DON'T BE AN OUT OF CONTEXT LEGAL ENGLISH STUDENT! LEARN YOUR VOCABULARY!
You may be wondering how you can learn Legal English vocabulary words in one or two sessions of a Legal English coaching program. If these are your thoughts, you may be confusing a content based educational program versus a skills based training program. The key to learning Legal English vocabulary words is learning HOW to define terminologies and technical jargon. Accomplishing this does not require you to learn and memorize lists and lists of words, or to flip through decks and decks of flash cards. Rather, the most effective means by which you learn Legal English vocabulary is to develop a multi step skilled approach that allows you to create definitions with accuracy or, at least close to accuracy.
You may already be doing this instinctively. Upon developing my Legal English coaching program, the feedback I have received from students is they already have the skills to understand Legal English vocabulary. I am told they use context as a means for defining vocabulary. However, what if a "context" strategy does not work? Is there a second step in your approach to defining unfamiliar words? Or, are you letting the speaker know you do not understand the word by asking for an explanation? In some scenarios, requesting a definition is not a problem for you as a legal professional. If you have a trustworthy colleague who will not judge you professionally based on your limited vocabulary, then such a question is appropriate. But, you cannot ask a client for an explanation nor can you pose the question to professional acquaintances or your boss. To do so runs the risk of compromising your professional demeanor and comes across as being unpolished. You may leave such an encounter with a damaged self-confidence and embarrassment.
There are many theories in the ESP (English for a Specific Purpose) teaching community as to the ideal methods to teach professional vocabulary. Related here are several key strategies Legal English coaching professionals teach their students. As noted above, the best strategies are skills based and not just learning by rote.
SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC CONTEXTUAL CLUES
You are in all likelihood doing this already in your legal practice. If you should hear or read that a court ordered for the...immediate imposition of an injunction against the individual to cease and desist from continuing to engage in illegal and harmful activity, you need only look at the words "immediate", "from continuing", and "illegal and harmful activity" to understand the meanings of "injunction" and the tautological legal expression "cease and desist". This is what is meant by picking up on syntactic and semantic contextual clues.
WORD FEATURES
An English word may be comprised of several components such as a word stem and/or a prefix. By dissecting the word into its parts, you can figure out its meaning. Consider the following sentence, "The court determined that based on the evidence presented, the individual was able to prove beyond even a shadow of reasonable doubt, his negligence was not criminal. However, this does not preclude a showing by the lesser clear and convincing evidence standard of civil actions that the individual violated his obligation to use reasonable care".
For the sake of this analysis, assume you did not understand the word reasonable. It is mentioned twice in this excerpt. The first time it is in reference to the evidentiary process, and the second time it is mentioned is in reference to a level of obligatory care. The word reasonable, consequently, is being used in the same instance but in two completely different contexts. The syntactic and semantic contextual clues strategy would not help you to discover the meaning of the word.
However, by breaking the word down into its parts, you will find it easier to define reasonable. There is the first part, reason, and the second part, able. The word reason is a noun and means a cause, explanation, or justification for an action or event. The word able is an adjective meaning having the power, skill, means, or opportunity to do something. You can therefore conclude that reasonable is defined as the means by which an action is justified. Per the word's role in rules of evidence, it can be interpreted as a standard for the justification of admissibility or inadmissibility of evidence. In the context of negligence, it can be used to demonstrate that whatever the resulting harm was, there is a complete or partial justification for its commission based on the facts and circumstances.
The word features strategy example here has many steps involved in order to arrive at the correct meaning of the word. Legal English coaching affords you the opportunity to practice this skill in a non threatening environment at a pace commensurate with your level of proficiency. In so doing, you learn over time how to implement this strategy expeditiously and efficiently so as not be caught off guard when presented with jargon or technical phrases you had never seen or heard before.
GENERAL WORD KNOWLEDGE
As a legal practitioner, no matter where you attended university or law school in the world, you have studied law well enough to have a general understanding of legal principle. In confronting terminologies or jargon you do not understand, you can always rely on your education and experience to assist you in defining legal vocabulary. You may have never been involved in criminal law proceedings in a common law jurisdiction, but you know enough of your own jurisdiction's criminal law and procedure to understand that standards of the admissibility of evidence are different than in civil proceedings. You may never have practiced personal injury or negligence law, but you understand that an intrinsic element in defining legal obligation is applying measured legal standards.
Performing professionally as a non-native English speaking legal practitioner does not negate or cancel the knowledge you have acquired in your native language while attending school or working in the field. A key strategy in developing your Legal English vocabulary is to use all the tools you have at your disposal. In the event contextual clues or word features strategies do not prove effective, you can always rely on your general understanding of legal modality to come up with a working definition of whatever it is you heard or read that made no sense to you. You can certainly also rely on your expertise in a field of your specialty to arrive at a definition of technical Legal English jargon pertinent to your area of practice.
These are just a few of the strategies being utilized in ESP coaching programs to give students the skills necessary to understand professional vocabulary. A skilled attorney and certified teacher of English will combine his/her expertise in law and language to develop effective strategies specific to the manner in which you learn vocabulary. If you would like to consider this skills based option as a means to achieving mastery of Legal English, you should consider booking a free strategy with a Legal English coach such as myself. I will review with you additional major topics we cover in my program aside from Legal English vocabulary.