The article contains the description of background knowledge and gives a definition of their role and values in the preparation socio-cultural competence of a translator. The article presents information about the history of German law. This article is intended for students studying law and German, as well as for all who are interested in these items and willing to expand their horizons.

Within the reform of the educational system of the Russian Federation, the significant changes were made both in the structure and in the contents of the educational process. The subject «Foreign language in jurisprudence» should be regarded as the next educational level after the school course, although it differs significantly from the previous one in the contests and technology. Teaching future lawyers the language of the specialty is the first and foremost requirement. The article touches upon some problems of teaching law students the foreign language at a new stage of study.

The article is devoted to the teaching of English grammar. It examines and questions the traditional principles of teaching. The article discusses the concept of «Grammar as Choice» and the importance of the formation of students' pragmatic competence, which allows them to express ideas and emotions in context and interpret correctly what they hear or read.

The article observes the most productive prefixes used in Legal English and provides recommendations on translation of derivatives into Russian. It also contains a mini teaching guide on types of exercises that will help to master English prefixes.

The article focuses on some aspects of learning Legal English. It also covers the challenges that students face while learning Legal English. The author explains what level of English students should possess in order to succeed in learning Legal English. Specific attention is given to providing practical recommendations to those willing to learn Legal English and to maximize results in this process.

The article considers the problems of the formation of thinking in the educational environment of the University. In particular, special attention is paid to developing critical thinking of law students. The article examines the problem of finding the most effective ways and methods of increasing the level of academic achievement of law students in educational and professional activities, which in many respects causes the need to form critical thinking. The author focuses on the specificity of critical thinking compared to other types of thinking of law students. The problem of the requirements for the professional training of students in foreign language classes that contributes to the formation of critical thinking is studied in detail. One of the most effective methods of forming critical thinking of law students in foreign language classes is to work with authentic texts that corresponds to the aims and objectives of teaching foreign language culture while teaching foreign languages.

Nowadays due to the increasing development of cross-cultural communication professional activity of a specialist involves learning languages for specific purposes. In recent years special language training of a modern specialist has been carried out in the framework of a new educational paradigm, through the so called competence-based approach. Today a lot of professional notions became common, so the professional world view is universal. Linguistic world view has its specific features. The problem of training teachers of language for specific purposes is topical today.

The article is devoted to lingvocultural peculiarities of Anglo-American legal system. Special attention is given to legal terminology as a part of national legal culture.

This article is devoted to the problem of development of reading skills of students in groups with insufficient linguistic training who study in universities of law. Different types of reading: skimming, extensive reading, intensive reading, scanning and their functions are touched there. A text as a unity of communication is reviewed. Factors that text is one of the main units of organization of educational material are exposed. Significance of different techniques of working with a text is mentioned. Necessity of students’ own unaided work is pointed out. Examples of exercises with texts are presented.

Since legal English is a tool for expressing legal traditions, toponymic units being vividly represented in the legal discourse, to the greatest degree reflect social, cultural, national and legal features of the society. Analysis of the material showed the existence of a wide range of toponymic units in the field of law. The authors distinguish several basic conditions that are typical for the integration of geographical names in the English legal terminological system. The classification of cases of place names usage in the legal documentation is proposed, conclusions are drawn about the impact of non-linguistic reality on the development of legal terminology.

The article is dedicated to the media aspect taught at the English language classes within master’s degree programme. The necessity of using the press at this stage of education is stressed, the importance of the specificity of newspaper vocabulary for the development of the professional horizons of undergraduate students is explained, and the results of a survey of the employed category of lawyers on the access to the English media and usage of it are given. The authors offer methodological approaches for structuring classes on this aspect and justify the inclusion of the «Reading the press» Unit into «Legal English for Master's Programme» textbook for undergraduates.

The article deals with the peculiarities of law education in common law countries. On the basis of the analysis of the functioning of different types of word combinations in online newspapers and law journals, there are revealed positive and negative representations of universities, educators and students. There have been discovered some new trends in the legal marketplace and ways of law schools adapting to working in the changed environment. Issues of incorporating this knowledge in the legal English classroom are discussed.

The article deals with the main principles of making ESP textbook and discusses its basic concepts, structural features and content.

The article is devoted to the Lexical Approach to teaching English. The author gives a brief account of the basic methodological principles of the approach and analyses its possible application in teaching English to prospective lawyers. It also contains a number of exercises within the approach.

Current requirements for professional expertise of a lawyer currently involve language proficiency. Employers expect a lawyer to possess interpersonal and translation skills as an integral part of their portfolio. Teaching legal translation should be practice- focused and include forming skills of written translation of documents and texts a lawyer has to deal with on a day-to-day basis. The article makes a clear distinction between the job of a lawyer skilled at legal translation and a professional translator.