Learning “legal English”, the technical language that students encounter in law school, is a particular challenge. Law students must learn to use English forms and structures in a way that meets the expectations of members of the legal academic community, in accordance with the conventions of the legal discipline. Learning legal English is therefore a process that incorporates elements of legal expertise and linguistic expertise. Therefore, lawyers and language teachers can do something to support this learning process. This interdisciplinary project combines the expertise of lawyers and applied language teachers/linguists to develop a digital multimedia resource for legal English based on an analysis of the language needs of Hong Kong law students. This resource targets the most common assignments and genres for law students, such as: Essays, Legal Questions, Memos, Dissertations, Oral Disagreements, and Contributions in two forms: 1) edited video interviews with legal experts who provide advice on legal writing and argumentation; 2) Task-based activities created by applied linguists that provide language-oriented extensions for expert observation. Guestbook: If you visit this page and find it useful, please take a moment to say hello in the comments below! It`s always great to connect with other people who are interested in legal English. Winner, Global Legal Skills Book Award 2019, presented by the Global Legal Skills ConferenceAn essential textbook for international lawyers and students Essential Legal English in Context focuses on vocabulary and introduces the American legal system and its terminology. Designed specifically for foreign-trained lawyers and students whose first language is not English, the book is a must for those who want to expand their U.S. legal vocabulary and basic understanding of the U.S. government.
Ross uses a unique approach by selecting legal terms that arise exclusively in the context of levels and branches of U.S. government, including terminology related to current political issues such as partisanship. Inspired by her students` questions during her formative years, she adds an extensive collection of legal vocabulary, concepts, idioms, and particle verbs, and unpacks concepts embedded in U.S. jurisprudence, such as how the constitutional separation of powers in the United States can influence a court`s interpretation of the law. The manual distinguishes between basic terms in civil and criminal matters and compares terms that seem similar due to the narrow spelling, but actually have different meanings. For example, what is the difference between “taking a stand” and “taking a stand”? What is the difference between “contracts” and “treaties”? With illustrations and practical exercises, Essential Legal English in Context is a valuable self-study resource for those who wish to improve their legal terminology in English before attending U.S. law school, studying U.S. law or government, or working as a seconded attorney at a U.S. law firm.
Instructors can use the manual in an introductory course in American Legal English. The best way to improve your reading and vocabulary in general is to read things you enjoy reading. (This is a scientific fact!) So, if you want to read good stories about law and lawyers and American legal culture, see below: (In China, use this link or link.) A podcast by Daniel Edelson and Stephen Horowitz created specifically to help non-English speaking lawyers and law students improve their legal English. The episodes alternate between What`s New in the Legal News, Law Exam Essentials and Multilingual Lawyer Interviews. Transcripts will follow shortly. So you`ve found a company you want to work with and agreed on the key points of the deal. Now is the time to negotiate the “fine print” or contract details. Even if you have agreed on the price and payment, many costs or savings can be overlooked. A good guarantee, for example, could save you a lot of money. The details may not break an agreement, but you need to negotiate them successfully for the contract to protect you and guarantee you certain benefits. Watching law-related movies is always a great way to improve legal English while learning American legal culture.
Here are some of the best right-hand movies: Short semi-animated videos created by law professor Daniel Edelson on a variety of topics, both general and specific. They are very accessible and easy to follow and are great for integration into your lessons if you are a teacher or for students who can study on their own. 3. USCourts.gov Glossary of Legal Terms* – A comprehensive list of English legal vocabulary and definitions through the lens of the courts. University Grants Council of Hong Kong: Collaborative language-related project *#s 3-8 of a list organized by Brian Sites of the University of Miami School of Law and shared with the Academic Support Professionals mailing list. Some textbooks that were not created as legal English textbooks, but that I found useful for exactly this purpose in my classes: To do this, you need to be familiar with the language of contracts and the techniques used to talk about them. And that`s what we`re going to look at today. We will learn how to guarantee warranty conditions, ask for response times and talk about the final result to get concessions. We will also talk about the extension and accept the terms and conditions. Some of them are easier to follow and understand than others. And there are new right-wing podcasts every day.
But here are a few I like that can be helpful for students – especially those with better English skills. The following articles on Legal English may be useful for both those who want to learn Legal English and those who teach Legal English. This glossary does not only contain all the English legal terms used in every article on this Legal English learning page. If you look at a legal English term in the glossary, you will also get a list of all the “related articles” in which that term appears. In other words, in addition to the definition, you can then easily see several examples of the term used in context. The “Short and happy guide to. [subject of law] published by Westlaw seems to be the favorite series of LLM students I`ve worked with, and the relatively easiest to read/understand. (i.e. Relatively speaking, perhaps the least basic knowledge/cultural knowledge needed to understand.) 6. Nolo`s Dictionary of Law Terms* – Nolo.com is a legal self-help resource, so many terms are included to help non-lawyers trying to understand or deal with a legal problem. In this lesson, we will look at English legal vocabulary related to intellectual property, or IP.
Intellectual property includes patents as well as trademarks and trade secrets. Intellectual property may be licensed to others, but always belongs to the rights holder. We cover activities such as counterfeiting and reverse engineering. Finally, we will look at the appellation of origin. Recommended Resources for Non-English Speaking Lawyers and Law Students + Legal English Teachers + Anyone else interested in improving their Legal English 5. Law-related novels (e.g. legal reading for fun) In this lesson, we will learn English legal vocabulary related to copyright. Copyright works are created by authors who receive royalties for the use of their works. Copyright exists for a certain period of time and can be transferred to others.
Copyright restrictions include public domain works and fair dealing. We will also look at ideas such as copyright infringement and piracy. The Week Junior – This is a print publication that you can subscribe to. (I know this because my children understand it and they love it.) It caters to school-aged children in the United States, but it`s also a great reading resource for anyone trying to improve their academic English. These are short summaries of the week`s news – all easy to read, which is great for building vocabulary and reading speed as well as basic knowledge. And it`s thin, lightweight, and easy to take anywhere. BONUS: Here`s a short video tutorial I created at the time at St. John`s Law called “Legal English Vocabulary Strategies & the iWeb Corpus” on creative ways for LLM students to use the iWeb corpus to their advantage. Legal English: Practical ways for LLM students to use Steven Horowitz`s iWeb corpus on Vimeo. Voice of America: Learn English – kind of like Newsela. Many articles on a variety of topics to read, written in English at different levels. Listening resources as well.
4. FindLaw Glossary* – FindLaw is a website that helps people find a lawyer anywhere in the United States. And the scope and breadth of the articles means that there is always something interesting to read, including many articles on law and government.