Type pleadings, contract clauses, Latin phrases and citations with the section sign, and read your WPM.
WPMType each word and press space after it. The clock starts on your first key.Id.at126.Theleasedefinesdefaultinthreeways.SeeCalderCiv.Code§1412(b)(3);seealsoid.§1415etseq.AsexplainedsuprainPartII.A,noticemustbegiveninwriting,andasshowninfrainPartIV,thenoticeherewasnot.Cf.Brennick,77Cald.App.3dat1049n.6(collectingcases).ButseeThorvick,212Cald.2dat915(Marrow,J.,dissenting).
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1 minute of typing. Words per minute is correct characters divided by five; accuracy is correct keystrokes out of all keystrokes.
This legal typing test times you on what a law office types: pleadings, contract clauses, Latin phrases and citations with the section sign. Pick one of 22 in the Passage menu, set 1, 3 or 5 minutes or No timer, and read your WPM and accuracy. A self-test: no certificate.
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Long words, and what WPM counts
WPM counts five correct characters as a word. Legal words run long: the complaint passage has 97 words but 611 characters, so it scores as 122, not 97. Capitals, brackets and odd spellings still slow the hands, and one wrong digit in a citation points to a different page. Under a clock, a passage that ends hands over to the next.
Legal typing practice, group by group
Start with pleadings, where Plaintiff, Defendant and Court take capitals and judgment has no e after the g. Contracts add the defined-term wrapper, (the "Lessee"): four shifted symbols round one word. Latin takes no capitals or hyphens. Citations come last, because the US layout has no key for the section sign.
Type subpoena ten times before a run: a silent b before the p, then o before e. Supersedes has an s where most people type a c.
In a citation the full stops are the grammar. Id. keeps its stop, v. is lower case and 3d takes none. Copy them as written.
Reread pairs such as fourteen (14) days after a run. The word and the figure must agree, and a slip in either is an error.
Questions and answers
What WPM does a legal secretary need?
Each firm, court and agency sets its own. The one figure we could read at source is the US federal standard for clerical posts titled (Typing) or (Office Automation): 40 words per minute, on a 5 minute sample with three or fewer errors. It is a general clerical standard, not a legal one (Office of Personnel Management, checked 19 September 2026, linked under the passage list).
How do I type the section sign (§)?
On Windows, hold Alt and type 0167 on the number pad with Num Lock on. Apple's British keyboard has a § key to the left of 1, and the US layout has none. A doubled sign, §§, reads sections, and a space follows the sign. With no such key, type any character in its place and carry on: only that one is marked wrong.
Are the cases in the passages real?
No. The State of Calder, its courts, reporters, companies and people are invented, so no real decision or person is described. One passage uses real statute citations, such as 11 U.S.C. §§ 101-1532 for the Bankruptcy Code, each as the US Courts glossary gives it. Nothing here is legal advice.
All 22 passages
Pleadings, motions and orders 5
Answer with two affirmative defensesAn answer is the defendant's formal written reply to the complaint. The word allegations appears 3 times: double l, then e, g, a. "Paragraphs 1 through 4" keeps its numbers as figures, so each range sends a finger up to the number row twice. Defense with an s is the American spelling.
Complaint: parties, jurisdiction and venueCOMES NOW opens many complaints in capitals. If you use Caps Lock for its eight letters, check it is off again before you type "the". Jurisdiction is a court's authority to hear a kind of case; venue is the place where it is heard. Pleadings capitalise Plaintiff, Defendant and Court as if they were names.
Motion for summary judgmentSummary judgment is a decision made on the papers, without a trial, when no facts are in dispute. Interrogatories has 15 letters and a double r. With depositions and affidavits it names the sworn material a motion like this leans on, so type the three slowly once before the run.
Show all 22 passages (19 more)
Pleadings, motions and orders, continued
Order on a motion to compelMany court orders put their operative words in capitals: ORDERED, GRANTED, DENIED. "Fourteen (14) days" writes the number twice, as a word and as a figure, and the two must agree, so proofread that pair first. A subpoena duces tecum commands a witness to appear and to bring documents.
Prayer for relief, items (a) to (f)American legal spelling gives judgment no e after the g, and the word turns up 4 times here if you count prejudgment and postjudgment. Each lettered item costs two shifted brackets round one letter, and every item but the last ends in a semicolon: 5 of them.
Contracts, defined terms and sworn statements 4
Affidavit with a notary's closing linesAn affidavit is a written or printed statement made under oath. "Further affiant sayeth naught" is an old closing line that still ends some of them, so see that autocorrect leaves sayeth and naught alone. The date line writes the day as an ordinal, 22nd, with no space before the letters. The name is invented.
Boilerplate: severability, waiver, counterpartsSupersedes has an s where most people type a c. It comes from the Latin sedere, to sit, and it is the only English word that ends in -sede; supercede is the common misspelling. Shall does the work of must in contract drafting, and it appears 4 times in these five sentences.
Indemnity: the hold harmless clauseAttorneys' fees takes its apostrophe after the s, because the fees belong to more than one attorney. The first sentence is a run of near synonyms split by 12 commas, so keep the rhythm: word, comma, space. Willful is the American spelling; British drafting writes wilful.
Lease: the parties and the defined termsA defined term is introduced once inside brackets and quotation marks, then capitalised every time after. That wrapper is four shifted symbols round one capitalised word, and it comes 5 times in this passage. Lessor and Lessee differ only in their last two letters, and swapping them reverses who owes what.
Latin and law French 4
Latin in a brief: inter alia to nunc pro tuncInter alia means among others, res judicata a matter judged, prima facie at first face, and nunc pro tunc now for then. Ten Latin phrases in 121 words is far denser than real drafting, which is the point of a drill. This is the longest passage on the page, so use it for the 3 minute run.
Pleas and writs: nolo contendere to certiorariNolo contendere is also called no contest. Certiorari is easier in syllables: cer, ti, o, ra, ri. In camera means in chambers, out of sight of the jury and the public, and has nothing to do with filming. Duces tecum means bring with you, which is why that subpoena asks for documents as well as a witness.
Pro se to per curiam: eight Latin phrasesPro se means on one's own behalf, in forma pauperis in a pauper's manner, and sua sponte of its own will. None takes a capital or a hyphen in running text. Latin breaks the letter patterns your fingers know from English, so expect your pace to drop on pauperis and curiam.
Voir dire and en banc: the French survivorsVoir dire is French for to speak the truth, and en banc for on the bench; some courts spell the second one in banc. Voir is the trap: o before i, and no e on the end. The challenge is peremptory, not pre-emptory: p, e, r, e, m, and no hyphen.
Citations, section signs and numerals 5
Caption and notice of hearingThe caption names the court, the case number and the parties in capitals, with a lower-case v. between the two sides. The case number 24-CV-01873 changes between digits, a hyphen and capitals four times in eleven characters. The date comes in two styles, 04/18/2024 and June 11, 2024: copy each as written. The court, the judge and the case are invented.
Case citations: volume, reporter, page, yearA case citation runs: names, volume, reporter, first page, then the year in brackets. The v. for versus is lower case with a full stop. 3d and 2d mark a reporter's third and second series and take no full stop. Type every full stop and comma exactly, because in a citation they are the grammar: this passage has 13 full stops.
Deed: a metes and bounds descriptionA metes and bounds description walks the edge of a plot by compass bearing and distance until it returns to the point of beginning. One wrong digit moves a boundary, so this passage rewards accuracy over pace. The four sides here close into a rectangle of 286.40 by 150.00 feet: 42,960 square feet, or 0.986 of an acre at 43,560 square feet to the acre. The streets are invented.
Short forms: Id., supra, infra and et seq.Id. is short for idem, the same, and points to the citation just before it. It always keeps its full stop, and takes a capital only when it starts the citation. Supra means above, infra below, et seq. and the following. The signals See, See also, Cf. and But see tell the reader how directly a source supports the point. The code and cases are invented.
Statute citations with the section signThe US keyboard layout has no key for the section sign. On Windows, hold Alt and type 0167 on the number pad with Num Lock on. A doubled sign, §§, reads "sections", and a space follows the sign before the number. These are real citations, each as the US Courts glossary gives it. The sign appears 6 times here.
Glossary word drills 4
Glossary drill: 30 hard spellingsThirty single words found in the US Courts glossary, the long ones first and the four-letter ones last. Indictment hides a silent c, subpoena a silent b, and lien puts i before e. Misdemeanor ends in -or in American spelling. An exculpatory fact points away from guilt and an inculpatory one towards it: two letters apart, opposite meanings.
Glossary drill: bankruptcy vocabularyFiling a bankruptcy petition usually triggers the automatic stay, an injunction that halts most collection against the debtor: lawsuits, foreclosures and garnishments. Nondischargeable runs to 16 letters with no hyphen, and nonexempt takes none either. Every term here has its own entry in the US Courts glossary; the list under the tool explains eight of them.
Glossary drill: civil lawsuit vocabularyHeadwords from the US Courts glossary in roughly the order a civil lawsuit meets them, from lawsuit to statute of limitations. Dismissal with prejudice stops the same lawsuit from being filed again and dismissal without prejudice allows it: three letters apart, opposite results. Limine has one m and ends in e.
Glossary drill: criminal case vocabularyHeadwords from the US Courts glossary in roughly the order a federal criminal case meets them, from grand jury to community service. Concurrent sentences are served at the same time and consecutive ones one after the other. Both start con-, so read to the end of the word. Misdemeanor ends in -or and offense takes an s in American spelling.
How this list was compiled: Twenty-two passages written for this page in the register of American court papers and contracts: five pleadings, motions and orders, four contract and affidavit passages, four passages of Latin and law French, five of citations and numerals, and four word drills. Every party, person, judge, company, street, county, court, case, reporter, code and docket number in them is invented, and so is the State of Calder: no real person, case or decision is described. No passage was copied from a hiring test, a form book or a filed document. Passages use American legal spelling (judgment, defense, willful, misdemeanor, organized) because that is what a US legal typing test uses; the notes and the page use British spelling. Terms, spellings, translations and meanings marked "US Courts glossary" were checked against the Glossary of Legal Terms of the Administrative Office of the US Courts, https://www.uscourts.gov/glossary (checked 2026-09-19); the meanings are reworded. The one passage of real citations (11 U.S.C. §§ 101-1532, sections 341, 523(a)(8), 707(b)(2) and 727(a) of the Bankruptcy Code, and 28 U.S.C. § 294) gives each as that glossary gives it under Bankruptcy code, Section 341 meeting, Undue hardship, Means test, Objection to discharge and Senior judge. Latin terms marked "Wikipedia, List of Latin legal terms" (inter alia, res judicata, prima facie, bona fide, stare decisis, ad litem, pendente lite, nunc pro tunc, supra, infra, et seq.): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Latin_legal_terms. Id. as the short form of idem, pointing to the citation immediately before it and always keeping its full stop: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Id. The order of a US case citation (names, volume, reporter, first page, court and year in parentheses), the lower-case v. with a full stop, and 2d and 3d for a reporter's later series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_citation. The signals See, See also, Cf. and But see, and the capital at the start of a citation sentence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation_signal. The section sign (U+00A7), its doubled form §§ read as "sections", and the space that follows it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_sign. Alt+0167 on the number pad with Num Lock on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt_code. The rows of the US layout, which hold no section sign, and the ± § key to the left of 1 on Apple's British and International English keyboards: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QWERTY and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_and_American_keyboards. Supersede from Latin supersedere (super, over, and sedere, to sit), the only English word ending in -sede, with supercede a common misspelling: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/supersede. Metes and bounds as a description that works round a parcel from a point of beginning back to the same point: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metes_and_bounds. 43,560 square feet to the acre: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acre. All checked 2026-09-19. Words and characters were counted (a character is one keystroke, spaces included, and a standard word is five characters, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Words_per_minute), and every figure quoted in a note was counted from the passage itself. Checked as well: 11 June 2024 was a Tuesday, the deed's two bearings are at right angles so its four calls close, 286.40 by 150.00 feet is 42,960 square feet or 0.986 of an acre, no sentence appears in two passages, every passage is plain ASCII apart from the section sign, and each term listed for a passage occurs word for word in it, except ten. Those ten name what a passage shows without printing the headword: a lease is a contract, a deed description runs by metes and bounds, and a word drill prints exculpatory where the glossary's headword is exculpatory evidence. The two word drills on criminal case vocabulary and civil lawsuit vocabulary hold only headwords of the US Courts glossary, matched against the live page on 2026-09-19. Each passage is also kept with the section sign written out as the word section, for keyboards that cannot type it. No pass mark, required speed, employer or test vendor is named anywhere, because none could be linked to a document that states it. Nothing here is legal advice. Typing speeds quoted in the FAQ: the US Office of Personnel Management's group qualification standard for Clerical and Administrative Support Positions, under Proficiency Requirements, asks for "40 words per minute typing speed" of a Clerk-Typist (GS-2 to GS-4), an Office Automation Clerk or Assistant, and any post whose title carries (Typing) or (Office Automation). It is a general clerical standard and says nothing about legal text. The standard says that words per minute "are based on a 5 minute sample with three or fewer errors", and that applicants may pass a performance test, present a certificate of proficiency or self-certify. Read at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/#url=Group-Standards on 2026-09-19. It covers US federal posts only, and no other employer's figure is quoted on this page. Licence: own work