ and our bill monthly for time spent on the case by the attorneys are illegal personel

Hourly fees

First formal paralegal program began?

In late 1960's

Backing up data with external hard drive's or off site services

Is an important thing to do

Legal analysts is critical to a paralegals duties because:

It is integral to helping lawyers formulate arguments

The term paralegal is often used interchangeably with the term:

Legal assistant

A ___ is a form of business organization that normally allows lawyers doing business as partners to avoid personal liability for the malpractice of other partners

Limited liability partnership

Which of the following professional organization agree on a definition of a paralegal?

NALA & ABA

Most paralegals find employment by what means?

Networking

Time spent on tasks such as administrative work staff meetings or performance reviews is

Nonbillable time

Employee who handles client billing procedures manages day today operations of the small law firm by making sure of this run smoothly and sufficient supplies are on hand

Office manager

How many paralegal education programs exist

Over 1,000

___ is a business entity in which the shareholders are members of the same profession purchase the corporation stock on the farm share in the profits and losses in proportion to the number of shares their own and have a limited personal liability

Professional corporation

A __ is a signed document staring that the attorney or the law firm has been hired by the client to provide legal services and that the client agrees to pay the fees set forth in the contract

Retainer agreement

Can be found in a standard forms file

Retainer agreements real estate forms bankruptcy petition's computerized filing forms

When a case is closed, original client documents are usually

Returned to the client

One who purchases corporate stock or shares and becomes a owner of the corporation is known as

Shareholder

Original client documents

Should never be altered

You destroy files no longer needed by

Shredding

The max time period within which specific types of legal actions may be brought to court is set by

Statue of limitations

Employees who provide clercial, secretarial or other support to the staff are called

Support personnel

Law firms keep track of billable time by requiring legal professionals to submit time slips and usually require attorneys or paralegals to generate a minimum number of billable hours per year the reason for requiring a minimum number of billable hours is

That the financial well being of the firm depends on the number of billable hours generated by its employees

Paralegals may discuss client information with

The group working on the case

A sole proprietorship is

The simplest form of a business in which one individual owns the business

Which of the following is true of paralegals?

They may not practice law

A(n) ___ is a record documenting, for billing purposes, the hours or fractions of hours that an attorney or paralegal worked for each client, the date on which the work was performed, and the type of work that was undertaken

Time slip

When the fees charged to the client very depending on the results of the representation for example whether a lawsuit is lost one or settled it is called

Value billing

Files containing copies of research projects, legal memoranda, and various case related documents prepared by the firms legal professionals are known as

Work product or reference materials files

Once a clients file is closed

You still have an obligation to maintain confidentiality