Legal Writing and Consultation Communication Skills Course
1Summary
A legal opinion that a client cannot understand is, in practice, no opinion at all. Consultants and advisors are judged less by how much law they know and more by how clearly they can turn that knowledge into a written opinion, memo or contract clause that someone else can act on with confidence.
This course from the Arab British Fellowship Training Academy trains legal advisors, judges' assistants and business consultants to sharpen the language they use when providing consultancy — from choosing the right register between flexible and rigid drafting, to eliminating the ambiguity and material errors that quietly weaken an otherwise sound legal argument.
2Objectives and target group
Course Objectives:
- Distinguish between general and specialised legal language, and know when to use each register.
- Compare flexible and rigid legal drafting, and choose the approach that fits a given consultation.
- Identify the deficiencies that weaken legal writing — material and legal errors, and the different types of ambiguity.
- Apply sound methods of interpreting legal texts before building a consultation around them.
- Follow the internal regulations and structure that govern how legal consultations are prepared and delivered.
- Use rhetorical, semantic and specialised technical terminology accurately in written legal work.
Target Audience:
- Managers and staff of legal departments, including legal advisors.
- HR managers and those responsible for drafting meeting minutes.
- Legal researchers across institutions and universities.
- Managers of institutions and companies.
- Legal consultants in companies and organisations.
- Lawyers, law interns, students and graduates of law faculties.
3Course Content
Module 1: Foundations of Legal Language and Management
- Introduction to the law and the concept of legal rules and their types.
- The concept of legal management and the importance of the legal advisor's work.
- Study of legal sciences and types of legal writing.
Module 2: Choosing Between Flexible and Rigid Drafting
- Flexible legal drafting — its advantages and disadvantages.
- Rigid legal drafting — its advantages and disadvantages.
- Legal drafting in terms of meaning.
Module 3: Interpreting and Regulating Legal Consultations
- Interpretation of legal texts.
- Regulations governing how legal consultations are prepared and delivered.
Module 4: Writing With Precision
- Deficiencies that affect legal writing: material and legal errors, and types of ambiguity.
- Rhetorical, semantic and writing skills.
- The difference between general language and specialised legal language.
- Using correct linguistic style and specialised technical terminology when providing consultations.