Legal Systems & Skills Learn, Develop, Apply

The only text that fully combines coverage of legal systems with academic and professional legal skills. Legal Systems & Skills is the essential contemporary toolkit for savvy law students.

Legal Systems & Skills speaks directly to students - encouraging, engaging, and enthusing at all times. It is accessible, with a clear writing style and a wide range of pedagogical features to help students to apply their knowledge practically.

Learn how law works
? Students get to grips with all the essential topics of English legal system, think about different perspectives, and understand their implications.
? Clear, no-nonsense explanations, supported by annotated documents and diagrams that provide a visual representation of concepts and processes, build students' confidence.

Develop the essential skills
? Students are equipped with the tools they need to thrive in their academic studies and in subsequent employment. Students are encouraged to become adept researchers, nimble problem-solvers, dexterous writers, and competent communicators.
? Topics such as negotiation and mediation, presentations, and client meetings introduce students to the professional skills essential for progression into both legal practice and other professional careers.
? 'Essential debate' boxes throughout challenge students' thinking about law and the legal system; great for exam and interview preparation, helping students develop their critical thinking skills.

Apply them to succeed
? Students are encouraged to reflect on and actively improve their commercial awareness through case studies and activities. Targeted coverage of employability, practise interview questions, CV development, and transferrable skills help students to approach their future careers with confidence and communicate their own competencies effectively.
? 'Practical exercises' throughout provide opportunities to take a hands-on approach to tackling a wide range of legal skills.
? 'What the professionals say' boxes bring in voices from across the world of legal services and other professions, including comments from barristers, solicitors, CEOs, solicitors' paralegals, and librarians.

Online resources
This text is accompanied by online resources offering:
- Self-test questions
- The authors' guidance to answering the practical exercises in the book
- Sample interview questions to help students identify which areas of commercial awareness they need to focus on
- A library of web links that direct students to useful websites and relevant media

Judith Embley, Associate Professor, University of Law,Peter Goodchild, Associate Professor, University of Law,Catherine Shephard, Senior Lecturer, Manchester Metropolitan University

Scott Slorach is a Professor and Director of Teaching & Learning at York Law School at the University of York. He holds Visiting roles at the University of Strathclyde and the College of Law Australia. A qualified solicitor with City experience, he was author of Corporate Finance (OUP) and is currently co-author of Business Law (OUP). Scott now specializes in the design, delivery and assessment of legal education at all levels; he has held various roles with the SRA, including membership of the SQE working group, Chief External Examiner for business law, LPC assessor, and training committee member. He was recently part of a team reporting to the Irish LSRA as part of its statutory review of legal practitioner education.

Judith Embley is Associate Professor at the University of Law. She qualified as a solicitor in 1980, practising in a Lincoln's Inn firm and began teaching law in 1999 as a Visiting Lecturer at Bellerby's College and then Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. She joined the University of Law in 2001, where she has taught contract, commercial and business financial law. She is now Module Lead for the LPC commercial law and practice module, the LLB 'companies, governance, tax and insolvency' module, and the LLB transactions module. She is joint author of Commercial and Intellectual Property Law and Practice and Legal Foundations, two of the University of Law's Legal Practice Guides.

Peter Goodchild is an Associate Professor at the University of Law. He read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at St. Anne's College, Oxford, then attended the University of Law and qualified as a solicitor in 1997, into commercial practice. He joined the University of Law in 2000, where he has taught the English legal system, contract, tort, ethics, commercial, IP and business structures law. In addition to over nineteen years of teaching experience, he has wide experience of designing programmes and has been an author of texts on tort, commercial law, IP law and the English legal system.

Catherine Shephard is Senior Lecturer and Subject Leader of corporate practice, company law, and professional skills in practice at Manchester Law School. She read law at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and practised as a solicitor in corporate finance. Catherine has extensive experience of designing, teaching, leading and assessing law, skills and management programmes across academia and practice. Catherine is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a qualified civil and commercial mediator, and a resilience trainer for the Social Mobility Business Partnership charity.

Part I Legal Systems
1. Introduction to law
2. Legal systems and sources of law
3. The court system of England & Wales
4. Legislation
5. Case law
6. Legal services and ethics
Part II Legal Skills
7. Reading cases and legislation
8. Research
9. Problem solving and case/matter analysis
10. Persuasive oral communication and presentations
11. Client interviews and meetings
12. Negotiation and mediation
13. Advocacy and mooting
14. Writing and drafting
Part III Employability and Commercial Awareness
15. Making yourself more employable
16. CVs, applications, and interviews
17. Understanding clients: individuals and businesses
18. Businesses and the business environment
19. Essential economics and finance
20. Law firms as businesses