The Study Legal English Podcast

Latest Episodes:

46: The Court System Today (Monologue) Jul 09, 2018

Show notes

🗒️ About this episode: Today's episode focuses on the court system of England and Wales as it is today. We find out about how we can categorise the courts including:

into a hierarchy of inferior and senior courts;
into criminal and civil courts;
into trial and appellate courts.

🙏This podcast is free to help people around the world. Please help support me and the podcast with a donation⁠.

📙Episode links

Website page
This episode is part of the English Legal System (Module 3): Courts and Tribunals Course

🥇Learn legal English

📣 Connect with me

45: The History of the Judiciary Part 2 (Article) Jul 02, 2018

Show notes

🗒️ About this episode: Today I’ll be reading the second part of an article about the history of the judiciary in England and Wales. The first part read in Episode 44 covered the first 500 years of evolution and today we’ll be covering the next 500 years.

🙏This podcast is free to help people around the world. Please help support me and the podcast with a donation⁠.

📙Episode links

Website page
This episode is part of the English Legal System (Module 3): Courts and Tribunals Course

🥇Learn legal English

📣 Connect with me

44: The History of the Judiciary Part 1 (Article) Jun 18, 2018

Show notes

🗒️ About this episode: Today's episode features the first part of an article published here about the history of the judiciary in England and Wales. Today we’ll be covering the first 500 years of evolution and in the next episode we’ll deal with the next 500 years. You'll learn about the slow evolution of the judiciary including the first judges, judicial corruption, trial by ordeal and trial by combat.

🙏This podcast is free to help people around the world. Please help support me and the podcast with a donation⁠.

📙Episode links

Website page
This episode is part of the English Legal System (Module 3): Courts and Tribunals Course

🥇Learn legal English

📣 Connect with me

43: Legal English Grammar - The Subjunctive (Grammar) Jun 11, 2018

Show notes

🗒️ About this episode: In today's episode we are looking at some legal English grammar – yes!!! It’s time for the subjunctive! The subjunctive is a mark of an educated speaker and it can also be very effective in persuasive legal discourse both in writing and spoken language. In this episode we find out:

how the subjunctive is formed;
when we use it;
why we use it.

We also practise some exercises and I talk about using the passive voice.

🙏This podcast is free to help people around the world. Please help support me and the podcast with a donation⁠.

📙Episode links

Website page
A helpful article I mention is by Professor Lisa Mazzie from the US University of Marquette - '⁠Revisiting the Subjunctive Mood: Great for Persuasion ⁠'.

🥇Learn legal English

📣 Connect with me

42: Legal English Vocabulary - Plead, Order, Sentence & more! (Vocabulary) Jun 04, 2018

Show notes

🗒️ About this episode: Today's episode looks at some of the Legal English terms which feature in this week's blog post from guest blogger Dmitry.

Dmitry's blog post features vocabulary he learnt in the pilot episode of Judge John Deed. In this podcast episode look at more detail at some of three terms - Plead, Order, Sentence - but of course we cover much more along the way, especially in the area of criminal law!

🙏This podcast is free to help people around the world. Please help support me and the podcast with a donation⁠.

📙Episode links

Website page

🥇Learn legal English

📣 Connect with me

41: Dr Jan Bamford (Guildhall School of Business and Law at London Metropolitan) (Interview) May 21, 2018

Show notes

🗒️ About this episode: Today I interview Dr Jan Bamford, Head of Student Experience and Academic Outcomes at the Guildhall School of Business and Law at London Metropolitan University. Jan carries out research related to international learning and international students' experiences in the UK.

This interview is particular interesting for international students studying in the UK or for prospective students to get an insight into some of the aspects of studying an LLM abroad.

We talk about:

What are the pros and cons of studying an LL.M in the UK
What makes a good application for an LL.M
What are the challenges international students face

🙏This podcast is free to help people around the world. Please help support me and the podcast with a donation⁠.

📙Episode links

Website page

🥇Learn legal English

📣 Connect with me

40: Introduction to International Law (Monologue) May 14, 2018

Show notes

🗒️ About this episode: Today's episode is an introduction to International Law as a source of law in the English Legal System. We answer some basic questions like:

What is international law?
What are the sources of international law?
How does it work?
Who does it involve?

The episode contains lots of legal English vocabulary and Podcast Pro Members can access further materials. Additionally, this is the final episode in the English Legal System (Module 2): Sources of Law Course and therefore, if you are a Podcast Pro Member you can now take the exam and gain a certificate for this legal English course.

🙏This podcast is free to help people around the world. Please help support me and the podcast with a donation⁠.

📙Episode links

Website page
This episode is the final episode of the English Legal System (Module 2): Sources of Law Course

🥇Learn legal English

📣 Connect with me

39: David Best (President EULETA) (Interview) May 07, 2018

Show notes

🗒️ About this episode: When I was at the LEX ESP V Conference at Alicante University I was lucky enough to interview David Best, the President of the European Legal English Teachers' Association (EULETA) and course coordinator and teacher for legal English at The Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB). We talk about:

How David became a legal English teacher;
How David teaches legal English including the project 'Virtual Erasmus';
Tips for teaching legal English including;
The best legal English book 'Introduction to International Legal English' (Amy Krois-Lindner, Matt Firth)
What EULETA does and member benefits;
EULETA's forthcoming Legal English Conference 2018
David's role as President of EULETA.

And I have a question for you in relation to the next episode: What do you like or dislike about international law?

🙏This podcast is free to help people around the world. Please help support me and the podcast with a donation⁠.

📙Episode links

Website page

🥇Learn legal English

📣 Connect with me

38: Introduction to Human Rights Law (Monologue) Apr 23, 2018

Show notes

🗒️ About this episode: "...the Human Rights Act 1998 is incredibly important and has been hailed as one of the most important pieces of UK legislation this century!
But why so?" Today's episode is an introduction to human rights law as a source of law in the English legal system. We talk about:

The European Convention on Human Rights
The Human Rights Act 1998
Why human rights are important in the UK

This week's question for you is: What do you like or dislike about international law?

🙏This podcast is free to help people around the world. Please help support me and the podcast with a donation⁠.

📙Episode links

Website page
This episode is part of the English Legal System (Module 2): Sources of Law Course.

🥇Learn legal English

📣 Connect with me

37: EU Supremacy and Brexit (Monologue) Apr 16, 2018

Show notes

🗒️ About this episode: "Parliamentary supremacy is a very old principle of the UK’s unique uncodified constitution and it refers to Parliament being the ultimate law-maker." Today's episode is about Parliamentary Supremacy, the Supremacy of EU Law, and Brexit. We look at:

What Parliamentary supremacy is and how it is limited.
What EU supremacy is and how it operates in relation to Parliamentary supremacy.
Looking at Brexit in relation to Parliamentary supremacy.

This week's question is: Do we need human rights law? Why or why not?

🙏This podcast is free to help people around the world. Please help support me and the podcast with a donation⁠.

📙Episode links