SOC041 Introduction to Legal English for Erasmus Students

Faculty of Law
Autumn 2022
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 6 credit(s). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Štěpánka Dillingerová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Štěpánka Dillingerová, Ph.D.
Faculty of Law
Contact Person: prof. JUDr. Ing. Michal Radvan, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Faculty of Law
Timetable
Mon 19. 9. to Fri 16. 12. Thu 10:00–11:40 214
Prerequisites
Intermediate level of English and essential background knowledge of law
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 25 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/25, only registered: 0/25
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
In the course, students will;
strengthen the speaking skills in the environment of legal practice;
increase the comprehension of spoken English on legal topics;
improve the ability to present a law related topic;
strengthen/extend legal vocabulary.
Learning outcomes
The student will be able to
indentify specific features of legal English;
describe various areas of law;
describe civil and criminal cases;
compare legal professions in various countries;
present a law-related topic (face-to-face and as a podcast);
discuss law-related issues;
provide feedback.
Syllabus
  • 1. Introduction to the course, syllabus, requirements, aims.
  • 2. What is law?
  • 3. The legal systems: sources of law - common law, civil law;
  • 4. The legal system: sources of law - types of laws, legislation;
  • 5. Expaining what a law says and classification of law;
  • 6.Types of courts, civil procedure, persons in court and documents in court;
  • 7.Types of courts, criminal procedure and persons in court;
  • 8. Legalese and legal Latin;
  • 9. A career in the law, lawyers at work, legal education;
  • 10. Law firm structure and practice areas;
  • 11-12. Podcasts, discussions, feedback.
Literature
    required literature
  • Materials and e-learning in the Interactive syllabus
    recommended literature
  • KROIS-LINDNER, Amy. International legal English : a course for classroom or self-study use : [students' book with audio CDs]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, 320 s. ISBN 9780521675178. info
Teaching methods
1) Seminars with the active participation of students motivated to develop their language skills, especially speaking.
2) Out-of-class work: e-learning tasks in the IS MU (ROPOTs), recording a podcast on a legal topic, providing feedback to podcasts.
Assessment methods
Requirements for the credits:
1) active participation in the lessons (80% attendance required),
2) a team presentation with a discussion task,
3) completing e-learning tasks concerning the topics (ROPOTs), including short writing tasks,
4) uploading an individual podcast and peer feedback to the podcasts,
5) written examination - online final test (ROPOT: 1 listening task, 2 reading tasks, 1 writing task)
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught annually.
Teacher's information
Detailed information about the requirements and the content can be found in the Intaractive syllabus of the course.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2012, Spring 2013, Autumn 2013, Spring 2014, Autumn 2014, Spring 2015, Autumn 2015, Spring 2016, Autumn 2016, Spring 2017, Autumn 2017, Spring 2018, Autumn 2018, Spring 2019, Autumn 2019, Spring 2020, Autumn 2020, Spring 2021, Autumn 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Autumn 2023, Spring 2024, Autumn 2024, Spring 2025.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2022, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/law/autumn2022/SOC041