Center for Global Legal Skills (Office of Graduate Programs)


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	Center for Global Legal Skills Sophisticated legal practice today requires a set of skills that go beyond mere knowledge of the relevant law. Lawyers must be able to communicate effectively to multiple audiences with different legal and cultural expectations; they must be able to write and speak with both precision and nuance; and increasingly they must be able to all of this in English. The Center for Global Legal Skills offers a range of courses and programs designed to assist our LL.M. students to improve their communication skills as they improve their command of the law. The Center is fully integrated into the law school and the curriculum and its director is a member of the law faculty with advanced degrees in both law and linguistics.


	CGLS Classes, Programs, and Events Courses: Georgetown offers more courses for LL.M. students than any law school in the world. As part of our extensive course offerings, the curriculum includes a selection of courses specifically designed for students who want to improve their skills in legal communication. Courses include: U.S. Legal Discourse I U.S. Legal Methods Introduction to U.S. Contract Drafting Writing for International Trade Practice Writing for Tax Practice Writing for Law Firm Practice Presentation Skills for Lawyers Other Programs: In addition to our extensive for-credit course offerings, the CGLS offers a wide array of non-credit programs that are open to all foreign-trained LL.M. students. These Workshops occur throughout the fall and the spring semesters and include the following: Academic Support for Foreign-trained LL.M. Students Understanding the U.S. Law School Classroom Preparing for Law School Exams Interviewing Techniques for U.S. Law Firm Practice American Legal English Workshops Accent Modification Advanced English Grammar Cross-cultural Communications for Lawyers The list of workshops can be found here. Extended LL.M. Program and Certificate in American Legal English Georgetown offers a unique two year LL.M. program designed for students who would like to devote particular attention to enhancing their legal English skills. In the first year of the program, students take a set of required law courses taught by law faculty that focus on legal analysis, legal writing, and other legal sills. Additionally, all students take English for International Lawyers, a course taught by a PhD Linguist that combines ESL instruction with law-related readings, writing, and discussion. In the second year of the program there are no required courses and students select courses from our regular LL.M. curriculum. For more information about this program go to http://www.law.georgetown.edu/graduate/twoyearllm.htm. Revised September 8, 2009 (mbj)