Warning a client of risks 1/2

Transcription

1 Legal English

2 Warning a client of risks 1/2 Let me caution you that in this jurisdiction the fines can be very high for this sort of activity. I must warn you that individuals directly involved in serious anti-competitive behaviour face the threat of criminal prosecution, which could lead to imprisonment. You should be aware that the risks of being a party to an anti-competitive agreement or abusing a dominant position are serious.

3 Warning a client of risks 2/2 I must advise you that I urge you to consider that

4 Expressing opinions 1/2 In my opinion The way I see it To my mind In my view If you ask me From my point of view

5 Expressing opinions 2/2 As far as I m concerned I think It seems to me that I firmly believe For me I would argue that

6 Agreeing I couldn t agree more. You re right I see your point That s not a bad idea I agree with you, but I agree with you to a certain extent. That may be true; however,

7 Disagreeing You re wrong about that. I totally disagree. You ve got that all wrong. I m afraid I have to disagree I don t think we can risk I m not sure I entirely agree with you on that.

8 Sequencing words 1/2 The first thing Then The next step But before Prior to that After that you can

9 Sequencing words 2/2 Afterwards At this point Following this Once you have done that Subsequently Finally

10 Indicating necessity You must You have to You need to You are required to You are obliged to It is necessary that

11 Letters and s 1/4 Referring to previous contact With reference to your letter of 15 May In response to your query concerning Further to our (telephone) conversation of Thank you for your of 15 May

12 Letters and s 2/4 Stating the reason for writing I am writing to inform you that

13 Letters and s 3/4 Closing, offering further assistance Please contact me again if I can help in any way. Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

14 Letters and s 4/4 Referring to future contact I look forward to your reply. I look forward to hearing from you. I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience. I look forward to meeting you in person. I am looking forward to seeing you at the conference in Milan on 10 June.

15 Paraphrasing This clause deals with and says that According to this clause, the parties agree This clause regulates It simply states that This is about what happens when In such an event In such a situation In such a case Here it says, which means that This part basically just says that

16 Emphasizing It s important to realize that It s particularly important to realize that It s especially important to realize that

17 Negotiating expressions 1/2 I m afraid we can t go along with I m sorry but that s out of the question. Our proposal is to That s certainly a step in the right direction. We suggest (something) We suggest (doing something)

18 Negotiating expressions 2/2 That would be difficult for us. We d like What we re looking for is I think we could live with that. We re not entirely happy with that. We d be happy with that.

19 Vocabulary The appellate court upheld / overturned / reversed the decision. The court dismissed the suit on the grounds that The court holds that The court is reluctant to The court is hesitant to

20 Interview with a client 1/13 Greeting It s a pleasure to meet you. Would you like a cup of coffee? Nice to see you again, Mr. Smith. Please have a seat.

21 Interview with a client 2/13 Explaining what will happen during the interview I ll be asking you some questions about the situation We ll be spending the next hour discussing the facts of your case

22 Interview with a client 3/13 Discussing circumstances Let me assure you that everything you tell me today will be held in strict confidence. Before we get started, maybe I should tell you about my fees

23 Interview with a client 4/13 Identifying the nature of the dispute Would you like to tell me why you are here today? Tell me what brings you here today and how I can help you. Please describe what happened.

24 Interview with a client 5/13 Summarizing the nature of the dispute / problem So, if I understand you correctly, you are saying that Let me repeat what I have understood so far. Allow me to summarize what you ve said. As I understand the situation,

25 Interview with a client 6/13 Asking open questions to gather information What happened next? What did you do then?

26 Interview with a client 7/13 Avoiding digressions Please tell me more about what happened. Let s return to the course of events. Let s come back to

27 Interview with a client 8/13 Asking about details I need to more more about Allow me to ask you more about Can you explain why?

28 Interview with a client 9/13 Explaining ideas to the client Let me explain Allow me to explain That is to say This means that In other words Put simply What this actually means is

29 Interview with a client 10/13 Assessing the case I think that we have a good chance of convincing the court that As I see it, we have good reason to be optimistic. I have to warn you that will be extremely difficult. Let me tell you something about how cases such as yours usually proceed. As things stand,

30 Interview with a client 11/13 Describing next moves Our next step is to I m going to and then I ll get back to you.

31 Interview with a client 12/13 Referring to next contact I ll call you next week and let you know how things look. You ll hear from me in a few days. I ll contact you by close of business Friday.

32 Interview with a client 13/13 Saying goodbye It was good seeing you. Goodbye. Thank you for entrusting me with this (important) matter. Goodbye.

33 The court 1/2 The court pointed out The court noted The court ruled The question before the court is The court reversed the ruling of the first instance. The court drew the conclusion that

34 The court 2/2 The court affirmed The appellate court remanded the case back to the lower court for further proceedings.

35 Vocabulary 1/2 Draw up the papers. Submit the papers. Apply for Negotiate Set up a bank account. Arrange financing. Inspect the premises

36 Vocabulary 2/2 Sign the papers. Initial here and here. Hand over a check in the amount of

37 Making requests Could you please provide me with Would you mind sending me I would appreciate your sending me Would you be so kind as to Might I ask you to

38 Establishing a sequence First of all To begin with Expanding on a point Also In addition Besides Furthermore Moreover Secondly Functions 1/4

39 Functions 2/4 Contrasting In contrast On the other hand Referring to the past Formerly Previously

40 Functions 3/4 Emphasizing In fact In particular Specifically Giving an example For example For instance

41 Functions 4/4 Drawing a conclusion or inference As a consequence Therefore Thus Summarizing Summing up In short Finally To conclude In conclusion

42 Discussion phrases 1/4 Asking for clarification I m not sure I follow you. Did you say that? Are you saying that? Sorry, I m not sure I understand. In what way? Clarifying the issue As far as I can see, the main issue is I think the important issue here is Let me give you an example.

43 Discussion phrases 2/4 Restating your point The point I m trying to make is To put it another way What I mean to say is So, in other words Adding a point Let me add that Another point worth mentioning is And another thing to remember is And what s more

44 Discussion phrases 3/4 Expressing reservations about another speaker s opinions Possibly, yet I m not sure about that. Don t you think that? Yes, but you can look at it another way, too. That may well be true; however, Yes, but that s only one side of the problem

45 Discussion phrases 4/4 Keeping your turn Sorry, could I please finish my point? Sorry, but if you could wait for a moment, I m just about to finish my point. Continuing after an interruption Going back to what I was saying To return to my last point As I was saying

46 Making suggestions and recommendations I suggest that I suggest (doing) I recommend that I recommend (doing) I would advise you to My advice to you is to Why don t you? I think it best if you

47 Requesting information 1/2 Can you tell me what he said? Can you fill me in on the details? And what did he have to say about that? Can you give me an example? What can you tell me about that? Where could I get more information about that? Who could I talk to about that?

48 Requesting information 2/2 Could you describe what happened please? I wonder if you could I was wondering if you could Would you mind verb + ing?

49 Job interview 1/2 What can you tell me about yourself? What are your greatest strengths / weaknesses? Why did you decide to study law? What was the most valuable experience you had in law school? What qualities do you think a good lawyer needs to have?

50 Job interview 2/2 Which accomplishment are you most proud of? What can you tell me about your work experience? What do you know about this firm? Why do you want to work for this firm? Why should we hire you?

51 Passive constructions A suit was filed against the company for pricefixing. The trial was held in the lower court and lasted five days. The decision of the court was handed down shortly thereafter. The company was found guilty of price-fixing and fined 250,000.

52 Conditional constructions If I see Mr. Smith, I will ask him. If I were you, I would talk to a lawyer. If I had known this before, I would have advised you differently.