TOLES Test of Legal English Skills Exam Preparation Course
The TOLES (Test of Legal English Skills) preparation course is a course designed to prepare you fully for one of the three TOLES exams:
- The TOLES Foundation Exam
The Foundation Exam is the recommended starting point in legal English training for international law students. For more experienced lawyers, this may be the correct starting point for those who wish to begin training in professional legal English while continuing to develop English skills in general.
The level of English needed for this foundation exam is elementary level.
- The TOLES Higher Exam
The Higher Exam builds on the language skills and knowledge of practical legal vocabulary acquired at Foundation level. The Higher Exam moves learners to the next stage and requires the ability to deal with more complex authentic legal documents and scenarios while also continuing to focus on a strict attention to detail and grammatical accuracy.
Content of the exam:
The exam has two papers: a reading and writing paper and a listening paper. The reading and writing paper requires a more active use of language than the Foundation Exam, and requires learners to deal confidently with complex and recent commercially-relevant case studies, extracts from contracts and a professional letter. It continues to test practical and useful legal vocabulary and requires the ability to provide precise definitions for very common words from commercial practice. It also demands a good knowledge of the register of language, and asks learners to improve informal English and make it more appropriate and professional.
The listening paper consists of listening to conversations between two or more lawyers or a lawyer and a client and answer questions based on understanding. The topics covered are very current and deal with situations that working lawyers frequently experience or topics that are of international interest. This continues the idea of the TOLES exams encouraging commercial awareness rather than an academic or theoretical knowledge of law.
The level of English needed for the higher exam is intermediate-upper intermediate level
- The TOLES Advanced Exam
The Advanced Exam was created and then developed in consultation with leading commercial law firms and is considered to be the gold standard of legal English achievement. TOLES Advanced was initially created at the request of a major commercial law firm in London who required a method of testing the English of international interns and new associates in its international offices. This required researching the tasks international lawyers were required to carry out in English and making a careful analysis of how best to test proficiency in those areas. The result was the TOLES Advanced Exam. Since its creation it has been trusted by legal employers everywhere as a measure of a lawyer’s commercial legal English skills rather than his or her academic legal English skills.
Content of the exam:
The exam has one paper: legal reading and writing. The exam measures a candidate’s skills against a native English-speaking lawyer. In other words, any candidate scoring in our ‘Gold’ category genuinely has very similar legal English skills to a native English-speaking solicitor, barrister or attorney. The exam has a heavy focus on the vocabulary and grammar required for contract drafting. It also encourages knowledge of the plain English style of writing favoured these days by leading commercial law firms. A working knowledge of the difference between ‘legalese’ and ‘plain English’ is essential to doing well in this exam. The candidates who score very well at Advanced level show an appreciation of the huge importance of absolute accuracy when working in law, as well as having a strong grasp of technical legal vocabulary. The exam also requires sensitivity to register and an understanding of how formal and informal English is used in a professional workplace.
The level of English needed for the Advanced exam is Upper Intermediate-Advanced level.
The above information was obtained directly from the TOLES Exam website: https://www.toleslegal.com/
Course description:
The TOLES examination is for qualified lawyers working in commercial law and students who are studying at a university law faculty in an English-speaking country.
This course will help increase your Knowledge and use of specific legal vocabulary , teach you how to write formal letters and emails , understand and explain legal documents and explain important parts of the legal system in English. TOLES is an ideal qualification for legal professionals who want to demonstrate their ability to manage everyday legal tasks and situations in English.
The teachers who teach this specialized course , have a background in Legal English and have many years of experience preparing students for the, foundation, higher and advanced TOLES exam and all the materials and resources will be included in the course fee.
We offer this course as follows:
A Combination of group General English 20 lessons per week + One-to-One Legal English 10 lessons per week.
A combination of group General English 20 lessons per week + closed group tuition for minimum 2 students 10 lessons per week.
A group course with a minimum of 4 students 20 lessons per week,
One-to-One Private tuition any number of lessons per week.
Please consult our Professional English prices here: https://english-malta.com/prices
Or send us an e-mail: [email protected]