english law studies (els) course curso de extensión

TheDeanoftheFaculty,ProfessorJuanJoséHinojosa,andProfessorsMiguelAngelAsensio

SánchezandBrunoRodríguezRosado,directorsoftheEnglishLawStudiescourse,areproudtoannouncethattheUniversityofMalaga’sEnglishLawStudies(ELS)Course(CursodeExtensiónUniversitariadeDerechoInglés)hasmettherequiredstandardsfortheawardofthe

InstituteofParalegal’s"DiplomainEnglishLawStudies(D.ELS)tostudentswhosuccessfullycompleteLevel4oftheELScourse.TheELScoursehasbeenoperatinginMalagasince2010andtheUniversityofMalagaisthefirstUniversitytoreceivesuchapproval.

TheD.ELSprojectwasconceivedasajointinitiativeoftheFacultyofLawinMalagawiththeInstituteofParalegals(IoP).DiscussionsbeganinJune2015betweenJohnBrebner,Senior

LecturerandHeadofStudiesofthecourse,andDavidHolland(ChiefExecutive)andJamesO’Connell(HeadofPolicy)oftheIoP.Therewasasharedperceptionthatachangingglobalscenariowouldgenerateademandforanewbreedof‘globallawyer’.‘Brexit’wasalready‘in

theair’and,withitorwithoutit,lawyersthroughoutEuropeandbeyondwouldsoonbefacingnewchallenges.TheFacultyofLawinMalagaandtheIoPinLondonwerewellplacedtopioneersuchaproject.

Thestartingpointwastoagreeonwhatwasmeantbya‘globallawyer’.Thedefinitionbecame:“alawyerwhohasprofessionallanguageskillsandisqualifiedandexperiencedinthe

interactionofthetwomajorsystemsoflawthatoperateacrosstheglobe;'CivilLaw'and'CommonLaw’”.Weadoptedashort-handdefinitionofthisnewlawyer:ADual-TrainedLawyer’or‘GlobalLawyer’.Wethenconsideredthenatureandqualityofthe‘dual-training’

qualificationsandexperiencethattheinternationalmarketwouldbeexpectingfromsuchlawyers.WorkbeganondesigningaroutetowardsappropriateacademicandprofessionalqualificationviatheawardofaDiplomainEnglishLawStudies(D.ELS),thefirststep,andthe

recognitionoftheprofessionalstatusofApprovedEnglishLawAdviser(A.ELA)andthegrantofaprofessionalpractisingcertificateasthesecondstep(seebelow).

InJune2016,RitaLeattookoverasthenewChiefExecutiveoftheIoP.Farfromflinchingfromthetask,sheembracedtheprojectandintroducedenergy,visionandimprovementstoit.WithBrexitbynowacertaintyandthe‘transfer’ofEuropeanlawyersundertheECDirective

nolongerapracticaloption,dual-trainingapprovalbytheIoPwasnotonlygoingtorespondtothechallengesofglobalisationbutalsotoprovidetheonlymeansforlawyersacrossthecontinentofEuropetoobtainacademicandprofessionalaccreditationintheUKandto

facilitaterecognitionoftheirEnglishLawqualificationsinotherCommonLawjurisdictions.Forthemoment,theD.ELSisawardedonlytostudentswhohavesuccessfullycompletedthe

UniversityofMalaga's4-yearIoPapprovedEnglishLawStudy(ELS)programme.Inthefuture,weexpectitwillbeawardedtostudentswhohavesuccessfullycompletedequivalentcourses

providedbyIoPapproveduniversitiesorhighereducationbodiesacrossEurope.On31March2017,ataquietceremonyduringtheFaculty’s2017LawFair,RitaLeatpresented

theDeanoftheFaculty,JuanJoséHinojosa,withtheIoP’sCertificateofApprovalthattheUniversityofMalagahadmettherequiredstandardsfortheawardoftheD.ELS.Thiswasahistoricandmemorablemoment.Ritawasthengraciousenoughtopersonallycongratulate

thefirst24studentswhohadsuccessfullycompletedLevel4oftheELScourseandtopresent

themwiththeirhard-earneddiplomas.AnumberofthesestudentsarecurrentlymovingontobecomethefirstlawyerstoachievefullA.ELAstatusin2018.

ThepreciseroutefromD.ELStoA.ELAandtheconditionsofissueandrenewalofaprofessionalparalegalpractisingcertificate(PPC)iscurrentlyunderdiscussionandtheIoPwillbemakingadocumentavailablesoon.

ForfurtherinformationregardingD.ELSorA.ELA,youmaycontactJohnBrebnerdirectlyonenglishlaw@uma.esorcallhimon0034659097721.

TheDeanoftheFacultyofLawatMalagaUniversity,JuanJoséHinojosa,receivingtheIoP'sCertificateofApprovaloftheEnglishLawStudiesCoursefromRitaLeat,ChiefExecutiveoftheInstituteofParalegals.

MiguelAngelAsensioandBrunoRodriguez,oftheFacultyofLawatMalagaUniversity,DirectorsoftheEnglishLawStudiesCourse(ELS)(leftandright),togetherwithJohnBrebner(centre)SeniorLecturer

andHeadofStudiesoftheEnglishLawStudiesCourse.