Taleninstituut Nederland decided to offer a specialised level of Legal English teaching to our clients this year. The concept is to tailor courses to lawyers and other legal professionals who function well in their roles but require additional direction in the area of legal language.
The trainer who facilitates these courses is Victoria Laws. Victoria has 18 years of experience teaching general and business teaching experience in schools, language institutes and in-company. She has been studying law herself since 2013 and completes her degree in due course.
She currently teaches legal academics/professors at the University of Leiden and will soon start an exciting new course at Nyenrode University. Victoria finds the combination of law and English studies a powerful one, “Studying law has taught me to write well, research well and to teach to a far higher level than ever before, in general,” She says, “I would advise anyone to study law and wish I had done it sooner!”
Victoria has also taught the course ‘The Art of Teaching Music’ at the University of the Arts in Rotterdam and was a professional performing musician (orchestral oboist) until 2 years ago.
Of the new Legal English course, Victoria explains that, “There are fundamental elements of legal English that will likely be covered in most courses, either in detail or as a refresher. Otherwise, the course content is customised entirely according to each specific client.”
As with all TalenInstituut courses, our website shows the basic elements likely to be covered but we always tailor to needs and advise that our clients bring their own working materials to the course. If a course is required, then it is prudent to look at individual necessity. Therefore, the face-to-face intake is essential to gauge client requirement.
The range of legal terminology covered is also wide as, depending on whether a client works within either British or American legal jurisdictions, legal terminology differs. Victoria explains further, “Although I have studied in Britain, my current pro bono work is for a client who is currently incarcerated on death row in Texas, USA. Due to this, I also have in-depth experience of American legal terminology and the differences pertaining to the British terminology.”
The course is not just for lawyers. In fact it is ideal for Paralegals, law students or anyone working in a law firm or legal environment. A reasonable level of English competency is a recommendation for taking this course but not a necessity.
Victoria’s Language Learning Tip:
Personally, I think speaking is the most valuable aspect of grasping a language, any language. This is not because I think this is essential for everyone but I inherently believe that if you can use it, you don’t lose it! Practicing the theory learnt in books gets the client away from the page. To be able to use it, means it sticks in the brain.
Here at TalenInstituut Nederland (The Dutch Language Institute) we understand the needs that companies face as well as the fears individual learners feel. This is why we offer flexible, fully customised Business language courses (including Legal English) to businesses and individuals. Through a process of interviews and meetings we establish the unique needs and competence of our clients and design each and every course around those. To find out more about our Business Language courses, visit our website and ask us for a quote:
© Taleninstituut Nederland
By: David Chislett
Trainer Business English