Learning a Foreign Language : Legal and technical English 1

Aims: This course aims to:
a) enable students to understand how legal English works by introducing its basic linguistic and legal features.
b) enable students to anlyse, understand, and translate legal English texts.
Objectives: Knowledge and understanding:
By the end of the course, students are expected to gain enough knowledge and understanding of the linguistic structures of legal English.
Students are also expected to gain sufficient practical skills both to parse and translate legal English texts and to carry out grammatical, textual and
legal analyses.

Units
1) Legal system
- Structure of the law
- The constitution
- Jurisdiction
2) Sources of law: Legislation
- Making a new law
- Development of a Bill
- Passing an Act
3) Sources of law: Common law
- Common law in the UK
- Law reports
4) The Court system
- Civil courts
- Criminal courts
5) Criminal Justice and Criminal proceedings
- Criminal justice
- Criminal offences
- Criminal court proceedings
6) Civil procedure
- Civil procedure rules
- Proceeding with a claim
7) Tribunals
- Status and range of tribunals
- Composition of tribunals and procedure
8) European Union law
- European Union Law and Member States
9) Solicitors
- Training
- Partners in law firms
10) Barristers
- Organisation
- Training and qualification of practising barristers
11) Company staff
- Company commercial lawyers
12) Judges
- Training
- Sentencing and court orders
13) Law firm's structure and practice
- Structure and practice
14) Legal professionals in practice
- Client care proceedings
15) Money laundering procedures
- Procedures
16) Client correspondence
- Commercial letters, mails: legal forms
17)Explaining a procedure
- Rephrasing and clarifying
18) Legalese
- Legal wording
19) Business organisations
- Sole trader
- Partnerships
- Limited Companies
20 ) Formation of a Company
- Incorporation
- Memorandum
- Articles of Association
21) Raising capital
- Share capital
- Share value
- Rights attaching shares
22) Debt financing: secured lending
- Granting security
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- The terms of a charge

Bibliografía básica
G. D. Brown and S. Rice, professional English in Use, Cambridge University Press, 2007.
- Barnard, D., The civil Court in Action, Butterworths, Londres, 1985.
- Barnard, D., The Criminal Court in Action, Butterworths, 1988.
- Meador, D. J., American Courts, West Publishing Co., St. Paul, Minn., 1991.
- Solan, L. M., The Language of Judges, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1993.
Dicionarios:
- Dicionarios electrónicos on line (cf. Servizos da UE). Se presentarán na clase
- Iglesias Rábade, L., Dictionary of Legal English (PDF)
Competence
A) Cognitive (Knowledge):
- Knowledge of the basic legal English terminology
- Management of techniques and methods of linguistic analysis.
- Management of translation techniques of legal English texts.
- Knowledge of the legalese used by practicing lawyers
- Knowledge of the variety of legal text types and registers
B) Procedural / Instrumental (Know how):
- Ability to perform linguistic analyses and commentaries on legal contexts.
- Explanatory power of the texts through translation.
C) Attitude (behave):
- Activate the fascination for legal English.

A) Cognitive (Knowledge):
- Knowledge of the basic legal English terminology
- Management of techniques and methods of linguistic analysis.
- Management of translation techniques of legal English texts.
- Knowledge of the legalese used by practicing lawyers
- Knowledge of the variety of legal text types and registers
B) Procedural / Instrumental (Know how):
- Ability to perform linguistic analyses and commentaries on legal contexts.
- Explanatory power of the texts through translation.
C) Attitude (behave):
- Activate the fascination for legal English.

The classes will combine a theoretical presentation and practical analysis of texts.

Students will have to choose between two types of evaluation: final exam or continuous.
A) Final exam
Students who select the final exam option will have to sit an exam, which will represent 100% of their final mark, on a set date.
For the purposes of the provisions of Article 5.2 of the “Normativa normativa sobre permanencia nas titulacións de grao e master” in the undergraduate and master's degrees of the University of Santiago de Compostela, IN THIS ASSESSMENT SYSTEM, only the final exam is considered an evaluable academic activity, so that students who do not attend any of the two official opportunities of the same will be evaluated as "Non presentado".

B) Continuous evaluation

Students joining the continuous assessment system must attend 80% of classes, though absences for the other 20% can be permitted for medical or family reasons. They are also required complete a series of exercises over the duration of the course: two writing exercises (20% + 20%), a listening + reading + vocabulary exercise (30%) and a speaking exercise (30%). Their final score will be the combined mark of all these exercises. Students joining the continuous assessment system do NOT have to sit a final exam.

Students are expressly warned that IN THIS ASSESSMENT SYSTEM, in accordance with the provisions of Article 5.2 of the “Normativa normativa sobre permanencia nas titulacións de grao e master” in the undergraduate and master's degrees of the University of Santiago de Compostela, the mere attendance and / or participation in any of the activities referred to will be subject to evaluation and, therefore, the final grade of the student who completes them in any case will be “Non presentado”.

IMPORTANT
-Lessons will be conducted in English. The correct use of the English language will be taken into account for assessment purposes.
-Inadequate academic conduct (plagiarism, cheating, etc.) will be penalized. Note the following about plagiarism: In the event of fraudulent performance of exercises or tests, art. 16 of the Regulations for the assessment of students academic performance:
“A fraudulent performance during an exercise or test will mean a fail grade in the corresponding call, regardless of disciplinary process that may be followed against the offending student. Plagiarised work or work carried out by using information obtained from accessible sources open to the public, among others, without due re-elaboration or reinterpretation with quotes from the authors and the sources, are considered fraudulent."

Study time and individual work: 75 hours

- Requirement: upper-intermediate level of English
- Attendance and active participation in every task at hand.

Students who are unable to attend 80% of the classes for justified medical or family reasons, or those who are officially exempt from attending
lectures, are required to contact the subject´s coordinator to agree an alternative study plan although they will still be required to choose between
either the continuous assessment system or sitting the final exam.