75 Words that Lawyers Use Differently: Common Words Used in Uncommon Ways

Lawyers speak a different language to everyone else.
If you are a lawyer or law student and English is not your first language, this book has been written to help you learn, understand and use those ordinary, everyday words that lawyers use in far from ordinary ways.

You know how the words fee, find and friend are used in everyday English, but what do lawyers mean when they use them? Or serve, suit and stay? Or call, cause and crown?

Here, you will find items of clothing (a suit and vest), words about death (demise and execution), some strong emotions (relief, frustration and distress) and places you can eat and drink (inns and bars), yet not one of them means what you think it means when a lawyer uses them. And some words mean the very opposite of what you think they mean.

How to use the book
The entry for each word gives its most common meaning and a full explanation of how lawyers use it. Associated words and phrases are shown under each entry to increase your knowledge of its legal meaning and use, referencing how that word is used in other places in the book. You will learn not only how the word is different from everyday English use but also how lawyers use it differently. The words have also been grouped into categories (general law, court procedure, land and property, lawyers, criminal law, and contracts).

In this book, you will find 75 words that lawyers use differently. They are drawn from my four decades of legal practice in England and my experience as a teacher of English as a second language to other lawyers, which you need to learn to understand lawyers' texts and use English with confidence and accuracy when dealing with other lawyers.