Paralegal glossary

 

Jurisprudence : It’s all the judgements who were given. It’s a source of law because all of them influence the decision of the judge. With the jurisprudence, we can see the application of the law before the trial.

Doctrine : It’s another source of law because it’s all the books and the legal works written by differents lawyer and officer of justice.

Bailiff: A state employee who is executing all judgments after trial, for example legal entry.   

Courthouse : The government place where all the legal activities are doing, for example, trial.

Lawyer : A court officer who gives legal advice, helps and represents a citizen. A lawyer have do defend his client for his benefit. The innoncence of his client must prove.

Contract : A legal document shows a legal act to accomplish. It’s written by two people.

Complainant : The person who’s making a request in court. It’s complainant versus respondent.

Verdict : A legal declaration  by the jury or judge to affirm the guilty or no guilty  of the presume accused.

Convict : When the judge or jury are saying the guilty of a person and are explaining the consequences of the decision.

Criminel Code : The book who  edicted  and described all the law about the criminel juridiction.

Supreme Court : It’s the highest court in Canada. This court can decides everything because there is nothing more powerful than this court.  

Judge : The legal officer who’s taking the decision.

Trial : Instance court. Exposition of a legal problem in front of the judge to decide who is guilty like who has the fault.

Law firm : An office where many lawyers are working to prepare their case.

Proof : A material element used to give validity of our defence.

Affidavit : A legal statement who proof the truth of a affirmation for use as evidence in court.

Quebec Court : It’s a court of first instance. This authority  has a legal competence to hear the trial of civil juridiction.

Clerk of the court : Legal officer who’s taking notes during the trial. He helps the judge to take his decision.

Witness : A person that can prove the truth of something because he sees or hears it.

Swearing : It’s the act to swear. In front of the judge, you attest that you will tell the truth.

 

 

 



A beautiful career !

A beautiful career !

Do you know that it’s possible to study the field of law? Yes. It’s possible, because at this moment, I am studying Paralegal Technic at Ahuntsic College. It’s a three years program. I really like this program. Essentially, I choose it because; I want to become a lawyer. I decide to do this technical program than doing a general program because for me, it was so long waiting to study law only at the university. In Quebec, to become a lawyer, you have to do a baccalaureate in law during three year. Finally, you have to do the ‘Barreau du Québec’ for one year.

However, you can become paralegal only with this three year program. Certainly, a paralegal plays an important role in the justice administration. Without a paralegal, a lawyer wouldn’t be able to do an effective work. Team work is so important because they are working in collaboration. A paralegal is helping the lawyer for many tasks, for example, for the preparation of the cases by doing research, by writing a lot legal procedures, by filing documents in the court report. Most of the research is on the jurisprudence (court decisions) and the doctrine to find books that explain how we apply the law with the facts of our case. The preparation, that the paralegal do, is essential to the trial because otherwise the lawyer wouldn’t be able to defend correctly his client. Also paralegals assist the lawyer at the trial.

A paralegal most aware that the beginning when you finish school, it would difficult to find a job because you need experience. You can’t decide where you will work so you must take the chance that the lawyer firm give you to get some experience. We call this period ‘critical years’. You will work everywhere with minimal responsibilities. Working conditions will not be good; you should be expected to work up to 90 hours a week. You will always be under the lawyer’s supervision. However, you have to keep confidence and you need to be persistent because it will not be like this all the time.

After the critical period, you will certainly have more responsibilities. You should have more tasks than before. Also, when you built your experience, it could be possible that you get some advancement opportunities. Don’t forget that you need to do update on every change about the law because this profession is rapidly expanding area. There is always something new about this field. Finally, you must in mind that you play a significant role in the lawyer’s work.

Reference : http://www.princetonreview.com/careers/105/paralegal

Find a law !

 

 

 

Educaloi:

The first goal of this website is to help the public to understand our system of civil justice. This organization gives a lot of information about law, our rights and your obligations. Sometimes, you have a little problem and you don’t know what to do but you don’t want to pay $400 (four hundred box) to have legal advice. At this point, everyone should resolve there problems with this website.

When you are on the website, you can start your research by looking every field of law. With these fields of law, you have to tell you this question « My problem is amounting to witch fields of law.» With this information you can find some specific informations about every problem that a citizen can resole by him-self.

But you don’t have enough information about your subject. The second solution is to find the law, witch is associated to your field of law.

To find a law :

Step 1 : click on the  Services and resources on the navigation menu

Step 2 : You have to scroll down the page and choose Find a law or a court decision

Step 3 : Click on the blue link

Before doing the research you have to know if it’s a federal or a provincial law.

But you don’t know in witch jurisdiction your law is. So, find it by trial and error.

Step 4: Click on the first link under the number 1). You will be on a federal website. You will have a text box where you can write the most important word of the law you want to find. If you find nothing, you will know that’s probably a provincial law.

Step 5: If it’s not a federal law, click on the second link under the number 2). You will be on a provincial website. After, click on the link named List of law. Find the keyword of the law that you research. All the keywords are grouped by their first letter for instance if you want to find the adoption act, you simply have to look under the rubric of the letter A.

So now, you will be able to find every legal information that you need to resolve your problems.

Walkthrough of Educaloi

FIND A LAW

 I will show the website Educaloi. It's a gouvernemental website founded in 2000. This website is used to informe the population about our Quebec law system. Their mission is helping citizens understand their rights and responsibilities. Everyone can have access to this website. Educaloi is a registered charity like a not profit organization With this video, you will learn how to find a law.

Video