Legal Systems and Skills 5th ed

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