Academic Publications

Texas University Press, 2013, 166 pages.
Foreword by Alejandro Garro (Columbia University)

Spanish is the second most widely spoken language in the world. A growing number of people in the United States and other countries are proficient in this language and also use it professionally in the legal field. Nevertheless, many of them would like to improve their linguistic and legal comprehension of it. At present, there are few instructional and professional resources available. El derecho en español: Terminología y habilidades jurídicas para un ejercicio legal exitoso is the only book currently on the market that simultaneously offers advanced instruction in legal Spanish and selected information on the contemporary legal frameworks in which this language is used.

This monolingual Spanish book can be used both in the classroom and as a self-study tool by university students and professionals with an intermediate level of Spanish. The book contains ten lessons, each dedicated to a key area of law: constitutional law, contracts, banking, criminal law, family law, immigration, human rights, international litigation, and arbitration. Each lesson presents carefully selected vocabulary related to the legal topic addressed, followed by a series of exercises based on real legal documents from various Spanish-speaking countries. The final chapter is a guide designed to facilitate the understanding of several films that raise interesting legal issues and can be used for contextual analysis of the themes covered in the preceding lessons.

Through these training materials, readers will learn to use legal Spanish vocabulary in its proper operational context and will be able to understand the linguistic and conceptual differences among the various countries of Latin America and Spain. At the same time, they will become familiar with the provisions and documents most commonly used in legal practice in Spanish. Finally, they will also be able to improve their listening and legal writing skills.