Insights by its first President and present Honorary Member

Jim Faulkner¹

The very first moves towards establishing EULETA appeared as out-of-the-blue invites to a meeting for teachers in the legal English field, sent out as feelers to various German university language departments by Richard Bland, then working at the University of Bayreuth. A number of us duly attended, and Richard had organised a fascinating programme, including a welcome address by his university Dean and a talk by a real-live English solicitor, dressed  in impeccable Silver Circle attire. The entire weekend was heaven-sent opportunity for us to make meaningful contact with other teachers and trainers, most of us working in a degree of isolation, but also to gain an idea of the scope of legal English training with its substantive, pedagogic and professional aspects – a portent of EULETA facets to come.

A couple of meetings at various German universities followed, including Berlin, Hamburg, Hannover and Muenster, until in 2006 some thirty of us met at Greifswald University for the conference Legal English Teachers in Germany and beyond organised by Dorthe G. A. Hartmann. The programme was highly varied with stimulating sessions given by those willing to contribute, and a number of traditions came into being. The first was that a box of name-tabs would be passed on to the person willing to host the following conference, while the second was an excursion, this first time on a boat, during which the idea of an association was mooted and enthusiastically taken up. At the 2006 founding meeting of EULETA in Berlin, a committee was formed, articles of association and a statement of purpose were drawn up and voted on. A website was to be designed, membership fees instituted and conferences at two-yearly intervals set up.

As an aside, I personally was becoming aware during all this what the rounded profile of a trainer of legal English could look like. Ideally you would have some combination of professional attributes with the comparative legal knowledge of Andrew Otto (University of Passau), the teaching skills of  Connie Hacke and David Bowskill (Humboldt University, Berlin), Dorthe G. A. Hartmann's attention to detail, Myriam Farhand's persistence and inter-personal skills, Barbara Born’s financial acumen, the entrepreneurial spirit of Paul East and Pauline Dodsworth, as well as lashings of Matt Firth's (St Gallen) humour – in short, teaching Legal English was a complex and worthwhile challenge to get stuck in and do your best.

In due course, conferences were held in Passau, Ulm, Muenster, Hamburg, Warwick, Winterthur. The collection of name tabs grew while attendees registered from around the dial in Europe and even from the USA. From the outset EULETA members came from a mix of academic settings and the private sector, including lay persons and legally qualified practitioners.. We got support from publishers including Cambridge, OUP, Cornelsen, and Langenscheidt-Longman. Essential teaching materials were 'American legal English : using language in legal contexts' by Debra Lee, Introduction to International Legal English' by Amy Krois-Lindner & Matt Firth,
as well as the sadly short-lived ILEC (International Legal English Certificate) exam gave invaluable focus for our teaching and course design.

As always with such associations, the sheer diversity, enthusiasm and comradeship carried us along and helped all of us to develop our teaching and our careers. It is absolutely great to see how EULETA has developed since and I wish it and its members every success.

James Faulkner, Hamburg, 15 July 2025

 ¹ James Faulkner, M.A., LL.B. with the assistance of other EULETA founders David Bowskill, B.A. Myriam Farhand, RA and Dorthe G. A. Hartmann, M.A. née Engelhardt