Walk and Talk: A Week as a Legal English Teacher
What do I do during a typical week? In this walk-and-talk from Parco Villa Gomes in Lecco, I share examples from my teaching, discuss the issue of confidentiality in legal English teaching, and explain why effective Legal English training can be part of a lawyer’s work rather than an additional burden. This is what I talk about in this video:
What does “lawyer” mean in English?
Lawyer is a broad term for a person who works in the law, although in reality it is often used to mean someone who practises law (meaning someone who is qualified to advise clients or litigate in court). In England and Wales, more specific professional (protected) titles include solicitor and barrister. A solicitor commonly advises clients and drafts documents, while a barrister traditionally specialises in advocacy and litigation. Lawyers may also work in-house, in private practice or in many specialised roles.
Check out my other blog posts:
➡️How to introduce yourself as a lawyer
➡️ How to introduce your law firm
| Term | Meaning in the lesson |
|---|---|
| lawyer | A general term for a person working in law. In England and Wales, it does not refer to one specific legal profession and is not a protected professional title in the same way as solicitor and barrister. In theory, someone with a law degree who works in the legal field may describe themselves as a lawyer, provided that this is not misleading and they do not claim qualifications or authorisation that they do not have. |
| solicitor | A person who has completed the required training and qualifications in England and Wales and has been admitted as a solicitor. Solicitor is a protected professional title. It is a criminal offence for someone to call themselves or act as a solicitor if they are not on the roll of solicitors. Solicitors are commonly associated with advising clients, managing legal matters and drafting legal documents. |
| barrister | A person who has completed the required professional training and has been called to the Bar of England and Wales. Barrister is a protected professional title. A person who is not a barrister must not describe themselves as one. Barristers are commonly associated with specialist advocacy, providing legal opinions and appearing in court. |
| in-house lawyer | A lawyer employed within a company, public body or other organisation rather than working for an external law firm. In-house lawyer describes where the person works and is not a separately protected professional title. The person may, for example, be a qualified solicitor, barrister or foreign-qualified lawyer. |
| litigator | A lawyer whose work involves disputes and court proceedings. Litigator describes the type of work performed and is not a separately protected professional title. However, the conduct of litigation is a reserved legal activity in England and Wales, so a person must have the appropriate authorisation to carry it out. |
| deal lawyer / transactional lawyer | A lawyer whose work involves advising clients on business transactions, such as mergers and acquisitions, investments, financing arrangements and commercial contracts. Deal or transactional lawyers typically negotiate and draft agreements, conduct due diligence and help clients complete transactions. These terms describe the type of legal work performed and are not separately protected professional titles. |
| counsel | A legal adviser or lawyer. The term is particularly common in the United States, where it may refer to a lawyer acting in a case or working in a position such as legal counsel, in-house counsel or general counsel. It is also used in England and Wales, where counsel often refers to a barrister instructed in a case. |
| attorney / attorney-at-law | Terms used mainly in the United States for a lawyer who is licensed to practise law. In everyday American English, attorney, attorney-at-law and lawyer are often used interchangeably. Admission and licensing requirements are determined by the relevant US jurisdiction. |
Real professional tasks used in Legal English lessons
The best specialist lessons are linked to work the learner genuinely needs to perform. This week’s examples included rehearsing a client explanation, discussing litigation and analysing a current legal article.
| Learner’s work | Classroom task | Language and professional benefit |
|---|---|---|
| In-house lawyer explaining a new EU regulation | Role-play a client meeting and answer realistic client questions. | Practise clear explanations, anticipate questions and enter the real meeting with greater confidence. |
| Commercial litigator | Discuss current cases without revealing identifying information. | Develop litigation vocabulary and structure a clear account of procedural and strategic issues. |
| Competition lawyer | Read and summarise an update about a relevant investigation or case. | Keep up with legal developments while practising specialist terminology and explanation skills. |
Client confidentiality in a language lesson
In legal English classes, lawyers sometimes may ‘accidentally’ reveal confidential information. As a legal English teacher I encourage students to anonymise parties, change non-essential details or work with a comparable hypothetical scenario. Good practice for legal English teachers and their lawyer-students:
| Good practice | Practical example |
|---|---|
| Remove direct identifiers | When discussing cases, do not use client names, addresses, matter numbers or other obvious identifiers. |
| Use a hypothetical version | Use fictional scenarios related to the lawyer’s work to practise language and legal skills. |
Setting homework
After a lesson, I use targeted corrections to turn errors into active learning. Homework might involve reading a relevant article, revising business phrasal verbs or correcting sentences from the class. Not every busy lawyer wants homework, and that is acceptable, but regular review usually improves progress.
| Possible follow-up | Why it helps |
|---|---|
| Review corrections from class | Prevents the same vocabulary or grammar errors from recurring. |
| Read a practice-area update or legal article | Combines professional development with language acquisition and can be discussed in the next class. |
| Prepare a role play negotiation or client meeting using a scenario | Allows lawyers to do preparation before the class to get maximum benefit out of classes. |
| Record a short spoken summary and send via WhatsApp | Develops speaking and pronunciation skills, as well as confidence, and keeps speaking practice up between classes. |
| Complete a collocation exercise | Builds natural word combinations rather than isolated vocabulary. |
Updating Study Legal English
I also discuss the extensive update of the Study Legal English website and courses. These are materials I created over many years which needed changes to reflect developments in law, technology and online learning. All my courses are now up-to-date as of 2026.
“I don’t have time for Legal English classes”
Sometimes lawyers say this. So what’s my response? The answer is to reframe the lesson. Legal English training doesn’t need to be considered as separate to your professional work. A learner can use the class to prepare an explanation they must give, analyse a legal update they should read, rehearse a negotiation or improve a document they genuinely need to draft. I always try to ensure my own legal English classes are helpful and relevant.
Pay attention to what you call yourself!
Update 21/10/2026: Don’t illegally represent yourself as a specific type of lawyer, like Katie Zacharia apparently did, unless you are really qualified as such in that jurisdiction. If you are unsure which term to use, it is best to use ‘lawyer’. You can also check out my specific video on this topic:
🥇 Ways to learn Legal English
- Book Legal English training with Louise.
- Study independently with the Study Legal English courses.
- Read Louise Kulbicki and Natasha Costello’s book, Practical English Language Skills for Lawyers.
- Watch more lessons on the Study Legal English YouTube channel.
- Join the Study Legal English newsletter.
- Connect with Louise on LinkedIn.
Affiliate disclosure: Some book links are Amazon affiliate links. Study Legal English may earn a commission from qualifying purchases, at no additional cost to you.
Legal information changes and develops, so please note that information may have become out of date. For content which is updated regularly, check out my courses.
