Legal English is a professional language. This means that a good command of ordinary English does not make a student automatically proficient in legal English. Many foreign law students on English language programmes experience problems when suddenly all their lectures, textbooks, discussions and written work have to be in English. A lack of familiarity with legal English canseriously impede their progress. And a command of legal English is not just a desirable academic skill. It has become an absolute ‘must’ for today’s legal professionals working in internationally orientated law firms.

This book is designed for law students who have followed their law studies in a language other than English. Textbooks on English law are too detailed for those who want to understand English legal terminology rather than English law itself. Legal dictionaries are useful but, as the words are ordered alphabetically, terms are treated in isolation.

This book offers:
• vocabularies providing sets of legal terminology associated with the legal system, civil procedure, EU law, tort, contract law and company law;
• text putting the terms in the vocabulary into their legal context;
• case discussion questions in order to practice using the terminology;
• knowledge questions to ensure that the reader has understood the legal concepts.

Target group

As well as being useful to law students, the book is also a practical introduction to basic legal concepts and reasoning for non-lawyers.

Author's information

Dr Helen Gubby studied law in England where she was called to the bar. She has worked in the Netherlands as a legal translator and lawyer. She now lectures on legal English terminology, business law and patent law formanagers at the Erasmus University Rotterdam.

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