CAVENDISH UNIVERSITY UGANDA

ACCREDITED CENTRE FOR THE TEST OF LEGAL ENGLISH SKILLS EXAMS

Cavendish University Uganda (CUU), together with its academic partner Cavendish University Zambia (CUZ), has become the first accredited centre in Sub-Saharan Africa for the TOLES (Test of Legal English Skills) series of legal English exams.

TOLES is the world’s leading legal English exam and is administered by a UK based company called Global Legal English Limited and who are members of the International Division of the Law Society of England and Wales.

CUU is the exclusive centre in Uganda and with its academic partner CUZ, is the exclusive centre for Sub-Saharan Africa.  This is an extremely exciting development for CUU and sends a signal to the market that the CUU Faculty of Law is dynamic, forward thinking and leading the way in the development of legal education within Sub-Saharan Africa.

This prestigious series of exams is aimed primarily at law students, lawyers and  legal translators, but given that the exam tests areas including the language of  banking, modern letter day writing and understanding contractual documentation,  it also appeals to many other professionals including insurers, claims brokers,  bankers and middle/senior managers in any business.  Legal issues are interwoven in to many of the day to day operational concerns of a business and English is increasingly becoming the lingua franca of international business and law. 

With a fast growing economy and the increased globalisation of business within Uganda first class legal English skills are going to be even more important than ever, not only for those in law and graduates from any other discipline but also for those in any business that wishes to take advantage of this globalisation.

It is the aim of the TOLES exam to give lawyers, law students, legal translators and other professionals in any area the practical, up-to-date English language skills they will need to work effectively in any international law office or international working environment. This means that the content of the TOLES course and exam will always be current and above all, relevant to work.  It is a professional skills course, not a legal academic course. 

The wide appeal of the exams can be evidenced from the list of companies and organisations that have entered candidates for the TOLES exams.  These include leading international law firms such as Clifford Chance, Baker & McKenzie, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters, as well as the following:

 ·         KPMG

·         PricewaterhouseCoopers

·         The European Central Bank

·         The European Court of Justice

·         Daimler Chrysler

·         Sony Ericsson

·         Siemens

·         Alcatel

TOLES has accredited exam centres across the world, from Brazil to Canada, Germany to Kuwait and China to Russia.

There are three levels of exams and these are as follows:

Foundation      -         Tests knowledge and understanding of essential legal vocabulary through reading and writing skills in a 90 minute single paper exam. As a minimum an elementary level of general English is required. 

Higher                -         Tests knowledge and accurate use of essential legal vocabulary through reading, writing and listening skills over two papers, one of 90 minutes and the other of 30 minutes.  There is a focus on accurate use of the vocabulary acquired at Foundation level.  As a minimum a pre intermediate level of general English is required.

Advanced         -         Tests ability to use authentic legal English, letter writing, explaining complex legal documents and appropriate drafting used by modern commercial lawyers. Reading and writing skills are tested in one paper lasting 2 hours. As a minimum an upper intermediate level of English is required.

A candidate does not need to have completed the Foundation exam to progress to Higher and likewise they do not need to have completed the Higher to progress to Advanced.  That said, it is recommended that, as each level builds on the other, each candidate should start at the Foundation level and develop their skills towards eventually sitting the Advanced exam.

TOLES administers five exam dates throughout the year, with registration for the

January 2012 and March 2012 exams having already closed. CUU will now be

entering students for the TOLES exams on the following dates in 2012:

14 June 2012

23 August 2012

22 November 2012

A further press-release will be issued when the 2013 exam dates are published

by TOLES.

Tailor-made preparation courses will be delivered with an average of 45 hours teaching time and can be taken either full time, part time in the evenings or through weekend block learning.  Alternatively, students can choose distance learning or self study and companies will be offered bespoke in-house courses on request.

Accreditation on behalf of CUU was achieved by Jeff Heasman, a Consultant to the Faculty of Law and a native English speaker who has ten years experience of working at some of the UK’s leading law firms and as a senior liability adjuster with one of the world’s largest claims management companies.

Jeff Heasman has experience of teaching legal English at Swansea University in the UK to LL.B (bachelor of laws) and LL.M (master of laws) students and has taught business English to company directors in Spain and language for international negotiation skills at a leading business and marketing school.

Further information on the TOLES series of exams can be found at

www.toles.co.uk.

CUU is now actively enrolling students for all modes of study and is registering

students for the 2012 exam dates.  Fees and course dates can be obtained from

CUU by calling +256779154258 / +256414534070 / +256414531700 or by

sending an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .