Endnote

By Howard Zaharoff
     
      Clients have become picky, and aggressive. Experts say that one in five lawyers will be sued for malpractice this year, while the average lawyer (no one we know) will be sued three times before retiring (suggesting one should practice as long as possible, to spread those suits out).
      In this scary, competitive environment, clients increasingly arrive with lists of tough questions meant to gauge your legal acumen. So be sure to study the following questions and have ample copies around. That way, if such pesky prospects darken your door, you can snatch their lists away, hand them the following questions, and say brazenly: "You want to really test me? Try these!"
     
      1.To die intestate means to die
      a.From a perforated intestine or testicle
      b.Subject to the jurisdiction of two or more states
      c.Without a will
      d.Literally "untested"; thus, without a spouse or children
     
      2.A copyright lasts
      a.For the author's life
      b.For the life of the author plus 70 years
      c.For 20 years after
      registration with the
      Copyright Office
      d.Until the author's heirs file a certificate dedicating
      the work to the public domain with the Office
      of Copyright Divestiture
      e.As long as Disney wants
     
      3.Identify each of the following that a prospective employer should not ask a job applicant:
      a.Do you plan to get pregnant?
      b.Have you performed a
      similar job before?
      c.Have you always been
      this obese?
      d.Were you bar mitzvahed?
     
      4.Match the famous person with the area of law he or she has influenced the most.
     
      a.Sonny Bono
      b.Vanna White
      c.Paul Anka
      d.Anna Nicole Smith
      e.Al Capone
     
      1.Laws of
      inheritance
      2.Copyright law
      3.Tax law
      4.Securities law
      5.Right of publicity
     
      5.Who said, "Fifty percent of the job of a good lawyer is to tell the client he's a damn fool and should stop"?
      a.Elihu Root
      b.Abraham Lincoln
      c.John Dean
      d.Raymond Burr
     
      6.The "doctrine of equivalents" is used to
      a.Establish that something falling outside the literal scope of a patent is similar enough to infringe
      b.Prove that schools are "separate but equal" under the 14th Amendment
      c.Compare damage calculations in tort law
      d.Justify the sale of Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1919
     
      7.The term "laches" refers to which of the following?
      a.Old men who date
      young women
      b.Prejudicial delay in bringing a claim
      c.Young children left without parental guidance
      d.Chanukah pancakes
     
      8.Obtaining title to another person's property by open and hostile use is known as
      a.Finders keepers
      b.Losers weepers
      c.Homesteading
      d.Adverse possession
     
      9.The language "hereby remises and forever discharges, from all claims, demands, and liabilities whatsoever, from the beginning of the world to this date" is found in
      a.A will
      b.A mortgage
      c.A settlement agreement
      d.The Book of Genesis
     
      10.Who said, "A lawyer's time and advice are his stock in trade"?
      a.Clarence Darrow
      b.Clarence Thomas
      c.Abraham Lincoln
      d.Yogi Berra
     
      11.Of the following, who is not a lawyer?
      a.Julio Iglesias
      b.John Cleese
      c.Geraldo Rivera
      d.William Shatner
      e.Howard Cosell
     
      12.Which of the following poets was not a lawyer?
      a.James Russell Lowell
      b.Edgar Lee Masters
      c.William Carlos Williams
      d.Wallace Stevens
      e.Archibald MacLeish
     
      13.In 2001, the United States and the European Union resolved a dispute concerning the EU's rules on the importation of
      a.Military weaponry
      b.Wide-body jets
      c.Motion pictures
      d.Bananas
     
      14.Of the following contemporary thriller writers, who is not a lawyer?
      a.Scott Turow
      b.John Grisham
      c.Richard North Patterson
      d.James Patterson
      e.Lisa Scottoline
     
      15.Legal issues in the publishing industry caused by "orphan works" involve
      a.A parentless waif, such as Little Orphan Annie
      b.Out-of-print books
      c.Rarely cited or quoted articles
      d.Authors who can't be found
     
      Excerpted from Stump Your Lawyer: A Quiz to Challenge the Legal Mind by Howard Zaharoff (Chronicle Books, 2007).
     
      Howard Zaharoff (hzaharoff@juno.com) is an attorney who lives and practices in Massachusetts.
     
     
     
      Answers
      1. c; 2. b; 3. a, c, and d; 4. a-2, b-5, c-4, d-1, e-3; 5. a; 6. a; 7. b; 8. d; 9. c; 10. c; 11. d (though not all the others practiced law); 12. c; 13. d; 14. d; 15. d.
     
     
     

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