The Long History of the Solicitor

Кафедра английского языка гуманитарных факультетов

Minsk

BSU

УДК

ББК

Авторы-составители:

Васючкова О. И., Долгорукова А. И., Крюковская И. В.,
Хорень Р. В., Шуплецова С. А.

Утверждено на заседании

кафедры английского языка гуманитарных факультетов

протокол № 11 от 31 мая 2010 г.

Рецензенты:

Доктор филологических наук, профессор кафедры иностранных языков Института государственного строительства при Президенте Республики Беларусь Л. М. Лещева

Кандидат педагогических наук, доцент Г. П. Савченко

Под общей редакцией кандидата филологических наук О. И. Васючковой

УДК

ББК

© БГУ, 2010

ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ

Цель настоящего пособия – обучение юристов профессиональному иноязычному общению. Аутентичный материал пособия, предлагаемая система упражнений способствуют формированию языковой, речевой, социокультурной, учебно-познавательной компетенций, причем в качестве интегративной выступает коммуникативная компетенция. Основным методическим принципом, положенным в основу создания пособия, является взаимосвязанное обучение всем видам речевой деятельности (чтению, аудированию, говорению, письму).

По своему предметно-тематическому содержанию пособие соответствует требованиям Новой типовой программы по иностранному языку для высших учебных заведений (Минск, 2008) в части Модуля профессионального общения. Учебный материал отражает предмет и содержание избранной специальности, профессиональную деятельность юриста и ее социокультурные особенности в странах изучаемого языка (Великобритании, США), типичные ситуации производственного общения (работа государственных органов, судов, полиции).

Пособие состоит из 9 идентично структурированных разделов (Units), организованных по тематическому принципу, причем каждый раздел представляет собой самостоятельный лингвометодический комплекс, включающий: а) монологические сообщения – аутентичные тексты по единой тематике (А, В, С, Д, Е), предназначенные для обучения различным видам чтения (изучающему, с упражнениями по обучению лексике и говорению, построенными по принципу нарастания языковых трудностей, ознакомительному, просмотровому, поисковому чтению с заданиями, соответствующими заявленным стратегиям), а также диалогические сообщения в виде диалога – образца профессиональной иноязычной коммуникации и полилога как основы для развития навыков профессионального общения с учетом межкультурных особенностей обсуждаемых правовых проблем; в) текст на аудирование с предтекстовыми и послетекстовыми заданиями; г) грамматический блок, где явления английской грамматики изучаются на базе специального юридического контекста.

Особенностью настоящего пособия является то, что специальная лексика подается в контексте, а предлагаемая система упражнений обеспечивает ее накопление и ротацию, причем перед студентами ставится цель самостоятельного составления списков тематической лексики раздела с учетом системной организации словаря в пределах изучаемого тематического поля, терминосистемы.

В пособии нет отдельного блока по обучению письму, однако в каждом разделе присутствуют определенные письменные задания для аудиторной либо внеаудиторной работы, направленные на закрепление активной лексики, более прочное усвоение терминологии, изучаемых языковых явлений. Учитывая, что письменные работы являются времязатратными, авторы сочли целесообразным вынести разнообразные задания по формированию навыков творческого письма (резюме, аннотации, сочинения, аргументированные эссе и т. п.) в дополнительное пособие по самостоятельной работе студентов.

Пособие актуально по содержанию, значительно расширяет информационное пространство обучаемых по избранной специальности, чему способствуют как текстовой материал основных разделов, так и расположенные в приложении тексты для дополнительного чтения.

Некоторая кажущаяся избыточность материала пособия не представляется его недостатком, поскольку позволяет учитывать индивидуальную языковую подготовку студентов с различным стартовым уровнем обучения, предоставляет широкие возможности для автономной и групповой работы студентов как в аудитории, так и за ее пределами.

Пособие подготовлено на кафедре английского языка гуманитарных факультетов БГУ в рамках кафедральной научно-исследовательской темы, связанной с созданием учебно-методического комплекса по иностранным языкам для студентов неязыковых вузов.

UNIT I

AGENTS OF THE LAW

READING AND SPEAKING

Text A Legal Profession

Task: read and translate the following text.

England is almost unique in having two different kinds of lawyers, with separate jobs in the legal system. The legal profession is divided into two branches: barristers and solicitors, who are sometimes called the junior branch. Both barristers and solicitors are professions held in high regard. This division of the legal profession is of long standing and each branch has its own characteristic functions as well as a separate governing body. The training and career structures for the two types of lawyers are quite separate.

The traditional picture of the English lawyer is that the solicitor is the general practitioner, confined mainly to the office. If a person has a legal problem and needs the assistance of the law, either because he has a dispute, or because he is in trouble, or concerned with a question of inheritance or transfer of property, he will go to a solicitor and seek his advice in a personal interview. There is no end to variety of matters which can appear on a solicitor’s desk. They deal with all the day-to-day work of preparing legal documents for buying and selling houses, making wills, writing legal letters, they do the legal work involved in conveyancing, probate, divorce. Solicitors work on court cases for their clients outside the court: in a civil action solicitors have the right to speak in the lowest Courts when the case is one of divorce, recovering some debts, matrimonial matters, petty crimes. If a case, civil or criminal, is more serious or difficult, or has to be heard in a higher court, solicitors engage a barrister to whom they hand over the task of representing the client in the court. They prepare a case for barristers to present in the higher courts and the barrister receives it in the form of a brief from which he plans his advocacy in the particular case.

Law Society¹ is a governing body of solicitors. Solicitors usually work together in partnerships, or “firms’. To qualify as a solicitor a young man joins a practising solicitor as a “clerk” and works for him whilst studying part time for the Law Society exams. When you have passed all the necessary exams, you may apply to the Law Society to be “admitted”, then you can start business on your own. It is not necessary for you to go to university.

In England, the decision is between becoming a barrister or a solicitor. Although solicitors and barristers work together on cases barristers specialise in representing clients in court. A barrister can only be consulted indirectly, through a solicitor. Thus they are not paid directly by clients, but are employed by solicitors. Most barristers are professional advocates but it is a mistake to regard a barrister entirely as an advocate. A barrister must be capable of prosecuting in a criminal case one day, and defending an accused person the next.

A would-be² barrister must first register as a student member of one of the four Inns of Court³: Gray’s Inn, Lincoln’s Inn, Inner Temple or Middle Temple and keep twelve terms as a student at his Inn. A student must pass a group of examinations to obtain a Law degree and then proceed to a vocational course, highly practical in nature, the passing of which will result in his being called to the Bar⁴.

Barristers are experts in the interpretation of the Law. They advise on really difficult legal matters (this is known as “taking counsel’s opinion”). So barristers spend a lot of time at paper work apart from their actual appearances in court where they wear wigs and gowns in keeping with the extreme formalities of the proceedings.

Judges are usually chosen from the most senior barristers, and once appointed they cannot continue to practise as barristers.

The highest level of barristers have the title Q.C. (Queen’s Counsel). The status is bestowed on about 30 counsellors a year by the Queen on the advice of the Lord Chancellor. Before a junior counsel can hope to achieve the status (“to take silk” as this process is called) he must be able to point to at least 10 years successful practice as a barrister. The Q.C. is expected to appear only in the most important cases.

A lot of work in English solicitor’s offices is undertaken by managing clerks, now called “legal executives”⁵, who are a third type of lawyers. They have their own professional and examining body – “The Institute of Legal Executives”.

Taking the legal profession as a whole, there is one practicing lawyer per 1200 people. This compares with about one lawyer per 600 in the USA. There are about 5,000 barristers and 50,000 solicitors, the number which is rapidly increasing, and they make up by far the largest branch of the legal profession in England and Wales.

Many people believe the distinction between barristers and solicitors should be eliminated in England. The government is considering various proposals, but there are arguments for maintaining, as well as removing, the division.

Notes:

^1. Law Society – Общество юристов (профессиональный союз солиситоров)

^2. would-be – стремящийся стать

^3. Inns of Court – “Судебные инны” (четыре корпорации барристеров в Лондоне; пользуются исключительным правом приема в адвокатуру; в школах при этих корпорациях готовят барристеров; существуют с XIV в.)

Gray’s Inn – “Грейз Инн” (самый новый из “судебных иннов”, назван по имени первого владельца здания).

Lincoln’s Inn – “Инн Линкольна” (готовит преимущественно барристеров Канцлерского овысокого суда правосудия; назван по имени первого владельца здания).

Inner Temple – “Внутренний темпл” (самый старый из судебных типов.)

Middle Temple – “Средний темпл”

^4. to be called to the Bar – быть принятым в коллегию адвокатов

^5. “legal executives” – законные исполнители (персонал, нанимаемый солиситорами, клерки)

Word Study

Ex. 1. a) Read the international words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.

'legal	'system	pro'fession	,characte'ristic
'type	'function	so'licitor	,speciali'zation
'form	'problem	ca'reer	,proble'matic
'plan	'action	ex'treme
'clerk	'practice	spe'cific
'office	'advocate	prac'titioner
'status	'business	tra'ditional
'expert	'structure	for'malities
'client	'barrister	pro'cedure
'document	'argument

b) Pronounce correctly the following proper names:

Law Society ['lL sq'saIqtI]	Lincoln’s Inn ['lInkqlnz 'In]
Queen’s Counsel ['k w i: n z 'kauns(q)l]	Inner Temple ['Inq 't e m p l ]
Inns of Court ['Inz qv 'kLt]	Middle Temple ['mIdl 't e m p l ]
Gray’s Inn ['greIz 'In ]

Ex. 2. Complete the list of derivatives. Use a dictionary if necessary.

Verbnoun (agent)noun (concept)

to train

to practise

to advocate

to specialize

to convey

to apply

to accuse

to interpret

to prosecute prosecutor prosecution

 

Ex. 3. Pair the words in column A with the ones from column B.

A.	1) senior	B.	a) barrister
	2) vocational		b) degree
	3) law		c) course
	4) extreme		d) documents
	5) accused		e) exam
	6) professional		f) advocate
	7) necessary		g) matters
	8) civil		h) advice
	9) day-to-day		i) structure
	10) variety (of)		j) action
	11) personal		k) person
	12) general		l) interview
	13) career		m) formalities
	14) legal		n) practitioner

 

Ex. 4. How are the following ideas expressed in one word?

1. a lawyer who has the right of speaking and arguing in the higher courts of law;

2. a kind of lawyer who gives advice, appears in lower courts;

3. to be allowed or made by law;

4. a room or building in which law cases can be heard and judged;

5. questions to be decided in a court of law;

6. a rule that is supported by the power of government and that governs the behaviour of members of a society;

7. a person whose business is to advise people about laws and to represent them in court;

8. a person who speaks in defence of or in favour of another person;

9. a lawyer who prepares an official paper by which the right to ownership of one’s property is given by one person to another;

10. a person who pays a professional person for help and advice;

11. a public official who has the power to decide questions brought before a court of law.

 

Ex. 5. Match English and Russian equivalents.

1) matrimonial matters;	a) защищать обвиняемого;
2) petty crimes;	b) незначительные преступления;
3) recovery of debts;	c) составлять завещание;
4) to make a will;	d) искать юридического совета;
5) to deal with conveyancing;	e) толкование закона;
6) to seek legal advice;	f) иметь дело с составлением нотариальных актов о передаче имущества
7) to apply to the court;	g) возврат долгов;
8) a civil action;	h) брачные (супружеские) вопросы;
9) a general practitioner;	i) вести уголовное дело;
10) the interpretation of the law;	j) обращаться в суд;
11) to defend the accused person;	k) получить диплом юриста;
12) to obtain a law degree;	l) гражданское дело;
13) to prosecute in a criminal case;	m) юрист широкого профиля;
14) to eliminate the division;	n) профессиональный адвокат
15) to maintain the proposal;	o) устранить деление
16) to achieve the status	p) достичь статуса

 

Ex. 6. Choose the best alternative to complete the following sentences.

1.England is almost unique / ordinary in having two / three different kinds of lawyers, with separate/the same jobs in the legal system.

2.Solicitors/managing clerks prepare a case for a barrister / a judge.

3.In a civil/criminal action solicitors have the right to speak in the lowest / highest courts.

4.Law Society/the Bar is a governing body of solicitors.

5.It is a mistake to regard/to point a barrister entirely as an advocate/prosecutor.

6.Barristers are experts in the interpretation/examining of the Law.

7.Judges are usually chosen/appointed from the most senior/junior barristers.

8.The Queen’s Counsel / the Lord Chancellor is expected to appear only in the most important / trial cases.

9.A number of lawyers is rapidly increasing/cutting down in England and Wales.

10. A lot of work in solicitors’/barristers’ offices is undertaken by legal executives / students.

11. Each branch of legal profession has its own/common characteristic functions as well as a separate/one governing body.

12. If a person has a legal problem he will go to a barrister/solicitor and seek his advice in a personal interview/by post.

13. In court barristers wear plain clothes/wigs and gowns.

14. To qualify as a barrister you must register as a student member of one of the four Inns of Court /of one of British universities.

Ex. 7. Complete the following text with the words and phrases from the box. Answer the questions given below.

lay client, trial, professional association, legal advisor, paperwork, a written document, Law Society, marriage contract, litigants, instruct

The Long History of the Solicitor

The solicitors’ profession has a long history, going back to the 12^lh century, when the language of the court was Norman French. All_______ therefore needed a representative to act on their behalf and that person was known as an ‘attorney’ from the mediaeval French word ‘atourner’ (meaning ‘to direct to’). In the courts of equity a________ needed a 'solicitor' to act on his behalf. This word derived from the Latin ‘sollicitare’ (to harass). Attorneys and solicitors were the forerunners of today’s solicitors.

Today solicitors generally ______ barristers as specialist pleaders of cases in Court, prepare the cases, attend to all the __________ and collect the evidence. The solicitor provides the instructions to the barrister in _______ called “a brief” – hence the expression “briefcase”.

The attorney or solicitor was the general______. He would deal with legal matters on behalf of his client such as the drawing up of wills, trust instruments, _____ _____, and conveyances of land. It was generally only when a matter proceeded to court that the client had need of both a solicitor and a barrister: the solicitor to enter an appearance in the Court and deal with the preliminary stages and the barrister to plead the case and appear at the eventual _____of it.

The profession of a solicitor was largely unregulated until the beginning of the 19^th century when the Law Society was founded. It was granted a Royal Charter in 1845 which empowered it to enforce national standards of conduct and education. About the same time the term attorney was dropped in favour of the title “solicitor”. The duties of the ____ ____ have been extended by various Acts of Parliament since then. It serves the public by working to improve access to the law. It provides services and support for solicitors and sets the standards that underpin the profession’s reputation as the best independent professional advisers. The Law Society acts both as the professional body regulating solicitors and also as their____ ____.

Text Study

Ex. 1. Choose the best way to complete the sentences.

1. England has two different kinds of lawyers: .....

a) solicitors and barristers

b) barristers and legal executives

c) solicitors and judges

2. Solicitors work on court cases of clients .....

a) in the court

b) outside the court

c) at home

3. ..... is a governing body of solicitors.

a) the Bar

b) the Highest Court

c) Law Society

4. The highest level of barristers have the title of .....

a) Queen’s Counsel

b) Queen’s Advocate

c) Senior Barrister

5. The status to the barrister is bestowed by the Queen on the advice of .....

a) the Lord Chancellor

b) Prime Minister

c) the Attorney-General

6. A would be barrister must first be registered .....

a) as a member of Law Society

b) as a student member of one of the four Inns of Court

c) as a member of the Bar

7. Many people believe the distinction between barristers and solicitors .....

a) should be adopted

b) should be eliminated

c) should be kept

8. Judges are chosen from ….

a) a junior counsel

b) the most senior barristers

c) managing clerks

9. Solicitors have the right to speak in the lowest Courts when the case is one of …

a) murder

b) petty crimes

c) terrorism

10. Barristers are experts …

a) in representing clients in court

b) in interpretation of the law

c) in writing legal letters

Ex. 2. Mark the statements which are true.

1. The division of the legal profession is of long standing and each branch has its own characteristic functions.

2. The training and career structures for the two types of lawyers are quite the same.

3. Solicitors specialize in representing clients in courts.

4. A barrister can only be consulted indirectly through a solicitor.

5. Barristers are paid directly by the clients.

6. A barrister is regarded to be an advocate.

7. In court, barristers wear wigs and gowns in keeping with the extreme formalities of the proceedings.

8. Judges are chosen from the most senior barristers and they can continue to practise as barristers.

9. Before a junior counsel can achieve the status of Q.C. he must be able to point to at least 10 years successful practice as a barrister.

10. The government doesn’t consider it necessary to eliminate the distinction between barristers and solicitors.

Ex. 3. Complete the following sentences by adding the phrases given inpart B.

Part A

1. Each branch of legal profession has .....

2. The solicitors deal with preparing .....

3. The solicitor has the right to speak in the Lowest Courts when ....

4. The barrister plans his advocacy .....

5. A young man joins a practicing solicitor as a clerk .....

6. Barristers specialize .....

7. A barrister must be capable .....

8. Judges are chosen .....

9. When the student obtains a law degree and passes highly practical in nature vocational course .....

10. Clerks who undertake a lot of work in English solicitor’s offices .....

11. Solicitors make up …..

12. The government is considering various arguments for ….

Part B

a) the rapidly increasing branch of the legal profession in England and Wales.

b) its own characteristic functions and a separate governing body.

c) maintaining as well as removing the division between barristers and solicitors.

d) the case is one of divorce, recovery some debts, petty crimes.

e) to qualify as a solicitor.

f) in the form of a brief prepared by a solicitor.

g) legal documents for the clients.

h) in representing clients in court.

i) from the most senior barristers.

j) he may be called to the Bar.

k) of prosecuting in a criminal case one day and defending an accused person the next.

l) are a third type of lawyers called “legal executives”.

Ex. 4. Analyse the stages of legal education and career in Britain.