Business English A Robin Widdowson

MARKETLEADER

Business Law

Widdow

sonB

usiness LawM

AR

KET LEA

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MARKETLEADER

Business Law

B1-C1

www.pearsonlongman.com www.ft.com

We recommend the Longman Business English Dictionary to accompany the course.

Business Law is one of a range of new specialist titles designed for use on its own or with the Market Leader series. Ideal for students who need to learn the language of more specialised areas of business English, the book focuses on the reading skills and vocabulary development required for business law.

It includes:

• authentic reading texts from the Financial Times© and other sources

• a glossary of specialised language

• two ‘Check Tests’ designed to help assess progress

Other titles in this series include:

• Accounting and Finance

• Marketing

• Human Resources

• Logistics Management

• Working Across Cultures

For more information on the Market Leader series go to:www.market-leader.net

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Introduction to business law1 Business and the law 4

2 In-house lawyers 8

3 Handling international disputes 12

4 Different countries, different legal systems 16

Operating globally5 Bollywood needs lawyers! 20

6 Practising diversity 24

7 International mergers and acquisitions 28

8 Cybercrime – a worldwide threat 32

Business law challenges9 Protecting intellectual property 36

10 New ways of dealing with fraud 40

11 The costs of pollution 44

12 A safe workplace? 48

Contracts in the business world13 Contract law 52

14 Terms and conditions: the language of contracts 56

15 A case law report 60

Business law and finance16 How tax laws can create business 64

17 Insider dealing 68

18 Sharia law and international finance 72

Check Tests 76

Answer key 80

Glossary 89

Useful websites 96

Contents

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unit

This unit considers different ways of settling cross-border disputes between multinational companies. Instead of going to court, the companies can choose the arbitration process – a specially appointed person or panel decides how the matter should be resolved.

before you read

Discuss these questions.

1 �A�cross-border�disputemeansaseriouscommercialdisagreementbetweenorganisationsbasedindifferentcountries.Whatkindofdisputesdoyouthinkarelikelytoaffectmultinationals?

2 Whatarethedisadvantagesoflitigationbetweencompaniesfromdifferentcountries?Arethereanyadvantages?

3 Whyisarbitrationsometimesthoughttobebetterthangoingtocourt?

reading

A Understandingthemainpoints

Read the article on the opposite page and answer these questions.

1 Wheredoesalltheinformationaboutcorporatelawyers’preferencescomefrom?

2 Iscostamainfactorinpreferringthearbitrationprocesstolitigation?

3 Dothemajorityoflawyersquestionedpreferinternationalarbitrationorinternationallitigation?

B Understandingdetails

Read the article again and answer these questions.

1 Namethreekeyreasonsforin-housegeneralcounseltofavourarbitration.

2 Inwhichspecificareaarearbitrationcostssaidtobeatleastthesameasthoseforlitigation?

3 Howdolawyersfeelabouttheideaofbeingabletoappealagainstarbitrationdecisions?

4 Howdoesthearticledescribethegeneralbusinessenvironmentatthetimethereportappears?

5 Arearbitrationproceduresbecomingmorecommonorlesscommon?Providesomeevidencetobackupyouranswer.

6 Givedetailsofthecompaniesrepresentedinthestudy.

7 Givedetailsofthefindingsofthestudy.

8 Whatthreereasonsdolawyersgiveforavoidinglitigation?

9 Arearbitrationdecisionsalwaysacceptedwithoutquestion?

10 Whichreasonwasgivenasacauseforconcernforbotharbitrationandlitigationprocedures?

Handling international disputes3

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Unit3 •• HAnDling internAtionAl Disputes

Arbitration preferred in cross-border disputes

by Nikki Tait

A Three out of four top lawyers at multi-national companies would prefer tosettle cross-border commercial disputesby arbitration rather than litigation,

5 because of the unpredictability ofdecisions made by local courts. Keyreasons put forward in favour of international arbitration include: morefl exible procedures; the lack of publi-

10 city surrounding hearings; and the better chances of enforcing any awards made by an arbitration panel.

B But many in-house general counsel say international arbitration is at least

15 as expensive as litigation, particularly for fairly small disputes. Most also reject the idea of introducing an appeal system for arbitration decisions – appeals could help to remove

20 some of the legal inconsistencies that

exist between individual judgments, but they would inevitably add time and cost to the process.

C The findings are the result of a 25 study commissioned by consultants

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), with research done by Queen Mary’s School of International Arbitration at the Uni-versity of London. The report comes

30 as more companies invest abroad, and the complexity of cross-border disputes multiplies. As a result, there has been visible growth in the use of arbitra-tion and other ADR (alternative

35 dispute resolution) procedures – for example, the International Chamber of Commerce’s dispute resolution service has seen more than 500 requests for arbitration annually in recent years.

40 Many big law firms have also been increasing their capacity in this area.

D The study itself centres on the

responses of more than 100 in-house general counsel at multinational

45 corporations. About half of these were in Europe, 30 per cent in Asia, and 15 per cent in the Americas. Most had annual sales of at least $500m.

E According to the findings, 73 per 50 cent of those questioned preferred to use

international arbitration, either on its own or in conjunction with other dispute resolution mechanisms, such as mediation. By contrast, cross-border

55 litigation was favoured by only 11 per cent. Gerry Lagerberg, PwC partner, said that this smaller group that still preferred litigation generally used very specialised courts – for example, patent

60 courts – or operated mainly in countries with well-regarded court systems.

F The most commonly cited reason for the remainder to avoid litigation was ‘anxiety about litigating under a

65 foreign law before a court far from home’ – although the cost and time involved and concern about lack of confi dentiality were also mentioned.

G However, half the respondents also70 said cost was their main concern about

arbitration. Surprisingly, two-thirds ofthe in-house lawyers believed this wasmore expensive than cross-border litigation, and another 23 per cent

75 thought costs at least comparable.H In spite of growing challenges

to arbitration awards, 91 per cent of respondents rejected the idea of includ-ing an appeal mechanism in inter-

80 national arbitration, saying obtaining a fi nal decision was more important.

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over to you

Unit3 •• HAnDling internAtionAl Disputes

vocabulary

A Understandingexpressions

Choose the best explanation for each of these words and phrases from the text.

1 ‘…tosettlecross-bordercommercialdisputes...’(lines2–3)

a) argueyourpositioninadispute b) agreeasolutiontothedispute

2 ‘…thelackofpublicitysurroundinghearings…’(lines9–10)

a) courtcases b) judges’decisions

3 ‘…betweenindividualjudgments…’(line21)

a) courtcases b) judges’decisions

4 ‘…otherADR(alternative�dispute�resolution)procedures…’(lines34–35)

a) differentkindsofdisputecanbeheardinalawcourt b) disputesaresettledbyanindependentpersonorbody,insteadofinalawcourt

5 ‘…forexample,patent�courts…’(lines59–60)

a) courtsdealingwithrightsrelatingtoinventions b) courtsdealingwithrightsrelatingtotrademarks

6 ‘…mainlyincountrieswithwell-regarded�court�systems.’(lines60–61)

a) famouscourtsystems b) courtsystemswhicharethoughttobegood

7 ‘Themost�commonly�citedreasonfor…’(lines62–63)

a) criticisedmostfrequently b) mentionedmostoften

8 ‘…litigatingunderaforeignlaw…’(lines64–65)

a) bringingordefendingalawsuit b) enforcinglegalregulations

9 ‘…rejectedtheideaofincludingan�appeal�mechanism…’(lines78–79)

a) anautomaticappealsystem b) asystemallowingappeals

10 ‘…obtaininga�final�decision…’(lines80–81)

a) anofficialdecisionthatcanbeappealedagainst b) anofficialdecisionwithnoappealallowed

B Wordpartnerships

Match the verbs (1–5) with the nouns (a–e) to form common word partnerships often found in business law. Some verbs can be matched to more than one noun.

1 tosettle a) costs

2 toenforce b) acase

3 toreject c) adispute

4 toadd d) alaw

5 tocite e) anargument

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over to you

Unit3 •• HAnDling internAtionAl Disputes

C SentencecompletionsUse the word partnerships from Exercise B to complete these sentences.

1 Itisoftenadvisableto insteadoftakinganothercompanytocourt.

2 Thelawyeradvisedthatobtainingatechnicalreportwasunnecessary,andwouldsimply .

3 Thejudge the putforwardbythedefencecounsel,sayingtherewasnoclearevidence.

4 Incourt,counsel supportinghisviewthatthetransactionwasnotfraudulent.

5 Thatnewspeeding willnotbeeffectiveifitisnot !

D Wordfamilies

Use the words below the text to form one word that fi ts in each numbered gap.

1 transaction

2 resolution

3 protective

4 oversee

5 consumption

6 representative

7 retention

e Prepositions

Complete these sentences using the correct prepositions, then check your answers in the text in Exercise D.

1 Itispossible consumerstodobusinessmoreeasily.(lines1–2)

2 Companiescantransact othercompanies.(lines2–3)

3 Individualsareprotected thelawsoftheirowncountries.(line11)

4 Salesofgoodsaremadesubject manylegalrequirements.(line14)

5 ADRcanbehelpful allpartiesinvolved.(line21)

6 Hestillhastheright takeanotherpersontocourt.(line27)

Alternative dispute resolution in the context of electronic commerce

1 Takenotesofthekeyfindingsfromthearticle,soyoucangiveashortpresentationaboutthePwCstudy.

2 DosomeresearchtofindoutaboutdifferentkindsofADR,thenwriteareport(about300words)summarisingthetopic.

15

D

A

B

C

D

E

F E-commerce makes it possible

for consumers to transact 1 with companies or other individuals without regard to

5 geographic location, but it also raises the question of how disputes will be 2, especially when the buyer and seller are physically distant.

10 While the buying public are

generally 3 by the laws of their jurisdictions, and commercial sellers are also subject to legal 4 in the

15 countries in which they are located, cost and other factors may make it diffi cult for 5 to obtain a satisfactory solution in cross-border disputes.

20 Alternative dispute resolution

(ADR) can be very helpful to both parties in electronic transactions, especially in cross-border complaints. At the

25 same time, consumers and those who 6 their interests must 7 the right to use the courts of the consumers’ countries if necessary.

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