Legal English for lawyers: a practical eight-week study plan
Finding regular time for legal English is hard with a full caseload. This guide suggests a way of studying that grows out of your daily work, with an eight-week plan you can adapt to your own practice.
For lawyers, legal English is a professional skill more than a language lesson. The aim is not perfect English but reading a contract correctly, advising a client accurately and corresponding clearly with foreign colleagues. The suggestions below are designed to fit into a busy lawyer's working day.
Start with what you need English for
Every lawyer needs something different from legal English. Decide first where you use it most:
- Drafting and reviewing contracts: standard clauses, obligation language and definitions come first.
- International arbitration and litigation: procedural terms, the language of submissions and oral presentation.
- Foreign clients: email, meetings and the language of written advice.
- Research: reading and summarising foreign judgments and legislation.
Build vocabulary around your practice area
Rather than trying to learn every legal term at once, begin with the ones you meet most in your own practice. A lawyer working on mergers and acquisitions might start with due diligence, warranty, indemnity and escrow; a litigator with claimant, injunction, appeal and settlement.
Keep a term notebook with five things for each entry: the English term, its Turkish equivalent, how Turkish law differs, the sentence where you met it and its source. Filling it in while you work on a file takes no extra study time. For key terms grouped by topic, see our guide to legal English terms.
Reading: work with real legal texts
The most effective way to improve is to read the kind of texts you will meet in practice. For England and Wales, legislation is published on legislation.gov.uk, and judgments on BAILII and the National Archives' Find Case Law service, free of charge; international arbitration institutions publish their rules in English. For further resources, see our useful links page.
How to read a contract
- Read the contents and headings first to see the structure.
- Read the definitions and note what each capitalised term means.
- Mark obligations (shall), rights (may) and prohibitions (shall not) separately.
- Check which provisions subject to and notwithstanding refer to.
These patterns are explained with sample clauses in our contract English guide.
Writing: phrases for legal correspondence
Correspondence is where lawyers use English most. A short, clear and courteous style looks more professional than complex sentences, and these phrases cover most everyday letters and emails.
Sending drafts and comments
- English
- Please find attached our comments on the draft agreement.
- Turkish
- Sözleşme taslağına ilişkin görüşlerimizi ekte bilgilerinize sunarız.
- English
- Our proposed amendments are shown in the attached marked-up version.
- Turkish
- Önerdiğimiz değişiklikler ekteki işaretli nüshada gösterilmiştir.
Requests and confirmations
Be polite but specific, and give a date where you can; open-ended requests prolong the exchange.
- English
- We would be grateful if you could confirm your client's position by Friday.
- Turkish
- Müvekkilinizin tutumunu cuma gününe kadar teyit etmenizi rica ederiz.
Reserving rights
- English
- Our client reserves all of its rights in this respect.
- Turkish
- Müvekkilimizin bu konudaki tüm hakları saklıdır.
- English
- This letter is written on a without prejudice basis.
- Turkish
- Bu yazı, sulh görüşmesi kapsamında ve haklara halel gelmemek kaydıyla gönderilmektedir.
In English law, without prejudice correspondence that genuinely aims to settle a dispute generally cannot be used as evidence in court.
Speaking: meetings and negotiations
In meetings and negotiations the aim is to state your position clearly and respectfully. Preparing short phrases in advance takes the pressure off translating on the spot.
- English
- Could we go back to clause 7 for a moment?
- Turkish
- Bir dakikalığına 7. maddeye dönebilir miyiz?
- English
- With respect, we do not agree that the notice was validly served.
- Turkish
- Saygıyla belirtmek isteriz ki bildirimin usulüne uygun tebliğ edildiği görüşüne katılmıyoruz.
Words lawyers often confuse
Some words are misread because they look like a Turkish word or mean something else in everyday English:
- Actual means real or factual, not current (güncel); for that, use current.
- Eventually means in the end, not possibly or if necessary.
- Attorney, solicitor, barrister: attorney is the usual American word. In England a solicitor works directly with clients and prepares documents, while a barrister mainly appears in court and gives specialist advice.
- Prosecutor means the public prosecutor (savcı), not any lawyer running a case.
- Sentence and judgment: a sentence is the punishment imposed in criminal proceedings; a judgment is the court's decision.
- Case can mean a lawsuit, a file or a set of facts; case law is the body of court decisions.
An eight-week study plan
The plan below gives each week one focus and a few short tasks, for a lawyer who can set aside around half an hour a day. It is a way of organising your study, not a promise of results in a set time: stretch or repeat any week to fit your caseload.
- Week 1: Map your needs. List the tasks where you use English and choose the two that matter most. Start a term notebook.
- Week 2: Core vocabulary. Take one contract or file you are working on and add its key terms to the notebook, with Turkish equivalents.
- Week 3: Obligation language. Mark every shall, may and shall not in one contract and summarise its obligations in Turkish.
- Week 4: Conditions and priority. Trace each subject to and notwithstanding in the same contract back to the clause it refers to.
- Week 5: Correspondence. Rewrite two of your recent emails using the phrases in this guide, then compare the versions.
- Week 6: Judgments. Read a short judgment and write a one-paragraph summary in English, as you would for a client.
- Week 7: Meetings. Prepare the phrases you need for your next call or hearing and practise saying them aloud.
- Week 8: Review and next steps. Go back over the notebook, test yourself on the terms from the first weeks and choose your next focus.
Throughout the plan, spend a few minutes a day reviewing your terms; the Premium App is well suited to this kind of short, regular review.
Frequently asked questions
How much time should a lawyer spend on legal English each week?
There is no single right amount. Short daily sessions of around half an hour, built into work you are already doing, are easier to keep up than long weekend sessions and usually give more lasting results.
Which legal English skills should lawyers practise first?
Start with the task you use English for most. Lawyers who draft and review contracts gain most from contract patterns and defined terms; litigators and arbitration lawyers from procedural vocabulary and the language of submissions.
Can I follow the eight-week plan while working full time?
Yes. Each week has one focus and a few short tasks, so the plan can be stretched or repeated to fit your caseload. What matters is regular contact with legal English, not finishing the plan on schedule.
Where can lawyers read real legal English texts for free?
For England and Wales, legislation is published on legislation.gov.uk and judgments on BAILII and the National Archives' Find Case Law service. Most international arbitration institutions also publish their rules in English.
Give your study a method
The Legal English Training Set covers legal terminology, reading and drafting contracts, correspondence and the language of litigation in pre-recorded video lessons, taught in Turkish. You can watch them whenever you like.
Related guides
- Legal English for Turkish lawyers
What legal English is and how to learn it online.
- Legal English terms
Key terms grouped by topic, with Turkish equivalents and common translation mistakes.
- Contract English
Shall, may and subject to, with sample clauses and notes on Turkish law.