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English law for international lawyers

English Law for international lawyers

Attend this revised in-depth training course and gain invaluable skills in the following key areas of English law:

  • The common law in England and Wales

  • Negotiation and formation of a contract

  • Drafting and redrafting legal contracts under English law

  • Termination of a contract and remedies for breach of contact

  • Applicable law in international financial contracts

  • Other aspects of the law in England and Wales

International commercial agreements are often subject to English law. For many lawyers who are trained outside the United Kingdom, the legal concepts and requirements may be unfamiliar. This course allows lawyers to overcome any misunderstandings. It is available as private tuition and as in-company corporate training.

The schedule for this programme is regularly updated and aims to provide you with the principal elements of English law and in particular the main provisions of contract law. It is highly interactive with several practical case studies, seminars and workshops. Regular homework is set throughout the course for self-study.

You will learn:

  • The essential aspects of English law and the English legal system

  • To identify the key elements of a common law judgement

  • How a contract is drafted and the essential components of a contract

  • Remedies for breach of contract

  • Applicable law and international financial contracts

  • To enable you to understand how English law works in practice, you will take part in practical exercises and will analyse specific legal issues and contracts:

  • Pre-contractual documents: letters of intent and commitment

  • How to negotiate contracts with impact and effectiveness

  • Contents of the contract: express and implied terms

  • Drafting force majeure clauses

  • Drafting contract clauses

  • Construction of contract terms

The common law: nature and methodology

  • What is the ‘common law’?

  • The role of judge-made law or precedent

  • The authority of case-law

  • Consensual and non-consensual liabilities

Lesson 1: Analysing a common law case Participants analyse a law report, considering the basis of the judgment and evaluate its significance for the future.

Equity and trusts

  • The equitable jurisdiction

  • Trusts: their use and structure

  • Legal and beneficial interests

  • Intention to create a trust

  • Identifying trust property

  • Duties of trustees


Formation of a contract (1)

  • Agreement

  • Offer

  • Acceptance

  • Misrepresentation

  • Termination of offer

  • Special cases

  • Form

  • General rule

  • Statutory exception


Formation of a contract (2)

  • Consideration

  • Function of the doctrine

  • Adequacy

  • Past consideration

  • From the promise

  • Value

  • Special cases


Lesson 2: Consideration case studies Participants examine recent case law in relation to the doctrine of consideration.

Formation of a contract (3)

  • Contractual intention

  • Intention to create legal relations

  • Certainty

  • Completeness

  • Conditional agreements


Lesson 3: Formation of a contract Participants consider the course of real-world negotiations and apply the common law approach to the formation of contract.

Formation of contract (4)

  • Pre-contractual documents and undertakings

  • Letters of intent/commitment/heads of agreement

  • Agreements to agree

  • Lock-out agreements

  • Letters of comfort

  • Corporate guarantees


Lesson 4: The usage of pre-contractual documents within the English Legal System Participants study the wording and effect of precontractual documents.

The contents of the contract (1)

  • Classification of terms

  • Express terms

  • Common terms

  • Representations

  • Warranties

  • Undertakings

  • Conditions


Lesson 5: Common contractual provisions in financial documents Participants study the wording and structure of standard terms in banks’ loan and guarantee documentation.


The contents of the contract (2)

  • Contractual provision for remedies

  • Liquidated damages and penalties

  • Case studies: Latest case law on this subject

  • Force majeure clauses

  • Implied terms

  • Terms implied ‘in fact’

  • Terms implied in law


The contents of the contract (3)

  • Construction of contractual terms

  • Rules of interpretation

  • Exclusion & limitation clauses

  • Case study: Latest case law on this subject


Lesson 7: Interpretation of contractual terms Participants consider the court’s interpretation and application of contractual terms in contracts of insurance and shipbuilding.

  • Legislative limitations on standard terms


Parties to the contract

  • Privity of contract and its exceptions

  • The Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999


Variation of contractual terms

  • Consensual and non-consensual variations

  • Waivers

  • Promissory estoppel


Lesson 8: Frustration case studies Participants consider real-life scenarios and determine whether the doctrine of frustration applies.


Remedies

  • Legal and equitable remedies

  • Damages

  • Scope

  • Quantum

  • Injunctions

  • Specific performance

  • Case studies: set off and its exclusion


Applicable law and jurisdiction under English law

  • Conflicts of law in international transactions

  • Comparative practice

  • The common law approach

  • Relevant case studies

  • London School of Legal English runs corporate language training and personalised language courses for law firms and lawyers across London, online, the UK and throughout the world. It is the only fully independent language school doing this. To find out more, fill out the form on this page. i

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