Spanish for the Legal Profession Course

This course responds to the demands for specific language training in the professional field, and it is part of the training offer categorised as Spanish for Specific Purposes (SSP).

The course will enable participants to understand legal texts and arguments, to draw up documents and to correctly express themselves using legal vocabulary. In addition, they will get to know the Spanish Legal System and the institutions it is made up of. Taking this into account, the course will be of special interest and value for non Spanish speaking Law professionals who are carrying out or who want to carry out their professional activity in Spain or whose clients require a deep knowledge of the Spanish lexicon, grammatical constructions and legal system.

This course is coordinated and taught by lawyers from the Ilustre Colegio de Abogados de Málaga (Malaga’s Bar Association) with ample experience in the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language.

WHO IS IT FOR?

This course is directed to Law professionals in general and, more specifically to lawyers, civil servants and translators, as well as Law students in their final years.

REQUIRED LEVEL

According to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, this course is aimed at students with levels B2, C1 and C2.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

The main objective of the course is to enable students to:

• Understand legal texts, considering these to be not only laws and sentences, but also all kinds of documents and even specialist press articles.
• Draw up documents with a correct use of lexicon and verbal tenses
• Understand dialogues, dramatisations and oral arguments
• Express themselves orally using specific vocabulary through debates, case studies and oral presentations

But, in addition to the purely linguistic knowledge the Spanish for the Legal Profession Course aims to introduce students to other aspects equally or even more important:

•  The Spanish Legal System, introducing the student to the different branches of Law.
•  The Institutions and Organisms, presenting to students their structures and operations.
•  The cultural component of Law in Spain and the particular views of the average Spaniard on the world of Law.
•  The contrast between the formal and informal registers, paying special attention to Forensic Oratory and written expression.

CONTENTS

Module I

• Introduction to the Spanish Legal System.
• The professional practice of Law in Spain.
• The sources of law: law, custom and general principles of law.
• The Spanish Constitution of 1978.

Module II

• The Spanish Civil Code.
• Contracts and obligations: Purchase Agreement.
• Family and Inheritance Law.
• The Spanish Penal Code.
• Criminal Categories.

Module III

• The structure of Courts in Spain.
• Introduction to Civil and Penal processes.
• The Commercial Code.
• The Employer.
• Types of Mercantile Societies.

Module IV

• Introduction to the Spanish Tax System.
• Taxes and Special Contributions.
• Types of taxes in Spain.
• Administrative Procedure Law. Administrative Appeal Courts Law.

Module V

• Introduction to Labour Law in Spain.
• The Statute of Worker’s Rights.
• Types of Work Contracts.
• Trade Unions. Collective Labour Agreements.

COURSE MANAGEMENT

Cervantes Escuela Internacional’s Director.

LECTURER

José María Alonso Martín, Lawyer and Coordinator of Cervantes E.I.’s Spanish for the Legal Profession Course.

METHODOLOGY

A practical-theoretical methodology is followed. Each one of the modules is composed of the following elements:

• Listening.
• Video.
• Theory.
• Reading.
• Exercises.
• Evaluation Test.
• Final Task.

Using the listenings or videos, the theory presentations and the readings, participants will carry out different activities such as working on a case study, drawing up different types of documents and legal texts, preparing oral presentations, etc.

ACCREDITATION

Attendance is obligatory and non justified absences cannot exceed 15% of the total duration of the course under any circumstances.

Only those participants who have fulfilled this attendance requirement will receive the certificate issued by Cervantes E.I.

STARTING DATES 2012

• 6th Feb; 5th & 19th Mar; 16th Apr; 7th May; 16th Jul; 10th Sep; 15th Oct; 5th Nov

Note: Applications for this course should be made at least one month before the desired starting date.