030618 KU Cambridge Legal English (ILEC) I (2010S)

The course is intended as a preparation for legal work in the English language, with a special emphasis on corporate and contract law, and will specifically help prepare students for the ILEC exam (Certificate in International Legal English), to be taken at the end of Cambridge Legal English (ILIEC) II, the second part of this course.

The course helps develop competence and confidence in working in English by improving skills in the four language areas, reading, writing, speaking and listening. The textbook is Cambridge's "International Legal English", with additional material provided by the program leader, Susan Ambler Smith, an American-born Austrian lawyer and certified translator.

The learning objectives are summarised in the course book as:

Reading: improving your ability to read and understand legal texts such as legal journals, legislation, correspondence etc
Writing: to improve your ability to write common legal texts like letters and memoranda
Listening: to increase your understanding of spoken English when it is used to speak about legal topics in meetings, conferences, seminars etc
Speaking: to strengthen your speaking skills and to enable you to engage more effectively in a range of speaking situations typical of legal practice

At the conclusion of Cambridge Legal English (ILEC) II, the second part of this course, participants will be able to take an informal examination based on the Cambridge ILEC model as follows:

Reading (75mins) Listening (40mins) Writing (30mins) Speaking (16mins)

The areas to be tested are described as:
Reading: semantic precision, grammatical and lexical knowledge, awareness of text structure and understanding gist, detail, opinion and information
Writing: concise expression, accuracy of language, organisation of content and relevance.
Listening: understanding gist, detail, function, opinion and inference; also retrieving specific information, identifying speakers and topics; recognising attitude.
Speaking: responding to questions and expanding on responses; sustaining a long turn in discussion by giving information, and expressing and justifying opinions; negotiating and collaborating; comparing and contrasting etc.

The internal exam can also act as a trial run for those aspiring to qualify for the Cambridge certificate by sitting the official ILEC exam, held each May and November in Vienna. This, of course, is a valuable addition to your CV.