Business View Magazine | Volume 8, Issue 10

9 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 8, ISSUE 10 REVEALED: THE LEGAL TERMS AMERICANS LEAST UNDERSTAND! OPENING L INES Knowingly or unknowingly, we are all being exposed to a range of legal terminology on a daily basis. Whether it be the president at risk of impeachment or a business/entrepreneur having to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy, but do we have a strong grasp of the meaning of such common legal jargon? The Research: Interested in legal awareness, Upliftlegalfunding. com identified a seed list of 236 legal terms from United States courts and then utilised online analytics tool Ahrefs to establish the top 20 legal terms that Americans least understand. The Findings from the Research: Upliftlegalfunding.com found that ‘affidavit’ is the legal term that Americans are most unsure about, exemplified by an average 170,900 online searches per month from Americans trying to discover the legal term’s true meaning. ‘Class action’ is in second position, as there are an average 88,100 online searches a month from Americans wanting to understand what the legal term truly represents. In third position is ‘chapter 7’, with an average 61,000 monthly online searches from Americans trying to educate themselves on what the legal term means. ‘Arraignment’ (60,900), ‘impeachment’ (54,000) and ‘deposition’ (50,000) are among the other legal terms that receive 50,000 or more online searches a month from Americans trying to determine their true context and use in the legal field, respectively ranking fourth, fifth and sixth. Interestingly, other legal bankruptcy codes such as ‘chapter 11’ and ‘chapter 13’ feature in the top 20 least understood legal terms, with 47,100 online searches a month from Americans for the meaning of chapter 11 and 42,450 online searches a month from Americans for the meaning of chapter 13. At the other end in 20th position is ‘habeas corpus’, with an average 26,600 online searches every