Efficient use of foreign languages as an important factor of success in the modern working environment - An analytical and critical study about the importance of Legal English in international law offices

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2018 in the subject Psychology - Work, Business, Organisational and Economic Psychology, grade: 1,3, University of Applied Management, language: English, abstract: Legal English plays a major role for communication and practicing in law firms globally. Offices involved in international jurisdictions are reliant on this language and its use affects the outcome of processes, lawsuits and even success rates. Several studies confirm that English as the lingua franca is a major influencing factor in determining employment and even wage for the concerned person. Quite a lot references concerning this special language serve the purpose of supporting law students in their classes. It is noticeable that most of those resources are designated to academic purposes only. The importance of English Legalese needs to be further analyzed and emphasized. For practicing lawyers and attorneys, it may be fundamental to be aware of the impact of correct language use and this also applies to foreign speakers as well. This thesis examines the role of English Legalese in the legal context for law firms not only residing in an Anglophone area. In order to debate this essential question, a definition of its peculiar features, a historical background and the demonstration of the differences between Standard English and this specific language represent the needed requirements to analyze the role of English Legalese in detail. As already stated, nowadays English is a frequently used language for legal purposes and there have to be certain reasons why it has gained this big recognition. The thesis gives some relevant reasons why applying this language is a very efficient process, yet the downsides of using a very specific language need to be considered. Therefore, the subsequent part of this thesis discusses why it might not be ideal to solely apply English as the preliminary language, or even having one dominant language in general. This analysis can be seen as a prerequisite for conducting the methodical part of the thesis. It analyzes the importance of legal English for international active lawyers from several countries around the world. Therefore, relevant data will be assembled, analyzed and interpreted. The results will help to determine the importance of Legal English for international Law firms and for practicing lawyers today.