Deck 1: Welcome to the Law Office: Foundations for Litigation

Question 1

What three things must a court have in order to hear a case and bind a party to the court's decision?
Be able to apply these concepts to determine what court or courts can hear a lawsuit depending on domiciles of the parties and other factors.

Answer 1

A court must have subject matter jurisdiction and venue. Of the courts that have both subject matter jurisdiction and venue, it must be determined which, if any, of these courts have personal jurisdiction (or in the case of property such as real estate, which has in rem jurisdiction over the property). To gain personal jurisdiction over the defendant, the defendant must be served with a summons and complaint.

Question 2

Why are professional ethics so important to a law firm?

Answer 2

A breach of ethical standards will reflect badly upon the firm or employer and may also lead to the disbarment of an attorney. It may cost a paralegal his or her job and subject the paralegal to prosecution for the unauthorized practice of law.

Question 3

What are some ethical concerns regarding timekeeping and billing?

Answer 3

Paralegals cannot set fees for a client and cannot split fees with an attorney. The paralegal cannot perform tasks that are considered the unauthorized practice of law.

Question 4

Locate the names, addresses, and phone numbers of your local and state paralegal associations. If you need help obtaining this information, try the director of a local paralegal program or any experienced paralegal. The headquarters of the state bar association might also have such information. For future reference, you may choose to place your expanded lists of sources for professional development in your systems folder.

Question 5

Make a copy of the federal court structure diagram found in this chapter and add any explanatory notes you feel will be useful to you in the future. Include in your diagram the names of U.S. district courts that sit in your state and the U.S. Court of Appeals that covers the circuit in which your state is situated.
Make a similar explanatory diagram for the court system of your state. Research the material to be placed in the diagram, including any jurisdictional amounts, by looking under courts, judiciary, and jurisdiction in the index of your state statutes or constitution, usually located in the law library, or search your State Court Web site. Some states have an administrative office of the courts at the capitol that may provide preprinted state court diagrams.
Place both diagrams and the State Court Web site address in the court section of your litigation
systems folder.

Question 6

What is jurisdiction? Define the various kinds of jurisdiction: geographical, personal, general, and so on.

Question 7

Look up your state's ethical rules that govern confidentiality, conflict of interest, attorney supervision of lay persons and legal assistants, professional integrity, and others. Record the rule numbers in an ethics section of your systems folder. Look up your state's unauthorized practice of law statute; note the wording and the possible penalties. You might want to add this to your folder. As you read further in this text and in other sources, insert in your folder the citations for key ethical rules and guidelines.

Question 8

Why are timekeeping and deadline control important?

Question 9

Using the ethical standards and rules cited in this section, answer the following questions on ethics.
a. You have just researched an issue and have found that inattentive driving is a breach of the duty of care that a driver owes to others. In a phone conversation the client asks you, "If the driver of the vehicle that struck was inattentive, is he in the wrong?" How should you answer?

Question 10

Set up a three-ring binder or electronic equivalent with the tab dividers arranged as described in the litigation system section of the text. Copies of the office structure and forms previously discussed should be placed in the systems folder as indicated in Appendix A. Begin a table of contents for your systems folder and add any information assigned by your instructor.

Question 11

Define paralegal.

Question 12

What are the characteristics of the common components of court systems in the United States?

Question 13

Define professional ethics in the context of the practice of law.

Question 14

What are the things a paralegal may not do?

Question 15

What is meant by the term professional loyalty as applied to your fellow workers? The client? The practice of law?

Question 16

Why is a paralegal valuable to a law firm? Identify significant legal authority on billing for paralegal time.

Question 17

What is a litigation system and why is it beneficial?

Question 18

What is a conflict of interest and the rationale for the relevant ethical standards?

Question 19

What are the seven criteria that assure a paralegal's actions will not be or cause a breach of ethics?

Question 20

What are the personal jurisdictional considerations regarding a defendant when the Internet is involved?

Question 21

Under what circumstances, if any, in your jurisdiction may a paralegal practice law unsupervised? Determine under what legal authority this practice is governed, such as a statute, court rule, or bar association opinion. Is there a distinction between paralegal practice in state court practice and federal practice? If so, under what circumstances can a paralegal represent the public?

Question 22

Determine from the map in Exhibit 1.6 the federal circuit and district courts that serve your state. Place that information in your systems folder.

Question 23

What is the significance of office electronic security? List related security tips.

Question 24

What is a partner, an associate, and a staff attorney?

Question 25

Your law firm has been hired to represent Ann Forrester in her lawsuit against Mercury Parcel Services, Inc. and its driver Richard Hart. Determine in what court would any future lawsuit be filed and explain the basis for your decision.

Question 26

Locate a copy of your state's code of professional responsibility on the Internet. Determine whether your state addresses the professional responsibilities of paralegals and what those entail. If your state does not specifically address the professional responsibility of paralegals, determine what code your state follows and how it is applied.

Question 27

Define civil litigation.

Question 28

Describe the steps in the deadline control procedure.

Question 29

State the benefits of having diverse personnel.

Question 30

Determine in which courts subject matter jurisdiction, personal jurisdiction, and venue exist in the following problems.
a. M, a resident of Wisconsin, and O, a resident of Minnesota, sue Corporations X and Y for industrial injuries amounting to $40,000 for each plaintiff resulting from an accident that occurred in Illinois. X is incorporated in Delaware and Ohio, and Y is incorporated in North Carolina with its principal place of business in Ohio.

Question 31

You are a paralegal working for an attorney who has represented Safe Bet Insurance Company. A potential client wants to sue Safe Bet. Is there a potential conflict of interest, and if so, may your attorney represent the new client?

Question 32

Define the various billing types and describe the steps in the timekeeping procedure. What is task- based billing?

Question 33

Using the facts from Case IV at the beginning of the chapter, determine what state and in what courts could Briar Patch file a lawsuit against Teeny Tiny Clothing.

Question 34

Obtain or create a diagram of your state system, noting which courts function as trial courts (original jurisdiction) and as intermediate or final level courts of appeal (appellate jurisdiction). Be able to identify the subject matter jurisdiction of each of your state courts. This is important because most of your work will be done in state court.

Question 35

As Mrs. Forrester's attorneys, what ethical obligations do you have regarding any communications you have with her regarding her potential lawsuit? What ethical obligations does your law firm have with regard to Mrs. Forrester's husband William?

Question 36

Glitter is a corporation that rents expensive jewelry to businesses and individuals. It is incorporated in Delaware and has its principal place of business in northern Indiana. It is licensed to do business in every state except Alaska and Hawaii. Flick, Inc., is a movie company incorporated in Idaho with its principal place of business in Utah. It does no business to speak of in any other state.
During Flick's filming in Nevada, an expensive necklace rented from Glitter falls into a piece of machinery on the set and is destroyed. Glitter wants to sue Flick for negligently destroying the jewelry (worth $700,000). Flick decides to sue Glitter, blaming the loss of a week's filming on the loss of the necklace, which they claim was caused by a faulty clasp made by Glitter. After using the charting method described in this section, answer the following questions:
Charting method applied to the case:
         GLITTER V. FLICK FOR NECKLACE

*ISSUE: Is filming a movie in a state a sufficient contact to allow personal service? (May depend on state statutes and overall degree of contacts.)



a. If Glitter sues Flick, is there subject matter jurisdiction in federal district court?
b. What, if any, kind of subject matter jurisdiction exists in federal district court?
c. What issue concerning personal jurisdiction exists when considering suit by Glitter against Flick in Nevada state and federal court?
d. Aside from Nevada, in what state and federal courts can Glitter sue Flick?
e. If Flick sues Glitter, does venue exist in the state courts of Idaho and Utah? Why or why not?

Question 37

Determine the types of legal activities in your jurisdiction for which a paralegal can be billed by a law firm and which activities cannot be billed. Explain the distinction for what is considered billable time in your jurisdiction.

Question 38

In interviewing a client, you and your attorney are convinced that some information provided by the client is false. What consequences can result from the presentation of such information to the court? What model rule of professional conduct applies?

Question 39

What is the difference between a personal injury case based on negligence and a product liability case? An antitrust and a civil rights case?

Question 40

What are some of the profound effects the Internet is having and will have on the practice of law?

Question 41

What are the techniques for thriving in the law office?

Question 42

What is personal professional development? Why is it important?

Question 43

State the ethical standard on preserving client confidentiality.

Question 44

Using your own search strategy, locate the Web site for your state courts. Note what general categories of information are available and enter this information in your systems folder.

Question 45

An attorney relied on a non-attorney calendar clerk to let him know when a notice of appeal was due. The deadline was missed, and the attorney filed for an extension of time because of excusable neglect, allowable if there is good cause for the mistake. Should the extension be granted?

Question 46

Without trying to use legal terminology or technical theories, answer the following questions for each of the five hypothetical cases presented in this chapter.
a. Who is suing and what basis might they have?
b. Against whom is the suit brought and what defenses might they have?
c. Who do you think will win and why?

Question 47

What federal circuit is your state in?

Question 48

Your supervising attorney asks you to release to the press a letter from a third party. The attorney says, "I'll finally get even by truly embarrassing the s.o.b." What should you do?

Question 49

Apply the directions for preparing a time slip to enter these activities. Assume your hourly rate is
$40 an hour and the date is today. Round to the nearest tenth of an hour.
6-minute phone call to client A. Forrester, Case I.
16 minutes to draft letter on behalf of client Heinz, Case IV.
1 hour and 18 minutes to research cause of action for client Ameche, Case II.
1 hour and 20 minutes to attend continuing education luncheon to improve general knowledge, but which may be useful on Cases III and IV. Cost: $5. (Should this be charged to the client?)

Question 50

What are the names and jurisdictions of the various levels of courts in both the federal and your state system?

Question 51

Why are professional integrity and honesty so important?

Question 52

Ask your instructor for the name of your state and local paralegal associations. Using a general search engine, see if that association has a Web site. If so, note the Web address in your systems folder.

Question 53

Fill out disbursement records based on this information.
100 photocopies at 10¢ per copy, business records for Heinz, Case IV.
Trip to investigate accident scene for client McVay, Case X: $60, motel; $5, lunch; $11, dinner; 100 miles at .25 per mile.
Computer research time, 10 minutes at $5 per minute for Montez Construction, Case V.

Question 54

What are the criteria for a proper conflict-of-interest screen according to the Leibowitz case?

Question 55

Go to both the NALA and NFPA Web sites and note the variety of career information available.

Question 56

Determine in which courts subject matter jurisdiction, personal jurisdiction, and venue exist in the following problems.
a. A, a resident of Florida, sues B, a resident of Washington, who is also the Secretary of the
Interior, in a First Amendment freedom-of-speech issue arising in southeast Georgia.
b. What happens in problem 3 if S is a Canadian citizen living in Louisiana?
c. E sues Great Britain for damages exceeding $500,000 for the illegal impounding of E's commercial plane.

Question 57

To develop a timekeeping habit during this training period, keep track of your time spent on assignments in the following time log, similar to that in Exhibit 1-2. Use a separate notebook or loose-leaf paper that can be placed at the back of your systems folder or keep track of your time in an electronic timekeeping program, if one is available.

Question 58

Assume that you have just opened the morning mail and received a copy of a complaint alleging a cause of action against Mr. Holton, who is represented by your firm. His file number is 92-1000. You know that you have 20 days, starting tomorrow, to file an answer and that it is your job to draft an answer for your supervising attorney's review. You have received the complaint on September 5. Making up the names you need, prepare the following deadline control slip so the document will be ready to mail on the 20th day. Ignore the fact that some days may be weekend days for purposes of this assignment only. Assume it will take a half day to research and draft the answer, one hour for the attorney to review it, a half hour for you to make revisions, and a half hour for the secretary to type it and have it ready for mailing. Complete all sections of the slip.

Question 59

Set up a simple deadline calendar for this training period. Use any type of standard calendar. Enter all important deadlines such as assignment due dates and exam dates. Use a system of advance reminder dates prior to the actual deadline and post-deadline reminders for necessary corrective action.

Question 60

Go to In the search window, type: model guidelines for the utilization of paralegal services. Find paragraph 3 of the comment to Guideline 1. What must a lawyer do to conform to Guideline 1?

Question 61

The jurisdictional amount

A) can determine in which court a case can be tried.
B) is the attorney's fee.
C) is the same in all courts.
D) can be waived for indigents.

Question 62

Venue is all of the following except

A) the county where the incident occurred.
B) the county where all the defendants reside.
C) each county where multiple plaintiffs reside.
D) neighborhood.

Question 63

An adverse party for whom a newly hired paralegal once worked should be informed of the hiring and of the nature of the conflict-of-interest screen.

Question 64

Industrial espionage might lead to which type of litigation?

A) Contract case
B) Civil rights case
C) Corporation case
D) Products liability case

Question 65

Pro-bono cases are cases involving malpractice.

Question 66

Legislative courts include all of the following except the

A) United States Claims Court.
B) United States District Court.
C) United States Tax Court.
D) United States Court of Veterans Appeals.

Question 67

A tickler system

A) helps with legal research.
B) is a calendaring process.
C) keeps law office personnel in a jovial mood.
D) indicates proper venue.

Question 68

Timekeeping is important for

A) analyzing productivity.
B) setting speed records.
C) determining billable hours.
D) a and c
E) none of the above.

Question 69

Of all the techniques mentioned for thriving in the law office, which two are most important?
Explain.

Question 70

Ethical responsibility in a law firm rests with

A) attorneys.
B) the senior partner.
C) paralegals.
D) legal secretaries.
E) all of the above.

Question 71

Describe a paralegal litigation systems folder and its advantages.

Question 72

Help your clients feel comfortable by using their first names immediately.

Question 73

Disbursements are expenses incurred on behalf of the client.

Question 74

Professional telephone use includes all of the following except

A) a chatty conversation.
B) repetition of facts.
C) brevity.
D) identification as a paralegal.

Question 75

Paralegals may

A) give legal advice to a friend.
B) accept cases for the firm.
C) represent clients at federal administrative hearings.
D) split fees with an attorney.

Question 76

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit hears appeals from the U.S. Commissioner of Patents.

Question 77

Except in class action cases, the jurisdictional amount in federal diversity cases

A) is the combined claim for multiple plaintiffs.
B) is the value of all claims made by one plaintiff against one defendant.
C) can never include attorney's fees.
D) is the value of each plaintiff's interest in the property in question rather than the actual value of the property.

Question 78

Paralegals are responsible for clerical and word processing services for the law firm.

Question 79

The U.S. Court of Appeals has original jurisdiction over controversies between two or more states.

Question 80

Read thoroughly the Model Rules of Professional Conduct or your state rules of conduct to gain a fuller understanding of your ethical responsibilities. Why is confidentiality so important?