Legal English Program

Legal English Program

Brooklyn Law School’s new Legal Language Institute was established in recognition that the globalized legal community conducts business in many languages and requires an understanding of different legal cultures. The Institute’s educational programs will present opportunities for lawyers and students from abroad to sharpen their mastery of the language of American legal discourse. It will also give students the opportunity to study the legal culture and language of other countries.

The Institute will launch its educational activities with an intensive Legal English program, to be offered each July (see below). In the near future, the Institute will expand its activities to include courses for U.S. and foreign lawyers in the legal terminology and concepts of other legal languages, including German, Spanish, French, Russian, and Chinese. These courses will be open to BLS students and to members of the legal and business communities who are interested in honing their skills in the language and law of other legal cultures.

The Institute – part of the renowned Center for Law, Language and Cognition – will also hold conferences in partnership with language and law centers from abroad, establishing it as a world leader in addressing multilingual legal issues.

July Intensive Legal English Program

Responding to the educational needs and demands of the many applicants to LL.M. Programs for Foreign-Trained Lawyers who are interested in studying law in the United States, Brooklyn Law School introduces two summer courses in legal English. Even those students with very high TOEFL scores would benefit from a dedicated immersion in legal English prior to the start of their U.S. law degree program. This intensive training in language – either in the one-week course or the three-week course – will give students an advantage in their U.S. legal studies.

Although we anticipate that most students will be foreign-trained lawyers enrolled in U.S. LL.M. programs that will begin in August, both courses are open to students and practitioners with adequate proficiency in English who want to improve their skills in legal English.

Curriculum and Faculty

Participants will set individual goals at the beginning of the course and will be provided with an assessment of their progress at the conclusion. The primary subject areas are:

• listening and speaking: telephone, negotiation, meeting and interview skills; client communication; formal and informal presentations;

• legal writing: contract drafting; letters; legal summaries; predictive and persuasive writing; and,

• reading skills and analysis: contract and statutory interpretation; legal vocabulary; the U.S. legal system; and areas of law.

For participants with limited time, a one-week intensive version of the course will be offered. The content will focus on the same areas as noted above.