Language, culture and education

Round empty chalk board speech bubbles on colored papers This theme describes research that considers the relationship between language, culture(s) and law, broadly understood, and the development and embedding of legal systems through legal education.

Including: legal meaning(s); legal translation; law and philosophy of language; forensic linguistics; law, language and politics; feminist legal language; legal culture(s) and systems; institutional cultures and their impact on development of law; practice and theory of legal education.

Our research has played a significant role in shaping: standards and methods of legal education and training; government guidelines on legal translations across Europe; and sought to improve equality, diversity and inclusion in both the legal profession and the law. Our flagship Centre for Employability Professional Legal Education and Research (CEPLER) confronts key challenges for the legal profession and legal education, and also provides BLS students with opportunities to enhance their skills, employability, and serve the local community.

In addition to our school-wide Research Seminar Series, researchers and post-graduate students can get involved with this theme through the Law and Language Research Group, and through the CEPLER Re-imagining Law series. The Law, Language and Legal Education theme presents a selection of research at the BLS Annual Conference.

Theme leads

Karen McAuliffe - multilingual law production, language and law, law and translation
Emily Carroll - CEPLER and legal education

Staff

Anthony Arnull - multilingual adjudication
Sophie Boyron - comparative law and translation
Gavin Byrne - philosophy of language and jargon of Nazism
Aleksandra Cavoski - legal translation in EU accession states
Sean Coyle - word choice in natural law
Chen Zhu - semiotic analysis of trademarks and brands
Paul McConnell - employability, professional skills, legal profession
Sylvie Delacroix - computer systems for the legal profession and justice system
Robert Lee - environmental advocacy
Theresa Lynch - comparative studies of the legal profession
Julian Lonbay - training lawyers, international practice
Linden Thomas - clinical legal education, streetlaw, public legal education
Lisa Webley - empirical legal studies, gender and the legal professions

Projects

Law and Language at the European Court of Justice

Major publications

CEPLER working papers
Anthony Arnull (2018) ‘The working language of the CJEU: time for a change?’ European Law Review. (6) 904-919
Sophie Boyron (2020) ‘Mediation in French administrative courts: what lessons for administrative justice?’ The Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly. (3) 457-479
Aleksandra Cavoski – (2017) ‘Interaction of law and language in the EU: Challenges of Translating in Multilingual Environment’ Jostrans.(27) 58-74
Sylvie Delacroix (2018) ‘Computer Systems Fit for the Legal Profession? Legal Ethics.
Karen McAuliffe (2019) ‘Formulaic metadiscursive signalling devices in judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union: a new corpus-based model for studying discourse relations of texts’ International Journal of Speech Language and the Law. (26)(1) 21–55
Lisa Webley (2016) ‘Access to a career in the legal Profession in England and Wales: Race, Class and the Role of Educational Background’ in Diversity in Practice : Race, Gender, and Class in Legal and Professional Careers. Cambridge University Press

Key events

Our forthcoming events

Our researchers talk about their work:

Clinical Legal Education - Linden Thomas

Careers and employability in Law - Paul McConnell