Questões de Inglês

TEXTO

WHAT IS A ZERO-HOURS CONTRACT?

With Sports Direct under fire for employing 90% of staff on zero-hours contracts

(Phillip Inman /The Guardian.com , Monday 29 July 2013 17.53 BST)

Signing a zero-hours contract can mean a blank wage cheque at the end of the week. It has gained an ugly reputation because the contract says that instead of working a specific number of hours per week, workers must be ready to work whenever they are asked. There is no employment relationship. Citizens Advice points out that similar "key time" contracts are also prevalent. They guarantee some work, but not regular hours each week.

If a worker is made to wait or take breaks on work premises, they must be paid, but if they wait at home for a call to come to work, only the hours on the job qualify for payment. The national minimum wage applies, but an employer is not obliged to offer sick leave or holiday pay, though a court may decide that consistent employment overrides these contract terms.

In some industries, workers on zero-hours contracts will agree to work according to weekly or monthly rotas. In other sectors, especially retail, workers may be called and told to come to work at a few hours' notice.

(Disponível em: <http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/jul/29/zero-hourscontract-sports-direct>. 29 jul. 2013. Acesso em: 29 set. 2013)

TEXTO

WHAT IS A ZERO-HOURS CONTRACT?

With Sports Direct under fire for employing 90% of staff on zero-hours contracts

(Phillip Inman /The Guardian.com , Monday 29 July 2013 17.53 BST)

Signing a zero-hours contract can mean a blank wage cheque at the end of the week. It has gained an ugly reputation because the contract says that instead of working a specific number of hours per week, workers must be ready to work whenever they are asked. There is no employment relationship. Citizens Advice points out that similar "key time" contracts are also prevalent. They guarantee some work, but not regular hours each week.

If a worker is made to wait or take breaks on work premises, they must be paid, but if they wait at home for a call to come to work, only the hours on the job qualify for payment. The national minimum wage applies, but an employer is not obliged to offer sick leave or holiday pay, though a court may decide that consistent employment overrides these contract terms.

In some industries, workers on zero-hours contracts will agree to work according to weekly or monthly rotas. In other sectors, especially retail, workers may be called and told to come to work at a few hours' notice.

(Disponível em: <http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/jul/29/zero-hourscontract-sports-direct>. 29 jul. 2013. Acesso em: 29 set. 2013)

Para a questão leia o seguinte texto.

LAW COMPETITION OPENS SCHOOL STUDENTS' EYES TO A FUTURE IN LAW

For school students who want to pursue a career in law, this year's Bar Mock Trial Competition gave them the opportunity to take on the roles of barristers and witnesses in front of real judges. Teams from around the country met at Cardiff Crown Court where they were given cases to study and then battle out in the court rooms. As you would expect, the 15-18 year olds who made it through to this year's final, were thrilled to operate in such an arena. A collection of senior figures from the upper echelons of the justice system gave up their Saturday to preside over the cases, giving the students valuable insight.

Suitably inspired, many of these talented kids say they now want to become lawyers, particularly of the criminal barrister variety. The problem they face is that the publicly-funded branch of the legal profession is in crisis, with a succession of legal aid cuts leaving its junior members to survive on rates of pay that are sometimes even lower than the minimum wage. Students need to think about alternative careers in law.

One of the benefits of participating in competitions like the Bar Mock Trial, or studying citizenship as part of the national curriculum, is that students are encouraged to consider these sort of topical issues at an earlier stage than most, and are then able to use that knowledge to make more informed choices. "Most of the students are interested in going into law, with a significant number seriously considering it. Although some fancy the criminal Bar, they tend to have very general ideas of the law. They are now at a point when they can begin to consider different avenues," says Ryan McAuley, whose group won Saturday's competition.

Competitions like this give would-be lawyers a more realistic view of the profession. They will hopefully grasp that while there are some court scholarships available to help them get to the criminal bar, practising there will be hard. Some will decide it's worth it, others will explore different options that still contain the essence of what they enjoy about law.

This was the mental journey made by solicitoradvocate Helen Marriott – who spoke at Saturday's final . Marriott initially wanted to practice criminal law but this interest eventually gave way to a desire to lead a more secure life practising civil law within in a large law firm. She explains that it is a move she has never regretted:"You can be a solicitor-advocate and practise in almost the same way as a barrister."

Another alternative that has become increasingly important for school students to be aware of is the legal apprentice route. Bypassing university altogether, legal apprentices qualify as chartered legal executive lawyers, a lesser-known cousin of solicitors and barristers who are becoming more common in law firms as the government offers incentives to train up lawyers through this route. Recently top firms like Kennedys, DAC Beachcroft and Addleshaw Goddard have all upped their apprentice intake.

At a time of blurring boundaries between types of lawyers, Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) regional development officer for Wales Lynne Squires – who also attended Saturday's final – urges students to take time to find out about the various routes.

"Regardless of costs or family background, there is a route available to qualify," she says."Be prepared to look around and investigate your options. At each point there are possibilities: you can qualify as a solicitor and a barrister after becoming a legal executive, although increasingly it's not necessary.

The thing I come across most among students is that they haven't explored every alternative. Know all of your options and have back up plans."

Whatever path the students from this year's Bar Mock Trial Competition choose, it's possible that the legal profession they arrive into will already have changed considerably from its current form, and continue to do so over the coming years. Just this month Lord Chief Justice John Thomas suggested that the legal aid cuts may prompt a major re-think in the way justice is delivered.

What repercussions this would have for entry into the law remains to be seen. What's certain, though, is at this time of profound change for the legal profession initiatives to help young people understand how the world works have never been more important.

(ALDRIGE, Alex. The Guardian, 27 March 2014. Disponível em: <www.theguardian.com/law/2014/mar/27/law-competition-opensschool-students-eyes-future-law>. Acesso em: 31 maio 2014)

Para a questão leia o seguinte texto.

LAW COMPETITION OPENS SCHOOL STUDENTS' EYES TO A FUTURE IN LAW

For school students who want to pursue a career in law, this year's Bar Mock Trial Competition gave them the opportunity to take on the roles of barristers and witnesses in front of real judges. Teams from around the country met at Cardiff Crown Court where they were given cases to study and then battle out in the court rooms. As you would expect, the 15-18 year olds who made it through to this year's final, were thrilled to operate in such an arena. A collection of senior figures from the upper echelons of the justice system gave up their Saturday to preside over the cases, giving the students valuable insight.

Suitably inspired, many of these talented kids say they now want to become lawyers, particularly of the criminal barrister variety. The problem they face is that the publicly-funded branch of the legal profession is in crisis, with a succession of legal aid cuts leaving its junior members to survive on rates of pay that are sometimes even lower than the minimum wage. Students need to think about alternative careers in law.

One of the benefits of participating in competitions like the Bar Mock Trial, or studying citizenship as part of the national curriculum, is that students are encouraged to consider these sort of topical issues at an earlier stage than most, and are then able to use that knowledge to make more informed choices. "Most of the students are interested in going into law, with a significant number seriously considering it. Although some fancy the criminal Bar, they tend to have very general ideas of the law. They are now at a point when they can begin to consider different avenues," says Ryan McAuley, whose group won Saturday's competition.

Competitions like this give would-be lawyers a more realistic view of the profession. They will hopefully grasp that while there are some court scholarships available to help them get to the criminal bar, practising there will be hard. Some will decide it's worth it, others will explore different options that still contain the essence of what they enjoy about law.

This was the mental journey made by solicitoradvocate Helen Marriott – who spoke at Saturday's final . Marriott initially wanted to practice criminal law but this interest eventually gave way to a desire to lead a more secure life practising civil law within in a large law firm. She explains that it is a move she has never regretted:"You can be a solicitor-advocate and practise in almost the same way as a barrister."

Another alternative that has become increasingly important for school students to be aware of is the legal apprentice route. Bypassing university altogether, legal apprentices qualify as chartered legal executive lawyers, a lesser-known cousin of solicitors and barristers who are becoming more common in law firms as the government offers incentives to train up lawyers through this route. Recently top firms like Kennedys, DAC Beachcroft and Addleshaw Goddard have all upped their apprentice intake.

At a time of blurring boundaries between types of lawyers, Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) regional development officer for Wales Lynne Squires – who also attended Saturday's final – urges students to take time to find out about the various routes.

"Regardless of costs or family background, there is a route available to qualify," she says."Be prepared to look around and investigate your options. At each point there are possibilities: you can qualify as a solicitor and a barrister after becoming a legal executive, although increasingly it's not necessary.

The thing I come across most among students is that they haven't explored every alternative. Know all of your options and have back up plans."

Whatever path the students from this year's Bar Mock Trial Competition choose, it's possible that the legal profession they arrive into will already have changed considerably from its current form, and continue to do so over the coming years. Just this month Lord Chief Justice John Thomas suggested that the legal aid cuts may prompt a major re-think in the way justice is delivered.

What repercussions this would have for entry into the law remains to be seen. What's certain, though, is at this time of profound change for the legal profession initiatives to help young people understand how the world works have never been more important.

(ALDRIGE, Alex. The Guardian, 27 March 2014. Disponível em: <www.theguardian.com/law/2014/mar/27/law-competition-opensschool-students-eyes-future-law>. Acesso em: 31 maio 2014)

Para a questão leia o seguinte texto.

LAW COMPETITION OPENS SCHOOL STUDENTS' EYES TO A FUTURE IN LAW

For school students who want to pursue a career in law, this year's Bar Mock Trial Competition gave them the opportunity to take on the roles of barristers and witnesses in front of real judges. Teams from around the country met at Cardiff Crown Court where they were given cases to study and then battle out in the court rooms. As you would expect, the 15-18 year olds who made it through to this year's final, were thrilled to operate in such an arena. A collection of senior figures from the upper echelons of the justice system gave up their Saturday to preside over the cases, giving the students valuable insight.

Suitably inspired, many of these talented kids say they now want to become lawyers, particularly of the criminal barrister variety. The problem they face is that the publicly-funded branch of the legal profession is in crisis, with a succession of legal aid cuts leaving its junior members to survive on rates of pay that are sometimes even lower than the minimum wage. Students need to think about alternative careers in law.

One of the benefits of participating in competitions like the Bar Mock Trial, or studying citizenship as part of the national curriculum, is that students are encouraged to consider these sort of topical issues at an earlier stage than most, and are then able to use that knowledge to make more informed choices. "Most of the students are interested in going into law, with a significant number seriously considering it. Although some fancy the criminal Bar, they tend to have very general ideas of the law. They are now at a point when they can begin to consider different avenues," says Ryan McAuley, whose group won Saturday's competition.

Competitions like this give would-be lawyers a more realistic view of the profession. They will hopefully grasp that while there are some court scholarships available to help them get to the criminal bar, practising there will be hard. Some will decide it's worth it, others will explore different options that still contain the essence of what they enjoy about law.

This was the mental journey made by solicitoradvocate Helen Marriott – who spoke at Saturday's final . Marriott initially wanted to practice criminal law but this interest eventually gave way to a desire to lead a more secure life practising civil law within in a large law firm. She explains that it is a move she has never regretted:"You can be a solicitor-advocate and practise in almost the same way as a barrister."

Another alternative that has become increasingly important for school students to be aware of is the legal apprentice route. Bypassing university altogether, legal apprentices qualify as chartered legal executive lawyers, a lesser-known cousin of solicitors and barristers who are becoming more common in law firms as the government offers incentives to train up lawyers through this route. Recently top firms like Kennedys, DAC Beachcroft and Addleshaw Goddard have all upped their apprentice intake.

At a time of blurring boundaries between types of lawyers, Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) regional development officer for Wales Lynne Squires – who also attended Saturday's final – urges students to take time to find out about the various routes.

"Regardless of costs or family background, there is a route available to qualify," she says."Be prepared to look around and investigate your options. At each point there are possibilities: you can qualify as a solicitor and a barrister after becoming a legal executive, although increasingly it's not necessary.

The thing I come across most among students is that they haven't explored every alternative. Know all of your options and have back up plans."

Whatever path the students from this year's Bar Mock Trial Competition choose, it's possible that the legal profession they arrive into will already have changed considerably from its current form, and continue to do so over the coming years. Just this month Lord Chief Justice John Thomas suggested that the legal aid cuts may prompt a major re-think in the way justice is delivered.

What repercussions this would have for entry into the law remains to be seen. What's certain, though, is at this time of profound change for the legal profession initiatives to help young people understand how the world works have never been more important.

(ALDRIGE, Alex. The Guardian, 27 March 2014. Disponível em: <www.theguardian.com/law/2014/mar/27/law-competition-opensschool-students-eyes-future-law>. Acesso em: 31 maio 2014)

READ THE TEXT:

Barrister vs. solicitor

Hi, I'm Matt. Thanks very much for joining us.

Today I'm going to be talking about a few terms that are easily confused. And these are some Legal English words that often come up during my Legal English classes. Let's have a look at these first two, solicitor and attorney. You're probably familiar with the term attorney. Attorney is a common term in American Legal English for lawyer. Solicitor is not quite the same. Solicitor is particular to England and a lot of Commonwealth countries, and it's a particular type of lawyer. And in the UK we contrast the term solicitor with another branch of the legal profession, the barrister. Now, one of these, the solicitor or the barrister has rights of audience at court. That means that they can go and represent clients at court and carry out the advocacy work. One of them does the preparation – all of the work that leads up to the actual advocacy work in court. Which one do you think is which? OK, it's the solicitor that does the initial litigation, the initial work or the preparatory work and generally speaking if it's, say, a breach of contract case, or a non-criminal matter, the case usually begins and ends with a solicitor, because most cases end in an out-of-court settlement. If the parties can't settle, then the solicitor will get a barrister's advice. The barrister if often seen as the expert in particular areas of law and then the barrister will take the brief, the file, the documents from the solicitor that cover all of the facts of the case and will then represent the client in court.

(Disponível em: . Acesso em: 31 maio 2014)

Check the correct answer according to the text