TOLES - The World's Leading English Exam for Lawyers, Law Students and Legal Translators
Syllabus and Materials
TOLES Advanced Examination syllabus
Introduction
TOLES means Test of Legal English Skills. There are 3 levels to the TOLES examinations. The TOLES Advanced examination is level 3, the most advanced level.
The TOLES exams differ from general English exams as they specifically measure an individual’s legal English skills. With reference to the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, TOLES Advanced is set at levels B2 to C2.
The description of the examination is based upon:
- general level of proficiency in legal English
- specific communication skills within a legal English framework
- materials/work situations that learners can cope with
- TOLES Advanced examination
The TOLES Advanced examination is intended to be a reflection of what a student may achieve after:
following a course of study of the English language in a specifically legal English context
ideally having had some experience of authentic legal English documents at university level, in the EFL classroom or in the workplace.
The examination may be seen as an objective in itself or as a learning tool towards proficiency in legal English.
The examination is marked out of a total of 500 points. There are six grade bands assessed by colour. (Pleased see the attached explanation of grades).
Requirements
The TOLES Advanced examination requires little or no knowledge of English law or American law. It specifically requires knowledge of the vocabulary and correct use of register in the following general areas:
Specific legal vocabulary of the UK and US systems. This can include all areas of civil and commercial law but will not include any criminal terminology. Most common vocabulary comes from:
- the law of contract
- business/commercial law
- tort (the law of civil responsibility, suing for damages in case of accident, etc)
- the legal profession
- landlord and tenant/real estate
- employment law
- the law of intellectual property/copyright
- taxation
- basic insurance and banking terminology
- international law
The style of formal, written legal English and drafting. This involves an awareness of the unusual grammatical structure of legal English and the use of archaic terms and structures in general English as used by lawyers. The TOLES Advanced examination specifically requires a redrafting exercise, which gives candidates the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of the differences between the legal English of USA and the new, plain English style of England and Wales and the EU.
The register of contractual documents. This requires a general awareness of the register used by lawyers when drafting and analysing contracts and other agreements. The TOLES Advanced examination specifically requires candidates to provide a detailed analysis of an extract from a legal agreement to demonstrate their ability to understand and explain contractual documents.
The register used in legal letters. This requires a general awareness of the style of a general, professional business letter between two professionals or from a lawyer to a client. The TOLES Advanced examination specifically requires a candidate to re-write an inadequately written letter in a professional, up-to date manner.
The register of spoken general English in a legal context. This requires a general awareness of the register used by lawyers in meetings/negotiations when using general English to discuss legal matters. It is essential to look at idiom as well as more formal styles of expression. The TOLES Advanced examination specifically requires candidates to explain a conversation between two lawyers or lawyer/client where idiom is used.
Legal Collocation. Students need to be aware of the most common legal “word chunks” according to the lexical approach to language learning.
Prepositions. The TOLES Advanced examination specifically requires candidates to identify the correct prepositions commonly used within a in legal English framework.
Grammatical accuracy is assessed throughout the examination.
Examination questions
Candidates are required to be able to deal with the following styles of question in the examination:
- complex texts within a legal context, including the explanation of short extracts from contracts
- a modern approach to letter writing in a legal context
- extracts from legal text books (multiple choice/gap fill/vocabulary)
- extracts from a legal document (multiple choice/gap fill)
- redrafting from “legalese” into modern, plain English
- a transformation exercise testing knowledge of word families (verb, noun, adjective, etc., of the same root.)
- modern business/legal idiom as used in spoken English
- prepositions (gapfill)
Study materials
The best preparation for the TOLES Advanced examination is past/sample papers.
‘Practice papers for the TOLES examination’ ISBN 0-9540714-0-9 is a book of 5 past examination papers (with a detailed answer key). This is available from bookshops or from the TOLES office.
Little other specifically appropriate study material is published at the moment and teachers are strongly advised to develop their own materials according to the level of their students. The following specialised textbooks are available. However, none are recommended or endorsed by Global Legal English.
Modern Legal Drafting (A Guide To Using Clearer Language)
by Peter Butt and Richard Castle ISBN 0 521 00186 2
Plain English for Lawyers
by Richard Wydick ISBN 0 89089 994 0
English for Law
by Alison Riley ISBN 0-13-405325-7
English for Contract and Company Law
by Chartrand, Millar and Wiltshire ISBN 042179870X
An Essential A-Z of Business Law
by Rosemary Atkins and Catherine Mason ISBN 0-9537653-0-X
Legal English
by W McKay & H Charlton ISBN 0-582-89436-0
Legal English
by Rupert Haigh ISBN 185941950X
Key Legal Words
by S Kossakowska-Pisarek and B Niepytalska ISBN 83-89437-16-2 Aimed at Polish speakers
Market Leader Business Law
by T Smith ISBN 0-582-32842-X