First Year Glossary

Affirm

to confirm a judgement on appeal, or uphold it. meaning, the appellate court confirms that the lower court ruled “correctly.”

Appellant (or petitioner)

A party who appeals a lower court’s decision, usually seeking to reverse that decision. A party would do this if they lose at court.

Appellee (or respondent)

The party who must respond to the appellant/ petitioner’s appeal. (they usually won in lower court). they usually want to affirm (or keep) the lower court’s decision.

Appellate Court

This is the type of court that hears appeals. This means the party that lost at the lower court level appealed to a higher court,. The cases you typically read in law school are at the appellate court level.

Black’s Law Dictionary

A legal dictionary. You should always look up terms in a legal dictionary versus a normal dictionary.

Cali

Center for Computer Assisted Legal Instruction. Non-profit consortium of mostly U.S law schools that conducts applied research and development in the area of computer-mediated legal education. the organization is best known in law schools for Cali lessons and online interactive tutorials in legal subjects.

Case book

Your textbook. a compilation of cases, chosen and edited to teach a subject.

Case Brief

A summary of a case so you can remember things like important facts, issues, rules, and the holding. You want to “brief” cases for class.

Case Law

the law derived from a collection of cases. Essentially, judges will write opinions, and that creates case law, or precedent. Case law can be common law, or it can be used to explain and supplement statutory law.

Citation

Legal Reference. In legal writing you need to cite your sources.

“Civ Pro”

abbreviation used for civil procedure. the process, or rules, of a case- such as how to file a claim and which court has jurisdiction. Civ pro uses FRCP or the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Clerking

Upon graduating law school, you can apply to clerk for a judge. Typically you do a lot of researching and writing, but experiences differ from judge to judge. Prestigious honor.

Clinic

Law school training in which students participate in actual cases under the supervision of a practicing attorney or law professor.

Cold call

Professors call on students without warning, or without looking for volunteers.

Common law

the body of law derived from cases, rather than a statute.

Conclusory

Used in legal writing and means you have left out a proper analysis. You DONT want your writing to be conclusory. You want a conclusion supported by analysis.

“Con Law”

abbreviation for constitutional law

“crim”

abbreviation for criminal law

Defendant

In a civil case, the defendant is the one being sued. in a criminal action, the defendent is the one who is being put on trial for a crime

Dissent

Disagreement with a majority opinion, especially among judges

FRCP

Federal rules of civil procedure

Holding

The court’s decision on a matter of law, sometimes called a judgment or a ruling.

Hornbook

A book explaining an overview of a particular area of law

Hypo

Short for hypothetical. professors give hypos to help explain the law.

IRAC

Issue, rules, analysis, conclusion. The structure used in legal writing.

“k”

abbreviation for contracts

Law Review/ Law Journal

Student run publications. You join for the opportunity to be published. You may have the opportunity to join 2L which means you will be editing the articles that the publications puts out. Articles are typically written by law professors.

Lexis/ Westlaw

Legal databases you use to research the law. There will be representatives to help you navigate. You will learn more about them in legal research

Moot Court

Fictitious court held in a law school setting to argue “moot” or hypo cases. These cases are usually at the appellate level.

MPRE

Multi-state Professional Responsibility Exam, or ethics exam. This is usually taken before you sit for the bar exam, and is typically offered in March, August, and October. Many students sit for it in the summer before their 3L year or fall of their 3L year.

Outline

Way of organizing the information for a particular subject or class. There is no right way to “outline” important part is that you are organizing, and synthesizing the information being given to you in class.

Petitioner

Party who presents a petition to the court. On appeal, the petitioner (or appellant) is the one who appeals from a judgement.

Plaintiff

The part that is bringing the lawsuit, or initiating the claim.

Prosecutor

In a crim case, prosecutor is the lawyer that brings charges against the defendant.

Respondent

The respondent (appellee) is the party against whom a petition is filed, especially one on appeal

Reverse

When an appellant court overturns a lower courts decision

SCOTUS

Supreme Court of the United States

Statutory Law

Law passed by a legislative body. Different from common law. E.x: FRCP and the UCC.

Study Aid/ Supplement

Supplements are a collection of books designed to help you understand the law. They’re not case books. Your library will have more info on the various types of supplements, and what they are used for. They help you clarify things but should not be a crutch or substitute to reading and briefing yourself.

Tort

A civil wrong, This subject typically involves things like car accidents and so forth.

TWEN/ Web Courses

These are web platforms that some professors use in class. TWEN is associated with Westlaw and Web Courses is associated with LexisNexis. They use platforms to collect assignments, provide course handouts, etc. Your professor will tell you if you need to use one.

UBE

Uniform Bar Exam. This is the bar exam administered in roughly 40 states. The reason this is significant is that the UBE score is “portable” meaning you can transfer your bar exam score to other jurisdictions.

UCC

Uniform Commercial Code. This includes subjects like Sales, Commercial Paper, and secured transactions

Writ of Certiorari

Used by the U.S Supreme Court to review the cases the court decides to hear.

Appeal

In civil practice. The complaint to a superior court of an injustice done or error committed by an inferior one, whose judgment or decision the court above is called upon to correct