Basic tools for a good use of legal English

Legal vocabulary
• In business contracts law
• In company law
• In private international law
• In white-collar criminal law
Exercise: make a lexicon of principal legal terms necessary in every day use
An introduction to the different legal systems under common law and civil law
• Basic concepts and tenets

Handling telephone calls

Using different registers
• How to manage an incoming call from an important client, opposing counsel and a judge?
• How to manage appointments and other priorities?
• The best way to place an order and to verify details
• How to complain and to handle complaints
Resolving a litigation dispute through negotiation
• Terms of payment
• Late delivery of documents
Role playing: negotiate some aspects of a dispute by telephone using the language of negotiation and draft a letter confirming the agreement

Fundamental drafting rules in legal English

Translating documents/redrafting contents
• Making sense of complex sentences
• Using punctuation to clarify meaning
• Proof reading and error correction
• Verifying quotes and citations in legal briefs
Letters, standard forms, correct forms of address
• The English and American forms and conventions in legal letters and documents
• Standard openings and closings tailored to the recipient
• Demonstrating how to prepare documents on a computer
Taking notes at meetings
Exercise: obtaining information from a client in a lawsuit and drafting a summons

The structure of American and English standard contracts

Most common types
Case study: comparison of French and American contract principles (with reference to the English law)
Basic components