Students should already have a knowledge of English at level B2 of the CEFR.

Students should be able to describe a criminal or civil case from beginning to end, make a PowerPoint presentation, write a Letter of Advice and Issue a Claim in English.

Criminal Law

Trials, sentencing, appeals and punishment

Conventional word order in Legal English

Modal Verbs (present, past and future)

Conditional sentences

How to make a PowerPoint presentation

How to give legal advice over the phone

How to express a legal opinion in a formal Letter of Advice

How to issue a claim and ask for damages in a formal letter

'Straight to Work / Subito al Lavoro 3' di Martin Harper, Edizioni Simple, Macerata: 2024 (C)

The final exam is the same for those who attend the course and those who do not. PDF files for each lesson, glossaries and other information are available on the Martin Harper Unimc website.

• Lectures

  Lessons

  Reading comprehension

  Case Studies

  Web quests

  Audio and video comprehension

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  ASSESSMENT

   

  WRITTEN TEST

  In order to be admitted to the final exam, students have to submit two pieces of writing during the course to this address: martin.harper@unimc.it

  (i) a Letter of Advice explaining a lawyer’s professional legal opinion in English, according to the instructions given on page 15 of Lesson 3 and/or page 7 of Lesson 4.

  (ii) a Claim on behalf of a client, demanding damages, according to the instructions given on page 11 and/or page 14 of Lesson 7.

  Each legal letter should be at least one page but not more than two pages in length and should respect the conventions regarding presentation, terminology and rhetorical structure which will be explained during the course.

  The assessment criteria will be as follows:

   

  Assessment Criteria: Letter of Advice & Claim

  
  

  5 marks=excellent; 4=good; 3=acceptable; 2=poor; 1=very weak; 0=insufficient sample of language.

  
  

  
  

  Grammatical Accuracy - 0-5 points - (16.5%)

  
  

  
  

  Punctuation, Spelling & Capitalization - 0-5 points - (16.5%)

  
  

  
  

  Appropriateness of Language - 0-5 points - (16.5%)

  
  

  
  

  Relevance & Adequacy of Content - 0-5 points - (16.5%)

  
  

  
  

  Organisation: Layout, Cohesion & Coherence - 0-5 points - (16.5%)

  
  

  Adequacy & Range of Vocabulary - 0-5 points - (16.5%)

   

  SPEAKING TEST

  Candidates who have successfully passed the written test will then have to make a 10-15-minute PowerPoint presentation explaining a legal case from beginning to end. The case can be either criminal or civil. In a criminal case, the candidate should describe the crime, the victim, the accused, the police investigation, the evidence, the arrest, the charges, the trial, the verdict and the sentence, plus the result of any appeals. Obviously, the case must not be one of those studied during the course.  

  
  

  Assessment Criteria: PowerPoint Presentation

  
  

  5 marks=excellent; 4=good; 3=acceptable; 2=poor; 1=very weak; 0=insufficient sample of language.

  
  

  
  

  PowerPoint Presentation - 0-5 points - (16.5%)

  
  

  
  

  Relevance and Adequacy of Content - 0-5 points - (16.5%)

  
  

  
  

  Pronunciation, Intonation and Stress - 0-5 points - (16.5%)

  
  

  
  

  Fluency, Cohesion and Coherence - 0-5 points - (16.5%)

  
  

  
  

  Grammatical Accuracy - 0-5 points - (16.5%)

  
  

  
  

  Adequacy & Range of Vocabulary - 0-5 points - (16.5%)

  
  

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

English

English