level of english to do law?

[mrs grasshopper]

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do you have to be really good at english to do law?
what band should you be getting in English to be good at law?

[High_Pride]

Depends. You want to become a Chinese Lawyer or an Australian Lawyer?

On a serious note, since doing Law requires extensive amounts of communicating, I would suggest a high Band 5 or Band 6 in your chosen language.

Also, I'm assuming laywer when you say law?

[Kujah]

Depends on what type of English you are doing (should be doing at least Advanced English) and getting around B5-6 marks consistently.

[mrs grasshopper]

but what if you're just one of those "paper work" lawyers, do you still need good communication skills?

[Kujah]

Communication skills is not just limited to the verbal aspects - I daresay it also entails 'good' writing skills as well.

[Lara1986]

Originally Posted by mrs grasshopper

but what if you're just one of those "paper work" lawyers, do you still need good communication skills?

I'm not quite sure what you consider a 'paper work' lawyer to be, but if by that you mean a practitioner who does not do advocacy work (i.e. court work), you absolutely need good communication skills.

You need to be able to provide written advice and analysis that is concise, correct, intelligible and generally well written. You also need to have a good grasp of research skills, which is linked somewhat with English language skill.

I wouldn't say that obtaining a certain mark in a certain English course is a pre-requisite, but if you were not doing Advanced English and you were not receiving top 2 band marks in whatever subject you are doing, you may struggle a little at first.

Plenty of people I know did poorly in English in the HSC and are now doing fine in a law degree, however, they also put in a lot of work and study to improve after not doing so great in first semester.

[melsc]

On top of what Lara said, much of what is required can be learnt. HSC English does not prepare you for university level writing and how to write like a lawyer this is the sort of thing university does teach you. That said the newer English is to you, the hard law is...those who English is their second language often find it harder but thats not to say they cannot combat this with hard work. Universities often have essay writing and other courses to help you out.


Just be mindful this is a course that requires a lot of reading, writing and speaking. Its not about being good at HSC english, its about having good general reading, comprehension and listening skills. Best of luck