PROFESSIONAL ENGLISH IN USE: LAW

Professional English in Use Law is part of a new series of Professional English in Use titles from Cambridge University Press. These books are for a wide range of people who need to use legal English vocabulary in their work, for example as lawyers or litigators, paralegals or legal researchers, legal secretaries or trainee lawyers. The book is suitable for learners who have reached an upper-intermediate or advanced level of English. 
The book presents vocabulary in the context of the legal systems in the UK.
 
The book consists of 45 units. There is an answer key at the back of the book and over to you activities at the end of each unit designed for discussion and/or writing about the legal jurisdiction the learner works or studies on.
 
А. The Legal system section consists of 8 units.
  1. The Legal system unit deals with public and private law, government system and jurisdiction.
  2. The Sources of law: legislation unit describes how laws are made and deals with early development of a Bill and legislative process of passing an act.
  3. The Sources of law: common law unit deals with common law which consists of the substantive law and procedural rules, describes the hierarchy of the courts and represents law reports.
  4. The Court system unit represents civil courts such as magistrates’ courts, county courts, high court of justice, court of appeal and criminal courts. 
  5. The Criminal justice and criminal proceedings unit explains the meaning of crown prosecution service and criminal defence service, distinguishes among three categories of criminal offence which are summary, indictable and alleged offences and introduces into the criminal court proceedings.
  6. The Civil procedure unit represents a number of civil procedure rules and deals with proceeding with a claim.
  7. The Tribunal unit deals with the status of tribunal and range of tribunals such as social security appeal tribunal, employment tribunal, mental tribunal etc., and introduces into composition of tribunals (chairperson and lay representatives) and procedure.
  8. In the European Union law unit you learn about the history of the European Union (EU), its communities and deals with the question how the EU impacts on member states.
 
В. The Legal professionals section consists of 5 units.
  1. The Solicitor unit describes functions of lawyers, training programmes for graduates and gives an explanation of a partner in a law firm. 
  2. The Barristers unit contains a description of the training and organization of profession of a practicing barrister as well as their qualifications.
  3. The Working lives unit represents duties of a company commercial lawyer and a legal secretary.
  4. The Judges unit lists judicial appointments in England and Wales, discusses the training of judges and deals with powers of sentencing of judges in civil courts.
  5. The Law firm’s structure and practice unit describes a law firm’s practice areas and expertise.
 
С. The Legal professionals in practice section includes 5 units.
  1. The Client care procedures unit explains the meaning of client care letters.
  2. The Money laundering procedures unit represents extracts from statutory instrument that has implications for law firms.
  3. The Client correspondents unit lists requirements specified for legal correspondents and gives standard phrases for starting and ending letters and emails.
  4. The Explanations and clarification unit deals with problems of understanding in three headings: explaining a procedure, approximating and comparing, rephrasing and clarifying.
  5. The Legalese unit focuses on legal language specific, latin terms, older words and modern equivalents.
 
D. The Law in practice section includes 10 units.
  1. The Business organizations unit distinguishes among sole traders, partnerships and limited companies.
  2. In the Formation of a company you learn about the regulation for incorporation as well as memorandum and articles of association.
  3. The Raising capital by share sale unit emphasizes three topics: share capital, share value and rights attaching to shares.
  4. The Debt financing: secured lending unit deals with granting security and terms of a charge.
  5. The Company directors and company secretaries unit describes qualifications and duties required to be a company director or a company secretary.
  6. The Insolvency and winding up unit introduces learners into such legal terms as renegotiating debt, realizing assets to discharge debt, secured and unsecured creditors, preferential creditors, occupational pension schemes etc., and gives an example of insolvency scenarios.
  7. The Alternative dispute resolution unit gives an explanation for alternative dispute resolution, often abbreviated to ADR, and shows some frequently methods used to reach a settlement such as arbitration, mediation, mediation-arbitration and adjudication.
  8. The Corporation tax unit specifies that all companies resident in the UK are subject to Corporation Tax, sets an accounting period and gives word combinations with “tax”.
  9. The Mergers and acquisitions unit introduces legal terms such as target company, acquiring company, offeror, subject to the condition etc., and represents the Panel of Takeovers and Mergers and the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers.
  10. The Anti-competitive behaviour unit represents the Competition Act of the European Community Treaty which regulates anti-competitive conduct, tells about anti-competitive practices and agreements and studies information gathering, hearings and remedies.
 
E. The Liability section contains 2 units.
 
The Tort 1: personal injury claim unit specified a tort as a civil, not criminal, wrong that includes negligence, trespass, defamation and nuisance and gives an extract from draft briefing notes – personal injury claim in negligence.
The Tort 2: clinical negligence unit explains such legal terms as potential claim, likely amount of damages, fee estimate at the outset, legal expenses insurance etc.
The Contract section includes 11 units.
  1. In the units Forming a contract 1 and 2 you learn about basic principles of contract law, formation of a contract   that requires four essential elements such as offer, acceptance, consideration and intention, form of contract as well as void or voidable or unenforceable contracts if they are defective contracts in case of a defect.
  2. The Structure of commercial contract unit describes general pattern of a contract that includes heading, commencement and date, parties, recitals, operative provisions, definitions, interpretation, conditions precedent, consideration, other operative clauses and schedules.
  3. The Express and implied terms unit defines express terms such as condition, warranty etc. and implied terms made by custom, by statute and by common law.
  4. The Exclusion, limitation and standard clauses unit discusses possibilities for a company to be under no liability for any defect or not be liable for any losses suffered by the buyer and describes standard clauses, also known as boiler-plate clauses including a force majeure, a time of the essence, an assignment clauses etc.
  5. The Privity of contract, discharge, and remedies unit discusses the principle of privity of contract, means of releasing from contractual obligations and remedies for breach of contact.  
  6. The Standard terms in the sale and supply of goods unit represents standard terms and conditions using in business transactions.
  7. The Licensing agreements and computer programs unit introduces ideas of licensors, licensees, licensing revenues, authorized licensor etc. and describes express terms contained in a licence.
  8.  The Commercial leases unit explains freehold or leasehold interest in property, terms of commercial lease and discusses the relationship between landlord and tenant.
  9. In the Buying and selling commercial property unit you learn about commercial conveyancing – the transfer of the ownership of property, sale by action and sale by private treaty.
  10. The Employment law unit deals with formation of employment contracts, contractual provisions, labor relations, represents functions of Employment Tribunal and describes a contract of employment.
G. The Intellectual property section consists of 2 units.
  1. The Copyright and patent unit discusses the Intellectual property law and answers questions how the interest or right arises, what protection is available etc.
  2. The Trade marks, domain names, and remedies for IP infringement unit deals with Intellectual property law concerning the above mentioned fields  and  answers such questions as what types of trade marks may be registered or what types of dispute can arise over domain names etc.
 
 
H. The Information technology law section deals in its singe unit with computer security, discusses breach of computer security, unauthorized access to a computer commonly known as hacking, goes into cybercrimes such as credit card scams, indentify theft and explains the Data Protection legislation.
 
I. The Environmental law section describes in its single unit the main principles framed in international environmental law such as polluter pays, precautionary, sustainable development principles etc. as well as the meaning of national environmental law and application of environmental law.