Why BGB?

If you are a law student in China, almost 20 percent of the content is in English. Further, you need to take English proficiency exams to be admitted to graduate programs.

Whether you are applying for a job in law, business, government, or the non-profit world—or applying for a graduate program—you need to master legal English.

That's why legal English is important—and why the Barnes Green Book was developed.

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Contract Law

In this lesson, you'll learn how sellers and buyers of goods use contract law in international sales transactions. You'll get a list of key terms, read a Swiss case about soybeans, sit-in on interviews with a distinguished contracts professor and a Beijing-based lawyer, and will read about an auction sale of bronze rat and rabbit heads. You'll also listen to a song about contracts.

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Featured Students

Tong Xiang
China

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China, USA

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Ask Steve

What should I include in my application email?

Thank you for your advice on how to make a perfect CV. But I am writing to ask a question. Should we write something else in the application email? What should be included?

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Legal Term of the Day

Impossibility
不可能性

a legal excuse or defense used when a contractual obligation cannot be performed. "The thing cannot be done." Example: A musician is under contract to perform in a specific concert hall. The concert hall burns the day before the performance. The musician is excused from performing due to "impossibility."

» Learn more legal terms

Writing Tip of the Day

Write persuasively (don't hedge!)

A hedge is an expression that suggests uncertainty; often, an unnecessary qualifier. As a lawyer, law student, office worker, or business person, your reader expects you to be confident. Be careful if you use hedge words and phrases.

» See examples and more tips