Five Legal English textbooks to use in class and for self-studies
(Ler em português)
If you're looking for textbooks to study and/or teach Legal English, the following options may be worth taking a look at:
1. International Legal English (B2/C2):
Themes: Company Law, Capitalization, Contracts, Labor Law, Real Property, Intelectual Property.
Pro: It can be used for self studies and in class Pode ser usado tanto em self-studies quanto em aulas. The readings are very rich and feature useful vocabulary.
Con: There aren't a lot of communicative activities and there is no teacher's guide.
2. Introduction to Legal English (B1+/B2):
A similar material from ILE, but tailored for students at B1+.
Themes: Company Law, Tort Law, Criminal Law, Competition Law.
Pro: May be used for self studies or in class; broad variety of themes, really good reading activities. Interesting case studies
Con: No teacher's guide
Tip: These textbooks were made to cater for ILEC applicants, recently discontinued by Cambridge. Regardless of that, they are still very good.
3. Lawyer's English for TOLES (B1-C2):
Themes: Company Law, Banking Law, Contracts, Labor Law, Corporate Writing.
This is intended for TOLES applicants, which is aimed at students from B1 level on.
Pros: the units feature exercises for both lower and higher level students.
Cons: the content is sometimes superficial and there is no speaking, listening or reading tasks.
A series of exercises well organized by theme..
Pros: it's a great book for vocabulary
Cons: It does not feature communicative tasks or explanations.
5. Check your English Vocabulary for Law
A load of vocabulary exercises
Pros: You will certainly come across interesting terms
Cons: this book is organized according to grammar (and not topics or fields). Besides that, most of the activities are gap filling. It's difficult to create a class featuring all terms, and the context given for the new vocabulary is generally limited to sentence level.
Have fun learning Legalese!
