english law studies (els) course curso de extensión
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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.