Тема 10. Law and law related professionals

Every legal profession has responsibilities clearly defined in occupational descriptions published by the administrative bodies. Below are simplified descriptions that lack job titles. If you complete the sentences with appropriate job titles provided above you’ll learn about the job responsibilities of certain law professions and law-related professions.

Mind there are four legal professionals under one item number that have similar job responsibilities. The first item is done for you.

Jurist is a person who has legal background and does research in a legal area or history of law, he writes articles or books on legal issues.

judge presides over the court and administers justice, resolves disputes between the parties, decides the case during the trial, directs the jury and gives the judgment. He/she either awards relief, in civil cases, or determines the guilt, in criminal cases.

crime investigator investigates a criminal case, aims to discover the criminal, collects and examines evidence

notary is a public officer who certifies the document’s or its copy’s authenticity and witnesses official acts: wills, commercial papers etc.

Тема 11. Differences between solicitors and barristers job duties

Solicitors provide advice to clients of all types about specific areas of law and they also represent their clients if disputes arise. Solicitors may be responsible for instructing barristers to act for their clients. These specific areas of law include property, taxation, finance, employment, and competition. Solicitors advise and represent large and small businesses

The responsibilities of a typical solicitor include:

- Meeting with clients to advise them on legal matters

- Creating documents and drawing up contracts relevant to the specific case

- Supervising and overseeing official agreements between parties

- Researching a thorough case history of each case

- Attending court hearings

- Instructing advocates and barristers

- Negotiating with those attending a court hearing

Barristers, who work in chambers on a self-employed basis, present cases in court and specialize in one of several areas. These areas include criminal law, commercial law, and common law. They will be expected to provide expert advice to individuals including solicitors. Some barristers spend a lot of time in court working with clients’ cases.

The responsibilities of a typical solicitor include:

- Deciding which cases to take on

- Interpreting legislation with regards to specific cases

- Giving general legal advice

- Bringing an action

- Preparing cases and writing legal opinions

- Making sure arguments are fit for court

- Representing clients in the court environment

- Cross-examining witnesses in court

- Performing mediations

Тема 13. Company legal department

The staff members of Legal department work on protection of company's interests and creation of conditions for robust business development. Typically staff members of Legal department are qualified lawyers and their assistants. They are subordinated to Department Manager (or General Counsel) who represents the department, manages activities of legal staff and keeps control over departmental workflow.

Legal Advisers play one of the most important roles in Legal department. They give advice on product development, marketing and promotions. For example, before marketing a new product, marketing manager often needs to talk with Legal department to discuss potential legal issues. In order to give exhaustive legal advice, Department Manager charges lawyers with duties of examining legal issues and checking legislation points. Lawyers also provide advice in the filed of discrimination in hiring practices, sexual harassment and employment.

Law department is responsible for providing legal services and advice to the company, its divisions and employees. The department office faces a great number of different legal matters. These matters include: business development, contract management, real estate transactions, customer claims against the company for product damages and defects, litigation, employment law, sales and leases matters, debt collection, bankruptcy, case prosecution, and much more. All these activities create the workflow of Legal department. If to look at the workflow in whole, the following main functions of the legal department are:

• Providing legal advice and guidance

• Prosecution of cases in courts and litigation management

• Documentation preparation and drafting