English for Legal Professionals

Legal

CEFR: B1 – C1

This compact course is designed for anyone who needs to speak about the law in a business environment and it provides the language they need to be able to operate with confidence. Ideal for corporate legal consultants, paralegals, legal assistants, and notaries who need to communicate accurately in English with clients.  Can be taken as a stand alone course or with a general business course book.

The course consists of 6 units featuring authentic texts, listenings and case studies throughout, reflecting key fields of commercial law.

Course units:

  1. Setting up a business – looking at types of businesses, choosing the right business type, company liability, giving advice, making recommendations, enumerating reasons, explaining the steps of a procedure.
  2. Employing people – talking about employment contracts, amendments to contracts, resignation letters, referring to legal documents, stating rights and obligations, reporting outcomes, writing: formal letters and e-mails.
  3. Buying and selling goods and services – preambles, agreements and contracts of sale, contractual disputes, common legal terms and conditions, common contract terminology, interacting with a client, advising on a course of action.
  4. Protecting intellectual property – discussing copyright, patent, trade mark, looking at landmark IP cases, rights agreements and IP rights on the internet. Negotiating an agreement, amending an agreement, linking ideas in writing.
  5. Mergers and acquisitions –  planning an acquisition, M & A procedure, articles of association, financing a takeover, letters on intent (LOI). Comparing and contrasting legal structures, vocabulary of company procedures, language of meetings, expressions used in takeovers.
  6. Risk management and insolvency – assessing legal risk, causes and implications of insolvency, insolvency procedures, creditors’ rights, personal insolvency. Insolvency terminology, emphasising a point, hypothesising about past actions.

 

*This course is based on the Oxford Express series.