Lesson 12

17/11/07 Lesson 12
From ILE text book:
pp. Introduction to employment law ex. 2, 3, 4
pp. 108-109 EU directives on employment ex. 8, 9

Language notes to Reading 1
Trade unions =
Redundancy dismissal =
Unfair dismissal =
Collective bargaining =
Picketing =
Lockouts =
Strikes =
Render a decision =
Unlawful =
Holiday entitlement =


Language notes to Reading 2
To outlaw =
Domestic legislation =
On the grounds of =
To envisage =
To enshrine = vt [V+D(+in+IN)] spec passivo conservare gelosamente, custodire, racchiudere, serbare; the right to work is enshrined in the constitution il diritto al lavoro è racchiuso nella costituzione.
Parental leave=
Artificial hurdles
Hurdles = ostacolo, intralcio, difficoltà He will face many hurdles before reaching his goal
So much legislation in the pipeline=
Claimant =

Language notes to reading 3
Discriminatory culture= when discrimination is present throughout the firm. It is an environment in which certain people or groups are favoured over others.
A senior equity partner is one of the partners, in a partnership such as a law firm, who has the largest ownership interests
Aggravated damages = are special damages awarded by a court to a malicious conduct, such as attempting to humiliate a plaintiff.
to allege to claim = asserire, dichiarare, affermare, supporre; accusare (senza prove) he alleges that I embezzled the company funds = Mi accusa di essermi appropriato dei fondi della società;
a landmark case = generally deals with an important issue and marks a stage in the development of the law in a specific area.

Language notes to reading 4
Cross examination = is the process where each party’s witnesses questions.
Arbitration and conciliation = are both types of alternative dispute resolution.
Conciliation is less formal and is a form of mediation: it simply involves bringing the two disputing sides together to try to resolve their differences. The two sides agree a legally binding conciliation agreement.
Arbitration is more closely associated with claims such as unfair dismissal and the decision (the arbitral award, which is also legally binding) is made by an arbitrator rather than by the parties themselves. For full details, see http://www.acas.org.uk/services/disputes_individual_employer.html.

to uphold = pt e pp upheld vt [V+D] 1 (= to abandon) difendere, sostenere, appoggiare, sorreggere; to uphold the law difendere la legge, fare rispettare la legge; to uphold sb’s rights difendere i diritti di qn; to uphold a system of government appoggiare un sistema di governo; they promised to uphold the principles of the association promisero di sostenere i principi dell’associazione; (+ to reverse/to change, leg) confermare, ribadire; her sentence was upheld on appeal a sua condanna fu confermata in appello.
Reinstatement = n U (form) 1 reintegrazione, riassunzione, reinserimento. The reinstatement of sacked workers la reintegrazione di lavoratori licenziati; 2 ripristinamento, ripristino; the reinstatement of a tax il ripristino di un’imposta; 3 (assic) reintegrazione, riadeguamento.
Reinstatement vs re-engagement = the first involves re-employing an employee in their previous position, while the second means simply re-employing them, perhaps in a different position.

Inquisitorial vs adversial = the first is used in civil law, it involves many questions and the aim is to reach the truth; the second is used in common law. It puts the two parties in competition with each other. It can often seem that the aim is to beat the other party by using better techniques rather than reach the truth.

Homework Lesson 11

Homework Lesson 11

pp. 95 Reading: Understanding contract clauses ex. 6, 8
pp. 102-103 Reading Keeping informed ex. 29, 31
pp. 104-105 Language Focus ex. 1-6

Lesson 11

15/11/07 Lesson 11
From grammar text book: pp. 110-111 vbs followed by ing form or to infinitive
- extra practice

From ILE text book:
pp. 92-93 Introduction to contract assignation
Key terms: contracts ex. 2, 3
pp. 94 Language use: nouns ending in -0r and –ee
pp. 97-98
- extra practice

Terms of the week

damages: al pl (leg) danni, risarcimento dei danni, indenizzo
damages claim= richiesta di risarcimento;
damages for breach of contract = risarcimento per inadempimento contrattuale; to award damagees= decretare il risarcimento dei danni;
to be liable for damages = essere responsabile dei danni;
to pay £ 1.000.000 in damages = pagare un risarcimento di ..
damage survey= perizia dei danni

non-monetary relief = "risarcimento" non monetario
remedy that is not money, but rather something else such as an injunction, a declaratory judgement, specific performance or modification of a cotnract.

In a legal action for descrimination the individual shall be provided with all non-monetary equitable remedies and back pay. Mitigation of damages may be taken into account where appropriate.

"With respect to employees, the Department shall provide all appropriate non-monetary relief, including placement into new position, cancellation of unwarranted personnel action, expungement of adverse materials from Department records, and full restoration of employee benefits the individual would have received absent discrimination."

Here are some more examples of non-monetary relief
http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/corporate/legal/legal_notice.pdf
http://www.eeoc.gov/federal/fsp2001/part_iv.html#n_15_

Homework Lesson 10

8/11/07 Homework Lesson 10

From ILE text book
1- pp.88-89 Types of breach ex. 31
2- pp.90-91 Language Focus

Lesson 10

8/11/07 Lesson 10

Check homework together
pp 78-79 Introduction to contract remedies + key terms: Types of damages
pp.80-81 Reading 2: Liquidated damages ex. 7, 9

Homework Lesson 9

7/11/07 Homework Lesson 9

pp. 72-75 Reading 3 E-contracts ex. 24, 28, 29, 30
pp.76-77 Language Focus
pp. 78-79 Introduction to contract remedies: Translate in Italian all the words in bold in the text. Publish your work here....

Lesson 9

7/11/07 Lesson 9

From grammar text book: pp.312-325 conditional phrases

Conditional vs subjunctive
http://www.forum-legal.com/news5_int.PDF
practice conditionals :

From ILE text book:
pp.64-65 Discuss Reading 1 + Key terms
Language notes:
Damages= refers to the amount of money that a plaintiff may be awarded in a lawsuit.
Parol evidence= is a rule that a contract is a complete document, and that therefore no other documents that contradict it may be used as evidence in a lawsuit. The best way to ensure this is to include an entire agreement clause (or a merger clause)
Severability= means that somebody can sever (cut) something. In other words, if a contract is severable, it means that a breach of one part of the contract does not necessary entail a breach of the whole contract. The part that was breached can be ‘severed’ or separated.
Ancillary=documents /supporting documents

p.66 reinforce vocabulary: types of clauses
pp.67-68 Reading a covenant
Language notes :
Par. A Capitalised terms are those which are consistently written with a capital letter (e.g. Covenant, Shareholder, Purchaser, Seller, Purchase Agreement, Business, Closing and Agreement)
Par. F Precedent = preceding or before (the Covenant must be completed before the Purchase Agreement can be closed)
Par. F execute = sign
Par. 1 controlling ownership interest (of record or beneficial). A shareholder of record is the person named on the share certificate , but in fact the beneficial owner may be somebody else. (i.e. a child. Usually this happens for tax reasons)
Par. 2.a lessee = a person who leases (rents) something, typically a property
Par. 2.b subject to = in accordance with
Par. 3 wire transfer = electronic transfer of funds
Par. 5 provision = here means clause
Par. 5 stricken = hit (past participle is struck) or delete (past participle is stricken)

Homework Lesson 8

Homework Lesson 8

From ILE text book:

pp. 64-65 Introduction to contract formation + Key terms ex. 2-3

Language notes Reading 1:
assignment: involves transferring the rights of the contract to another person.
Information on USA’s Uniform Commercial Code Act is available online at http://www.law.cornell.edu/ucc/ucc.table.html
Information on the Uk’s Sale of Goods Acts see http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topic1/facts/salegoodsact.htm
The conduct of the parties is the way they behave.
An instrument is a written legal document, such as a contract or a will.
There is a statute of frauds in most common law jurisdictions stating which types of contract must be in writing. This includes not only property, but also marriage http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statute_of_frauds

Further information on contract information
- There is a clear overview of contracts at http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/index.php/contracts
- For a guide to contract formation in a range of European countries, including both common law and civil law jurisdictions, see http://www.kclc.or.jp/english/sympo/EUDialogue/lando.htm. See also http://www.jus.uio.no/lm/eu.contract.principles.part1.1995/doc for EU’s Principles of European Contract Law

2. Compare contract clauses in English and Italian in the context of a “letter of appointment”

Lesson 8

03/11/07 Lesson 8
From grammar text book pp. 268-281 Prepositions;
pp. 298-307 Reported speech

From ILE text book
pp.48-49 Introduction to changes in companies: liquidation, constitutional amendments, consolidation and merger, alteration of capital structure, voluntary liquidation, compulsory winding up
pp. 56-57 Reading + Reporting verbs + collocation
pp. 60 -61 Language Focus
pp. pp. 64-65 Introduction to contract formation