English has gained importance over recent centuries in India. It is used as the official language for many purposes. Proceedings in the high court supreme court are also done in English. Being able to read, write and speak in English has become a basic requirement and a symbol of your educational qualification.
Importance of English for Law Students
The importance of law students is different from other students. While studying law not only English one must also be good in legal English. Legal English is the type of English used for legal writings. It is different from standard English. There are many students who may be good at English but have trouble dealing with legal English. A law student’s weakness in English may stop him/her from becoming a potential lawyer. You can don’t have to restrict your growth and confidence because of your lacking of English. You can improve your legal English if you follow the following 6 tips for a year.
Tips to Improve Your Legal English
1. Read a judgment daily
You can use the supreme court website, live law, and manupatra to read judgments of cases. Don’t read the case from your laptop or smartphone rather get a printout of the judgment and read it in front of a mirror loudly. In this way, your hearing, speaking, and seeing senses will become more active and help in boosting your learning process. Through this method, you will become more adapted to legal English.
2. Always keep a notebook with you in a court
While visiting a court keep a notebook with yourself. In a court session advocates, judges, and senior counsels may use such words of legal English that you won’t have been familiar with.
3. Watch arguments of senior advocates
If you are not visiting a court then you can search for argument videos of senior advocates online. You can watch the videos of Bombay Bar Association or any bar association on YouTube. Gujrat high court has become the first high court in the country to show the proceedings of the court live. You can find the videos of such proceedings on YouTube as well.
4. Read English newspaper daily
You need to start reading English newspapers daily. Some of you might already be reading a Hindi newspaper but you need to start reading English newspapers to improve your English. If you don’t have time to read the complete newspaper then you may only read legal news i.e., news related to laws, acts, or the judiciary. Along with newspapers, you may also refer to legal blogs.
5. Read old petitions/cases
If you have joined an office of a senior or advocate, take some time out to ask them to let you read their petition or case files. Through this, you will get to know about other laws and also the way in which the senior/advocate/college drafts or uses legal English.
6. Be confident
Sometimes even after following the above-mentioned tips we still can’t be able to speak properly in English. It is because it is not about the language but about confidence. In many cases, people know how to speak English but because they lack confidence, they lose the ability to speak English. Some people lose their confidence thinking about the reaction of people to their speaking ability. They pay more attention to what people might say about them. Therefore, it is important that you have confidence in yourself to speak English and not be bothered by other people’s views.
Conclusion
It is never late to learn something. Even though you might not be good at English now you can always better yourself. Don’t stop yourself by self-doubting. English is just a small hindrance in your path to becoming an able advocate. You can pass this hindrance by following the tips mentioned above.
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