Paralegal Practice Test

A paralegal is employed by an attorney. Upon employment, the attorney distributes a first aid brochure containing the name of the attorney office’s name and contact information. The paralegal is then found in a situation of providing first aid to a person involved in a car accident. In the situation, before leaving the scene, the paralegal hands the brochure to the injured person. Can this conduct be a basis for discipline against the attorney?

A sole practitioner practices general business law and personal injury law. She employs a paralegal and hands all the personal injury law cases to the paralegal, while she handles the general law cases. The sole practitioner supervises the work of the paralegal, pays him an appropriate salary and splits the fees from the personal injury law cases with the paralegal. Is this conduct allowed?

Mary is an attorney representing AGP, a company manufacturing kitchen robots. The AGP president called Mary after reading a newspaper story about a woman getting injured because of a kitchen robot catching fire. The product was manufactured about 4 years ago. The president remembers that about that time a batch of their products went into sale without a proper safety inspection. The president suspects the product from the local media story is from AGP. Since the company policy is to destroy safety check records every 4 years, the president intends to destroy them now. If Mary wants to act ethically, can she agree and let the President take this action?

Anita is a paralegal who works for a mid-size law firm. She meets a client for an interview and introduces her name and last name. After the completed interview, the client thanks her and calls her “an attorney”. Was Anita obliged to state her paralegal credential at the introduction?

Maria has recently passed the Certified Paralegal examination and after completing an official paralegal program. She has previous 3-year experience from a law firm specializing in immigration law. While looking for a job as a paralegal, she comes across a job posting for a “Case manager”. The job description states that this employee will receive little to none supervision, and will have direct contact with clients while providing legal services. Can Maria consider applying in this firm?

An attorney received a check from an insurance company in the amount of a recent settlement reached with the attorney’s client. The attorney was running late for a meeting, so he left the check between the papers on his desk. An employee in the attorney’s office, knowing about the check, picked it up, forged the attorney’s signature and cashed it running away from the area. According to the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, can there be discipline against the attorney in this case?

Prior to working in his current law firm as a paralegal, John used to work for a state agency. At this previous job, John prepared a report on accidents happening to employees in factories. The report was internal and not published, but could be obtained under the Public Records Act. Now John’s law firm has just gotten on a case against one of the companies on this report, where a huge number of employee accidents happened. Can John work on this case?

Maya is a paralegal who works for the district prosecutor’s office. She works on a high-profile burglary case with the prosecutor Barbara. Barbara gets an idea to use the defendant’s history of convictions to build a compelling case. Later, Maya meets an acquaintance journalist who inquires about the case. Maya says only that the prosecutor is building a strong case centered on the defendant’s conviction history. Is Maya’s action in violation of an ethical principle?

Mark is an attorney representing the Plaintiff in a case. During the discovery process, he meets Gerg who is representing the defendant. Mark gives Greg a settlement offer for USD 50,000. Greg laughs and immediately rejects the offer. Which of the following would be an appropriate course of action for Mark?

Paul the Plaintiff tells Anne, his Attorney, that he would not accept any settlement offer below USD 200,000. Later, the defendant’s attorney calls Anne and offers to settle for USD 150,000. Anne tries to reach Paul, but she is unable to reach him over the course of one day. She then refuses the settlement offer. In court, Paul is awarded USD 250,000. If Paul wanted to, could he sue Anne for professional malpractice?

Ron and Martin are the only partners in a law firm. Bookkeeping is in the charge of Martin. Ron is familiar with Martin’s exacerbating gambling addiction, but trusts him enough to not take any action regarding checking on the firm’s trust accounts or talking to Martin. Eventually, Martin takes USD 10,000 from the law firm and is not able to repay them. Is there a basis for disciplinary action for Ron?

One day, the senior attorney in a law firm is reviewing the firm’s bank statement because the bookkeeper has taken the day off. The senior attorney notices an urgent client charge that needs to be paid, writes a check in that amount and hands it to her paralegal to deposit it in the trust account. Is this action of the attorney allowed?

Erin is a paralegal that works for an attorney. The attorney has been exceedingly satisfied with her work and her regular attendance of most of his hearings. One day the attorney was running late for a hearing. He trusts Erin and consequently calls her and asks that she introduces herself for the record and explains that the attorney will be 15 minutes late. If Erin does this, would she be engaging in an unauthorized act?

Louise is a paralegal who recently started working for the A & M law firm. One day, A & M is contacted by a client for a case on which Louise has been heavily involved at her previous law firm employer. In the current law firm, Louise has no connection to the litigations department. Can the current law firm accept the work on this case if Louise is screened from it and is not involved with working on it?

A paralegal works for an attorney. The paralegal is calling a client, who recently lost a divorce case in which he was represented by the attorney. The paralegal is calling for a minor matter, but suddenly the client starts raging at the court decision and says he was going to kill his ex-wife. The paralegal is aware that the client used to possess a firearm. The paralegal promptly informs the attorney. Can the attorney take any action to prevent fatal consequences?

Can a paralegal accept a 40% discount on a new car given to him due to the car dealer being a former client of the law firm the paralegal works at and well-acquainted with the paralegal?

Can an attorney accept the standard 5% discount on a new car given to him due to the car dealer being a former client of his law firm and well-acquainted with the attorney?

A paralegal works for an attorney. They meet with a client and in the course of the meeting also discuss the performance of the Boston Red Sox in that season. The next day the client’s son calls the paralegal and asks about the details of the meeting his father had with the law firm. The paralegal politely explains she cannot disclose that information. The son then asks if there is anything she is allowed to tell him from that meeting. The paralegal says “Yes, we discussed the performance of the Red Sox this season.” Has the paralegal violated any rules?

A law firm and its senior attorney and associate were served a subpoena by one of the parties to one of their former cases. Later, the associate is deposed related to details concerning the client case. Has the associate infringed on the confidentiality rule?

An attorney meets with a 75-year-old woman to discuss planning her estate. The woman was lucid but said she has no experience with financial and related matters. The attorney and the client worked out an estate plan and scheduled a meeting for executing the will one month later. Both her adult sons attended the meeting. After one hour into the discussion the lawyer observes that the woman is silent and only says “Do as you wish”. The attorney then asks to have a private conversation and explains to her that she can decide entirely on her own in this matter. They discussed the issues and agreed that the will is according to her wishes. Upon returning to the discussion, the sons signed the will and it was executed. One month later, one of the sons filed a bar complaint. The son claims the woman did not understand her will. Is there a basis for disciplinary action against the attorney?

Ben is a paralegal, who works with Audrey, an attorney, on a high-profile case. The court has entered a protective order in this case. The purpose was to prevent public disclosure of sensitive information contained in the case. However, without the knowledge of Audrey, Ben copied all case documents on an external hard drive and handed them to Wikileaks. A few days later, the information was leaked on their website. Can there be discipline action against the attorney?

A paralegal works at a law firm. The paralegal finds out that a piece of information on the biography of one of the law firm’s associates written by himself for the firm’s resume is incorrect. Would the associate be subject to disciplinary action?

An attorney represents a 78-year-old childless woman in managing her complex estate. The woman was lucid and actively involved in the limited partnership she formed with the attorney on the issue of lowering her estate taxes. At some point the woman stops answering the attorney’s attempts at communication with her. The attorney has sent her several letters and has left several voice messages to her. Suddenly, one day she calls the attorney and says she wishes to stop all contact with the law firm and closes the phone. Does the attorney have any obligation to the woman?

Can a senior partner represent a client at an arbitration dispute before the American Arbitration Association agreed by all parties to take place in a state other than the one where the senior partner is licensed?

A paralegal is assisting an attorney who is representing the defendant in a case. The paralegal discovers a controlling case law that stands in opposition to the defendant's position. The paralegal reviews everything, informs the attorney and discusses it with him. Would in this case the attorney have any obligations?

Is a paralegal allowed to apply for, accept and complete the work for jobs for employers that are not a licensed attorney?

Ron and Martin are the only partners in a law firm. Bookkeeping is in the charge of Martin. Ron is familiar with Martin’s exacerbating gambling addiction. Eventually, Ron notices one day that Martin took out USD 10,000 from the law firm's trust account. Ron finds out that Martin was headed to the casino, but does not take any action. Is there a basis for disciplinary action for Ron?

Is a law firm in breach of any of the Model Rules if the firm has listed the names of all of its paralegals in the letterhead of the firm, identifying them as paralegals?

A paralegal was expected to attend a seminar by the county bar association to update her skills and education. ON the same day, the senior partner in the law firm where she works asked the staff to a special lunch. The paralegal attended the lunch and skipped the seminar. Soon afterwards, the paralegal made a non-permissible mistake on a case that could have been avoided if the paralegal had attended the seminar and familiarized herself with the latest rule changes. Can the the paralegal be subject to any kind of disciplinary action?

A paralegal and a attorney are working on a debt collection case involving a debtor who has defaulted on auto loans. In the course of the case, they filed an application for default judgment with a copy sent to the debtor. Later, the debtor come to the law firm, speaks to the paralegal and eventually gives car keys to the paralegal returning the vehicle as per the loan agreement. The debtor explains where the car is parked and asks the paralegal to deliver the keys. Would accepting this task be a permissible action for either the attorney or the paralegal?

A paralegal works at a law firm that specializes in legal services to small businesses . On a business day, the paralegal answers a call from a person interested in starting a business and expresses they wish to seek legal services from the law firm. The paralegal explains that the cost for that type of service is between USD 500 and USD 1,000. The paralegal then asks the potential client for confirmation whether that cost is acceptable so she can send a contract. Is this an example of unauthorized conduct?

A paralegal works for an attorney who is representing the defendant in a case. During one of the court hearings, the attorneys are out of the courtroom. At this time, the Plaintiff asks the paralegal if he could please explain how the process of questioning will look when the Plaintiff will be called to the witness stand. Can the paralegal comply?

A paralegal and an attorney are working on a case. The attorney has just talked to a witness and does not believe the witness. However, the attorney has no evidence for this position yet. Intending to help, the paralegal calls the witness presenting themselves falsely, in an attempt to obtain information that could prove the attorney’s distrust in the witness’ account. Would this act constitute a violation of any professional conduct rule by the paralegal?

A paralegal used to work for law firm AB, but is now employed in another law firm, BC. While working at AB, the paralegal was heavily involved on cases where Company A was the defendant. One day BC receives a request to represent a client as a Plaintiff in a case against Company A. The paralegal, recognizing the defendant, decides to say nothing about it. Would this act constitute a violation of any professional conduct rule by the paralegal?

Bobby is an attorney defending a debtor in two creditors’ lawsuits. In the course of the second creditor’s lawsuit, Bobby’s law firm is served a subpoena seeking non-privileged records related to the first creditor’s lawsuit. Bobby asks his paralegal to redact the entries on the copies of all billing statements on and after the date of filing the lawsuit of the first creditor. Why were the billing statements redacted in response to the subpoena?

A defendant is complaining that Johnatan, the attorney, has overcharged him for his legal services on the case. During the motion for attorneys’ fees hearing, Jonathan calls the Plaintiff’s attorney as a witness. Is an attorney allowed to testify as a witness in a case in which he is involved as a representative of one of the parties?

Johnatan is the attorney of the Plaintiff in the case. Jonathan has encountered difficulties because the defendant’s attorney regularly asked for extension. Jonathan asked the defendant’s lawyer why so many delays were necessary, the lawyer would always respond that 1) either the client was too busy or that 2) his client or himself were on vacation. Is the defendant’s lawyer subject to potential disciplinary action?

Sam works as a paralegal on a case for Adam, who is the attorney representing the Plaintiff in a case. Adam has a strong personal dislike for the defendant’s lawyer. In order to cause annoyance to the defendant’s lawyer, Adam instructed Sam to include a request for documents reflecting communications between the defendant’s wife and a third person, which Adam claimed to suspect of having an affair with her. Can Adm be subjected to disciplinary action?

A paralegal and an attorney are working on a case. The attorney has just talked to a witness and does not believe the witness. However, the attorney has no evidence for this position yet. Intending to help, the paralegal calls the witness presenting themselves falsely, in an attempt to obtain information that could prove the attorney’s distrust in the witness’ account. She then informs the attorney of the action and the attorney says “Thank you, excellent work”. Can the attorney be subjected to disciplinary action?

A paralegal is in the law firm’s conference room preparing for a hearing. The only other person present is the complainant in the case, who is not represented. The paralegal’s employer, who is the arbitrator in the case, the respondent and the respondent’s counsel are all absent. The complainant asks the paralegal what would be argumentation of her employer. The paralegal explains to the complainant that her employer does not represent the complainant and that her employer’s role in the room is to serve as a third-party neutral. Was this conduct appropriate on the part of the paralegal?

The NALA Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility rules concerning paralegals prohibit paralegals from performing which of these activities?

Unless under the supervision of an attorney, a paralegal is prohibited from performing which of the following activities?

Which of the following a paralegal is not allowed to perform even if delegated by an attorney?

A paralegal is required to maintain an adequate high competency level in which of the following?

In order to maintain the certification, a certified paralegal is required to spend …. in continuing legal education.

According to the the American Bar Association definition, a paralegal or a legal assistant …

As a basic statement, paralegals may not…

According to the NALA Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility, a paralegal is obliged to…

Which of the following a paralegal is not allowed to perform even if delegated by an attorney?

According to the NALA Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility, a paralegal is prohibited from...