English for law and drafting legal documents (basic level): Programma

Introduction to the U.S. Legal System
A - The British and American systems
B - The Judicial system
C - Cases and the case method
D - Applying the law to the facts; Holding, Dicta, Precedent
E - Statutes, Codes, Regulation Interpretation
F - Confl icts of law
G - Civil law & Civil Procedure
H - Criminal law & Criminal Procedure
I - Evidence
J - American Federal law versus State law
K - Diversity of Jurisdiction & Forum
L - The Legal Profession & Ethics
M - Binding & Non-Binding International Treaties

Grammar & Vocabulary
A - Legal English & Terms of Art
B - Redrafting and vocabulary development exercises
C - Vocabulary specifi c to:
      Administrative law
      Property law
      Uniform Commercial Code

Listening, Speaking & Comprehension
Mock exercises focusing on meeting participation, telephone skills & conference calls
Authentic listening practice, note taking from recordings of meetings and public speaking skills preparation.

Drafting Original & Supporting Legal Documents
a - Proper Format
B - Use of terms and phrases
C - Cohesion
D - The importance of clarity
E - Brevity
F - General language versus ambiguous language
G - Contextual, semantic & syntactic mistakes
H - The need for accuracy
I - Punctuation
J - Cohesive markers

Techniques for drafting legal documents
A - Drafting Interpretative Language- drafting language specific to interpretive documents
B - Drafting Scholarly and Explanatory Language- drafting language specific to academic materials and explanatory materials addressed to the counterparty or client
C - Drafting Persuasive and Advocacy Language-drafting language specific to legal advocacy and persuasive documents specific to litigation or for judicial purposes.

Sample documents include:
- Emails
- Letters and correspondence
- Academic and Journal Articles
- Memorandums and Opinion Papers
- Faxes and Supporting documents
- Reports
- Complaints, Answers and Motions