In February 2014, I started working in a firm of solicitors in London. I was a young Italian law graduate in a new country, working in a legal system that was not my own, in a language that was not my own. And yet, from the first day, I could do the work.
I could follow what people were saying in the office. I understood the documents in front of me. I had the words I needed to ask the right questions. I was not an expert yet. That came later, with time and practice. But I was ready to start.
One year earlier, in February 2013, I had just begun preparing for a legal English exam called ILEC. That exam gave me the knowledge I took with me to London. And it’s the reason why, today, I prepare legal professionals for TOLES.
This is my story. I’m sharing it because I think it shows, very clearly, what a good legal English qualification can do for your career.
In this post, you’ll discover
- How one exam gave me the exact knowledge I needed to start working in law in English
- Why I first tried to study alone, and what changed when I found a trainer
- What the exam really taught me, and why I see it as an investment
- Why I have prepared legal professionals for TOLES since 2017, and what this means for you
The backstory: why I wanted law and English together
I graduated in law in 2012. Like many new graduates, I had a lot of knowledge and no clear idea yet of where I would use it.
I knew one thing: I wanted a career where law and English came together. I enjoyed both, and I could see that some of the most interesting work, with international clients, contracts between companies in different countries, and firms that work across borders, needed both.
But there was a problem. Knowing English and knowing law is not the same as knowing legal English. At university, I had studied Italian law in Italian. I knew what a contract was, how a company worked, and how a case moved through the courts. But I could not explain any of it in English, at least not in the way a legal professional in London would.
So I started looking online for a way to build that knowledge, and I found ILEC, the International Legal English Certificate. It was a Cambridge exam, set at levels B2 and C1, which tested language skills in a legal context. In other words, it tested English through the kind of work legal professionals really do.
It was exactly what I was looking for: a clear goal, a clear structure, and a certificate at the end to show what I had learned.
Step 1: I tried to do it alone
Could I have prepared for ILEC on my own? Yes, probably. Many people study alone, and for some of them it works well.
But from the start, I knew I would prefer to study with an experienced trainer. I wanted someone who understood the exam, who could correct my mistakes, and who could tell me honestly where I stood.
I looked online for trainers, and there were very few. One of the few I found was in Genova. It was a good option, but at that time I had no money for a course. I was a new graduate, and paying for training was simply not possible for me.
So I did what I could: I bought the book.
Then other things became more important. I opened the book, studied a little, closed it, and opened it again a few weeks later. I had no plan and no one checking my work. Most of all, I could not see any progress. I did not know if I was really improving or just reading pages.
If you have ever bought a legal English book with the best intentions, you probably know this feeling. It is not a question of motivation or intelligence. It is simply very hard to measure your own progress when no one is measuring it with you.
Step 2: I found a way to get support
Then I saw that my region was offering scholarships to new graduates who wanted to attend courses for their career development.
I applied, and my course was fully covered.
I still remember how that felt. The one thing that had stopped me from getting the support I wanted was no longer a problem. I could study with a trainer, just as I had wanted from the beginning.
Step 3: I studied with a tutor
In February 2013, I started my ILEC preparation course, and having a tutor completely changed the way I studied. Three things made the biggest difference.
The first was consistency. I had regular lessons and work to prepare for each one. Other priorities could no longer take the place of my studying, because now I had a commitment to someone else, not only to myself.
The second was assessment. My tutor could see what I knew and what I didn’t. When I made a mistake, I found out, and I understood why. For the first time, I could see my progress clearly, and that made me want to continue.
The third was support. Preparing for an exam in a language that isn’t your own is not always easy. There were moments when I felt unsure of myself. Having an experienced person next to me, someone who believed I could do it, made those moments much easier.
And I passed the exam.
Step 4: A new opportunity
Passing ILEC gave me more than a certificate. Soon after, I won a scholarship to work in a firm of solicitors in London.
I want to be honest here. I don’t think the certificate alone won me that place. But preparing for it gave me two things I needed: the knowledge to do the job, and the confidence to believe I could.
What the exam really taught me
When people ask me if a legal English exam is worth it, I tell them to look at what the preparation gives you, not only at the certificate. For me, it gave me three things.
Vocabulary in context. I did not learn legal English from lists of words. I learned it inside the situations where legal professionals really use it: clauses in a contract, letters to clients, discussions between colleagues about a case. This matters, because a word alone is not enough. You need to know how it is used, with which other words, and in which type of document. When I saw those words again at work, I did not have to stop and translate. I recognised them, because I had already met them in the same kind of context.
An overview of the key areas of civil and commercial practice. The preparation covered the main areas a legal professional meets in commercial work, such as contracts, company law, employment and property. I did not become an expert in any of them. But I understood how each area worked in English, and what the main concepts and terms were. So when a new file arrived, I knew where it belonged and what kind of language to expect.
A foundation to learn from. This is the part I value most today. Because I already had the basics, every day at work taught me something new, instead of something I should have known already. I could ask precise questions, understand the answers, and add new knowledge on top of what I had. Without that foundation, I would have spent my first months just trying to follow. With it, I spent them learning how to do the work well.
This is why I see a good legal English exam as an investment, not a cost. The months of preparation save you much more time later, because you start your work in English with the knowledge you need already in place.
If you’d like the same kind of foundation, without having to build it alone, take a look at my TOLES 1:1 classes.
The results: my first days in London
In February 2014, I walked into a firm of solicitors in London for the first time.
I will not pretend I knew everything. I didn’t. But I felt fully functional from day one. Everything I had learned in my preparation was there when I needed it, and it was enough to begin.
One of my first tasks was a client meeting. The supervising lawyer asked me to take notes during it, so he could follow the conversation more closely himself. I had trained to do exactly this in Italy, during hearings, and I had always hated it: writing fast, paying attention to every detail, and making sure my understanding of the legal concepts was correct, all at the same time. That was in my own language. The idea of doing it in English was enough to keep me up the night before. But saying no wasn’t an option. I did it, and from that day on, it became something I was simply asked to do, and did.
From there, experience and practice did the rest. But that first foundation is what made everything else possible.
Why I prepare legal professionals for TOLES today
The ILEC exam was discontinued in December 2016. In 2017, I began preparing legal professionals for TOLES, because I know the value of a solid foundation. I know from my own experience that the right exam gives you exactly the knowledge you need to start working in law in English. I have seen what it made possible for me, and I want to make the same thing possible for others.
TOLES stands for Test of Legal English Skills. It was started in 2000 in response to demand from law firms and other employers of lawyers, and it is offered at three levels: Foundation, Higher and Advanced. It is not a test of English law. It tests your knowledge of legal English within the context of English and international law. Because there are three levels, you can begin wherever you are today. I explain the exam in detail in What Is the TOLES Exam? A Complete Guide for Legal Professionals.
What matters most here is this: TOLES does for legal professionals today what ILEC did for me. It gives you a clear goal, a clear structure, and real proof of your legal English.
Key takeaways: what you can learn from my story
A foundation is where your career in English begins. You don’t need to know everything before you start. You need the essential knowledge, and then real work helps you build the rest. A good exam gives you exactly that essential knowledge.
A clear goal makes studying easier. “Improve my legal English” is hard to measure. “Prepare for the TOLES Higher exam in six months” is a goal you can plan for, and it tells you what to study and in what order.
You don’t have to do this alone. I tried alone, and I made very little progress. With a trainer, I stayed consistent, I could see what I knew, and I felt supported. The material did not change. The support did.
A qualification gives you proof. A certificate on your CV shows employers what you can do before you even meet them. For me, it came before a scholarship to London. For you, it could come before a new role, a new client, or an international case.
Final thoughts
When I was a new law graduate, I had a lot of knowledge and one big gap between me and the career I wanted. The right exam, and the right support to prepare for it, gave me what I needed to start. Everything else came after.
That’s why I prepare legal professionals for TOLES. Not because a certificate is the end of the journey, but because I know, from my own experience, that it can be a very good beginning.
Are you thinking about a legal English qualification? What would it make possible for you? Tell me in the comments. I read every one.
Ready to build your own foundation? Discover my TOLES 1:1 classes.
