Legal English Teaching Support
Free teaching resources for Legal English teachers
LETS is a tool to help language teachers teach Legal English. It does this in basically two ways:
- It provides help in understanding the law and how lawyers work through clear and concise summaries of the areas of the law covered in the International Legal English course book and the ILEC examination.
- It provides additional materials for classroom use to supplement those available in the International Legal English course book, the International Legal English teacher's book and the ILEC website www.LegalEnglishTest.org.
If you want to know more about a particular area of law, just click on the button for that area. If you want to know how a lawyer in a particular area of law practices, just go to the end of the summary of the law text. If you want sample documents to use in class, just view the appendices at the bottom of the summary of law text. There is also a general "practice of law" section to provide teachers with an overview of the tasks carried out by lawyers.
The FAQ section provides answers to the questions our Lawyer-Linguists have answered most often over the years.
TransLegal will add to these resources on a regular basis so we encourage you to keep checking in for new and updated materials.
Legal Notice
LETS is intended for the sole and exclusive purpose of providing Legal English instruction and is published with the understanding that the publishers and the authors are not engaged in the provision of legal advice. None of the information contained in LETS is intended to constitute, nor does it constitute, legal advice. Consequently, the contents of LETS should not be regarded as constituting legal advice or guidance, should not be relied upon for providing legal advice, guidance or recommendations to any third party, and should not under any circumstances be used in lieu of the advice of a qualified lawyer.
The Practice of Law
- The practice of law is a wide and varied area of employment ranging from academic studies to lawyers working for law firms. Each country has different education systems, different requirements for certain types of work and different titles for its lawyers. The following is therefore a general description of the various types of work within the legal profession. It should also be noted that lawyers often move between these areas of practice in order to gain experience from one field which may be [...]
- The Practice of Law
Company formation and management
- There are many different types of business associations that exist around the world in order to suit different needs. Different countries allow various types of business associations to be formed, each requiring different documents for formation. Some of the main considerations when choosing which business form to use are: (i) the types of products or services; (ii) tax issues; (iii) control and management objectives; (iv) liability risks; (v) business risks; (vi) financial, growth and investmen [...]
- Company formation and management
Company Law - Capitalisation
- Share capitalisation (or “capitalization”) refers to the capital structure of a corporation, in other words, the nature of a company´s wealth – including how many shares a company has and how those shares are structured. The terms “equity securities” or “equity” also refer to the shares of a corporation. A share (US: stock) is a fractional part of the capital of a corporation which becomes a person’s personal property when bought. However, the corporation’s assets remain the p [...]
- Company Law - Capitalisation
Contract Law
- Under common law, a contract is an agreement made orally or in writing between two or more people or which is manifested by conduct and words of the parties, to do or not do something which they then wish to be enforceable according to law and not only as a normal promise between people. For example, if Bob agrees with Jim that Jim will cut the grass in Bob’s garden while Bob is away on holiday and just before Bob leaves he pays Jim $50 for the work, then an enforceable contract has been enter [...]
- Contract Law
Remedies
- Every party who files a lawsuit seeks a remedy. As defined in Black’s Law Dictionary, a remedy is “the means by which a right is enforced or the violation of a right is prevented, redressed, or compensated.” The word “remedy” in a legal context has virtually the same meaning in a medical context, namely, to cure. In a legal context, a remedy cures the violation of a legal right. In the common law system, there are two types of remedies, legal remedies and equitable remedies.These wi [...]
- Remedies
Employment Law
- Employment law is an expansive area including all areas of the employer/employee relationship except the negotiation process covered by labor law and collective bargaining. Laws to establish fair wages, limit the number of hours worked in a week, and prevent children from being exploited are some of the areas covered by employment law. Rules to regulate the cleanliness of the workplace, and precautions to protect employees and prevent dangerous accidents are also components of employment law. [...]
- Employment Law
Sale of Goods
- The following is a brief summary about the broad area of the law referred to as “sale of goods” designed to provide the Legal English teacher with information supplemental to that set forth in the International Legal English coursebook. Contracts relating to the sale of goods are typically covered by the legislation of the relevant country or, less frequently, by general contractual principles of law. In the UK, the principal relevant legislation is the 1979 Sale of Goods Act [...]
- Sale of Goods
Real Property Law
- Real property is a legal term referring to real estate (permanent, immovable property) and its ownership interests. In the most general sense, the term real property refers to land, meaning not only the earth but everything of a permanent nature over or under it including structures and minerals. The opposite of real property is personal property. In modern legal systems, classification of property as real or personal may vary somewhat according to jurisdiction or, even within jurisdictions, acc [...]
- Real Property Law
Intellectual Property Law
- Often known by the abbreviation “IP”, is an umbrella term referring to creations of the mind or intellect, e.g., inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce. Intellectual property is sometimes divided into two categories: (i) industrial property, which includes inventions (patents), trade marks, industrial designs, and geographic indications of source; and (ii) copyright, which includes literary and artistic works such as novels, poems an [...]
- Intellectual Property Law
Negotiable instruments
The law of negotiable instruments (also called commercial paper in the US) is an area of commercial and business law which sets out the general rules that relate to certain documents of payment. A negotiable instrument is a document which promises the payment of a fixed amount of money and may be transferred from person to person. Negotiable instruments have two functions—a payment function and a credit function. This area of law started developing in the fourteenth century because me [...]- Negotiable instruments
Secured Transactions
- Secured transactions are an essential part of commercial law and many everyday transactions as well. In a secured transaction a borrower agrees that the lender (the secured party) may take property (“collateral”) owned by the borrower should the borrower default on the loan. In other words, the purpose of secured transactions is to secure a loan. Secured interests are often required when a party borrows money, which means the loans must be securitized. Lenders often require more than just [...]
- Secured Transactions
Debtor-Creditor Law
A debtor is someone who owes a financial obligation (a “debt”) to another, known as the creditor. An example of a debtor-creditor relationship is where a bank lends money to an individual or company, on the basis that the money has to be paid back at some point to the bank. The individual or company is therefore a debtor because it owes a debt to the bank, which is the creditor in this relationship. Another example is where a supplier provides goods or services to a company and sends t [...]- Debtor-Creditor Law
Competition Law
- Competition law is the government regulation of business with the goal of preventing and prohibiting anti-competitive behaviour and unfair business practices. It involves the regulation of the continuous struggle of companies for superiority by attempting to maintain fair competition so that all people and companies can benefit from competitive prices, product choice and quality services. In the US, this area of law is called “antitrust” because the area of law was originally designed to reg [...]
- Competition Law
Teacher Training Resources
- These files are in Adobe Acrobat format. If you do not have Adobe Reader it can be downloaded from Adobe at www.adobe.com. ILEC Course Design Guidelines TLS_ LE_in Practice [...]
- Teacher Training Resources
LETS - Frequently Asked Questions
- Answers to the questions our lawyer-linguists have received most often over the years. What are common law and equity?The term common law is confusing as it has a different meaning depending on the context. The term can refer to: (1) the law that is not established by legislation (also known as “statutory law”) but by judges when they decide cases (also referred to as “case law”), (2) the law that is not equity (see below), and (3) the law of countries following the common la [...]
- LETS - Frequently Asked Questions