Unit 1 (Part 2) Week 2

A Career in the Law

Listening 2: Lawyers

• Different terms for lawyers:

• Barrister (UK): authorized to plead cases in court

• Attorney: an agent or someone authorized to act for another; pleads cases in court

• In-house counsel: an attorney retained by a company or legal entity

• Solicitor (mainly UK) : may perform all legal services except argue in court

Listening 2: Lawyers (Discussion)

• 1. Does your native language have more than one word for lawyer? Is there any correspondence with the different English words?

• 2. How do the concepts or titles differ? What is the difference in their roles?

Key Terms

• 1. to plead• 2. to win• 3. to argue• 4. to advise• 5. to do• 6. to give

• A. legal advice• B. research• C. a case• D. companies on legal affairs

• *note: to advise someone on legal affairs

Listening 2: Lawyers Roles

Verbs

• 1. advise • 2. draft• 3. litigate• 4. practise• 5. represent• 6. research

Nouns

• Law• Corporations• Cases• Disputes• Clients• Contracts• Legislation• Decisions• Defendants

Sentences: (22b)

• 1.• 2.• 3.• 4.• 5.• 6.

• * Lawyers can draft laws, but generally only legislators (politicians) can draft legislation.

Key Terms

• The words below can be combined with the word lawyer.• What do they do? (discuss with a partner for two minutes and report to

the class)

• Corporate• Defence• Government• Patent• Public-sector• Tax• Trial

Key terms

• The words below can be combined with the word lawyer.• What do they do? (discuss with a partner for two minutes and

report to the class)

• A corporate lawyer is a lawyer who is retained or works for a corporation

• A defence lawyer is a lawyer who represents a defendant in a lawsuit or criminal proceedings.

• A government lawyer is a lawyer who works for the government.

Key terms

• A patent lawyer is a lawyer who deals with copyrighting and infringement.

• A public-sector lawyer is a lawyer who represents people who generally cannot afford to retain a lawyer on their own. Their salaries are paid by non-profit or government institutions.

• A tax lawyer is someone who works with tax law.

• A trial lawyer is a lawyer who pleads cases in court.

Language Notes

• A lawyer who works alone is called a sole practitioner, and his/her firm is called a solo practice.(* note: In the UK, “practice” is a noun while “practise” is the verb. In the US, “practise” is the spelling used for both.)

(*also “defence” (UK) is spelled differently in the US: “defense”)

Legal Education: A call to the bar (writing accompaniment)

• Using vocabulary used in this unit, work in pairs and write a short paragraph to describe the steps in becoming a lawyer in your country.

• (Describe how it is similar or different from the process in the UK or the US)

Key terms: A Call to the Bar

Key terms

Key terms

Key terms

A Lawyers Curriculum Vitae

• (loosely translated as: “The course of life”)

• part 26.

• Key terms:• LLB (Latin for “Bachelor of Laws”)• Apprenticeship: understudy• Pupillage• Subsequent: “following”

Listening 3: Law Firm Structure

• Linus’s CV has helped to land him to get invited to a job interview with a law firm…

• Listen to this extract from the end of the interview and answer these two questions.

• 1). What does Mr. Nichols say about the size of the firm?

• 2) What does Linus say about the size of the firm?

• Lastly, how many people are there? Can you list them?

Language Notes

• A boutique law firm specializes in a small number of areas.

• Real property is land, buildings, and other installations; as well as anything growing on that land, minerals under the land and all the rights associated with these things.

• Most law firms are partnerships, and are owned by the lawyers themselves. Those with more responsibilities are called senior partners. Full partners are also fully liable but less so than senior partners.

• The next step down in responsibility and investiture are salaried partners.

Language Notes

• A debtor is an entity that owes money to a creditor.

• An associate is likely to be a relatively newly qualified lawyer who is a member of the partnership, but does not yet have full rights of a partner.

• A paralegal is usually not a lawyer but has some training in the and some knowledge of the law.

• A clerk is sometimes a young lawyer who assists in court, but generally is a person who assists with routine and simple work such as filing and typing at a law firm or office.

Listening 4: Discussion

1) Do you have any similar experience working as a clerk in a law firm? In what ways was it/ is it similar or different from Richard’s experience?

2) What kinds of tasks or responsibilities do clerks in your firm have?

3) Do you agree with the way Richard characterizes small and large firms?