Legal English

[LauraFaye]

Hi there!

I was wondering if anyone could recommend some legal english material for upper-intermediate to advanced speakers.

[gfell]

Oh... I haven't seen any such text books around focussing on "legal" English. Your best bet would be to design your own curriculum / handouts. Or you could possibly get the students to use a "Law for Dummies" or similar book that is used in Junior High Schools to present law topics in a simplied manner.

[LauraFaye]

Basically, what I have been doing is incorporating general english for upper intermediate students with legal and economics related articles as well as some jurisprudence. The Law for Dummies series is something to think about bringing back with me from the States (after the holidays). Fortunately, I am attending at British Council discussion and presentation of a new legal english textbook on Thursday. If that is fruitful, I will definitely post here.

[Boke]

Try some TV shows as well, also I remember seeing a legal english textbook once in one of my catalogues , try searching they may be out there

[waixingren]

You can download published court cases in the US. Those might help somewhat, but will be very difficult to understand. You can also find law articles on Law.com - Legal News, Legal Technology, In-House Counsel, Small Firms

[Boke]

also you could try a sitcom that is lawyer based, something like Ali McBeal, probably better suited for passive homework though

[AdvantageEnglish]

I've been teaching LEGAL ENGLISH for a while now using the book VIEWPOINTS IN LAW, by Richard Powell, Published by Macmillan. Viewpoints in Law --- [MACMILLAN LANGUAGEHOUSE]

It gives real cases in litigation and leads into debate about the merits of the case, allowing students to argue for complainant or defendant - encouraging verbal communication. it gives a list of vocabulary for the case and has a few small activities which assist students with the line of arguments and topics they may need to discuss. It has an audio CD which you won't get with the free book but can buy seperately and this offers listening skills and gives the outcome of the case, which can be discussed further. The book alone doesn't give the outcome.

This book is great as an accompanyment to some other resources.
I have a video/TV in the classroom and I use snippets from AlleyMcbeal, Law and Order, Boston Legal, and some of the most unlikely sources such as STAR TREK - which often bring Republican Law and Prime Directive Law into the story line.

Clicking the INSPECTION COPY REQUEST form on the webpage will enable you to get a free copy of the book to decide whether you want to use it for your class. (The link is the Japanese website...if you're in another country, go to your closest country's website) Whether you use or not, the book is yours.

If anybody out there doesn't know about the INSPECTION COPY deal...you SHOULD !

Send an email to ANY PUBLISHER IN THE WORLD and tell them you are a home-teacher (as long as you have more than 20 students) and you are choosing a book for a (example. BUSINESS ENGLISH COURSE) and would like to see samples of (BOOK 1, BOOK 2 and BOOK 3) ...give details of books by name and author [and tell them how many students you sexpect to have in that course] and they will send you up to 3 books at a time. 2 or 3 months later you can do it again. I have accrued literally hundreds of texts in this way - it's not a scam... It's not immoral... The books that I decide to implement, I encourage students to go out and buy; but the publishers never call back or hound you to buy them...they don't even sell the books - they just publish them.

Happy Teaching...

[AdvantageEnglish]

Sorry...didn't read the initial post very well... That text is for low to mid intermediate level... But because it is conversation based, Upper intermediate to Advanced students can still discuss the case for mooting practice, but the list of vocab and grammar may be below them.