M2- 1.8 Learn vocabulary
Instructions
1. The previous audio you listened to entitled Legal Profession – More Legal Careers contained a lot of legal English vocabulary.
2..Learn the vocabulary using Quizlet.
3. Please note: If you click on “Choose a study mode” (bottom right) and select “Flashcards” from the dropdown, you will access an audio file with the correct pronunciation of each term.
4. Mark this as complete when you are finished.
Review vocabulary:
| Vocabulary | Definition | Example | Type |
| Barrister’s clerk | A barristers’ clerk is responsible for running the day-to-day business of chambers and organising barristers’ caseloads | The barrister’s clerk does a range of activities to assist the barrister. | Noun |
| Budget | The amount of income and expenditure. | The law firm had a budget which could be spend on team building activities. | Noun |
| Caseload | The number of cases a lawyer or other professional who deals with ‘cases’ has at a time. | The barrister’s clerk helps to organise the barrister’s caseload. | Noun |
| Charge | To demand a fee for a service or product. | King’s counsel can charge a higher fee than junior barristers. | Verb |
| Chartered Legal Executive | A lawyer who qualifies in an alternative way to a solicitor but can act in a similar way to that of a solicitor. | I qualified as a Chartered Legal Executive as it was a more flexible way to qualify. | Noun |
| Chartered secretary (company secretary) | A chartered secretary works as a company secretary and in other senior positions in companies or other organisations. They are trained to deal with regulation, legislation and best practice, and to ensure effective operations. | Chartered secretaries are involved in many aspects of the company’s work. | Noun |
| Costs lawyer | A costs lawyer is a specialist lawyer who deals with all aspects of legal costs. | Costs lawyers can conduct litigation and are essential in recovering costs. | Noun |
| Court reporter | Court reporters used to be known as ‘stenographers’ or people who type out transcripts in shorthand, and their job was to record verbatim court hearings for official transcripts of court proceedings. Nowadays this is done using technology but court reporters must check the technology is functioning and read through the transcripts to check they are correct. | The court reporter used to type out court proceedings verbatim using shorthand. | Noun |
| Fee | An amount charged for a service. | Law firms must reduce costs as clients demand that solicitors charge low fees. | Noun |
| Fine | An amount of money to be payed as punishment for an offence. | Magistrates may issue fines for certain offences. | Noun |
| Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service | Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service is an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice and is responsible for the administration of the courts of England and Wales, the Probate Service and tribunals in England and Wales and non-devolved tribunals in Scotland and Northern Ireland. | The head of HMCTS is the King. | Noun |
| Legal secretary | Legal secretaries can work in law firms, as well as other legal environments such as in chambers, courts, the police service or local authorities and have a range of responsibilities. | Sometimes legal secretaries are promoted to paralegals. | Noun |
| Magistrate | Magistrate refers to lay magistrates and stipendiary magistrates (district judges of the magistrates court). A lay magistrate is a voluntary justice of the peace and is responsible for hearing minor criminal and civil cases. They do not need a legal education. District judges of magistrates court are qualified solicitors or barristers and sit in the magistrates court normally in London. | A lay magistrate is a volunteer justice of the peace. | Noun |
| Ministry of Justice | The Ministry of Justice is a ministerial department of the British Government headed by the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor which is responsible for the justice system in the UK. | The Ministry of Justice is a government department. | Noun |
| Outdoor clerk | An outdoor clerk was a role of a person employed by a solicitors’ firm to assist with court-related matters, it is not so common anymore. | Much of the outdoor clerk’s work is litigation related. | Noun |
| Paralegal | A paralegal works for a lawyer and carries out many similar roles to that of the solicitor but is not permitted to practise law. | Paralegals play an essential role in most law firms often doing very similar work to solicitors. | Noun |
| Parties | The persons involved in a legal agreement or litigation. | The parties signed the contract. | Noun |
| Stepping stone | A means to get to a better place. | Some people work as a paralegal as a stepping stone to becoming a solicitor. | Noun |
| Trainee | Someone who is training on the job such as a trainee solicitor. | Instead of training as a trainee solicitor I worked as a paralegal. | Noun |
| Wage | The amount of money received for work each week or each month. | In England the national minimum wage is around £12 per hour. | Noun |