Legal English has always been a very specific kind of language. Legal professionals try to express the facts and certain concepts as precisely as possible, trying to leave no doubts regarding the interpretation thereof. Such an aim forces legal professional to apply language which is very difficult to comprehend by laypersons: numerous complex and archaic phrases deriving from Latin and  Legal French; doublets and triplets; so called 'terms of art' and technical legal terms; colocations and specific phrasal verbs; certain grammatical structures; and rather strict formats and rules used for the design of legal documents.

Even well-educated native speakers often find it hard to understand the language used in courts and legal documents due to the above mentioned features of Legal English. Morevover, it is much more challenging for non-native speakers to study and appply Legal Engish. And, of course, non-native teachers of the language of the law are faced with a difficult task: on the one hand, they should be equiped with the knowledge of legal terms and specifics of Legal English in full; on the other hand, they should be aware of teaching techniques, methodology, lesson planning, curriculum design. 

Due to the pandemic new formats of teaching foreign languages started to develop. We would like to introduce a program we created for the Legal community in Russia. 

This case study will look at the collaboration between the Legal English Centre and the Regional English Language Office on a webinar series and teacher training project focused on Legal English. From February until April 2022 English Language Specialist Daniel Sloan, an American expert in legal English, worked with a consortium of universities and associations for law in Russia in providing a series of six open webinars on legal English to communities of practicing lawyers and law students in Russia. In addition, the English Language Specialist provided two closed workshops for approximately 20 teachers of legal English in Russia. The presenters will explain in detail the motivation for the project, its implementation, and outcomes. 


The Virtual English Language Fellow and Specialists Program connects Russian institutions, teachers, and learners with English language teaching professionals in the United States. Virtual Specialists participate in keynote presentations, workshops, materials development, curriculum design, or assessment. Virtual Fellows teach short-term or semester-long courses for a specified audience with a hosting institution. Projects are designed to meet institutional goals and teaching needs.

Presenters: 

• Jennifer Uhler, Regional English Language Officer - Russia
• Sophia Barinova, Legal English Centre, St Petersburg