Christopher Williams is full Professor of English Language and Linguistics in the Department of Law at Foggia University in southern Italy. He has published extensively in the field of legal English. Besides his monographic work Tradition and Change in Legal English: Verbal Constructions in Prescriptive Texts (2005), he has co-edited with Maurizio Gotti the volume Legal Discourse across Languages and Cultures (2010). He has also co-edited with Ilse Depraetere a volume on future time reference which appeared in a special issue of English Language and Linguistics in 2010. He is chief editor of the journal ESP Across Cultures. Girolamo Tessuto is Associate Professor of English Language and Linguistics in the Department of Law, Second University of Naples. His main research interests are in genre analysis of academic and professional discourses in legal contexts. In addition to several publications appearing as research papers, book chapters and co-edited work, he has recently published a research monograph Investigating English Legal Genres in Academic and Professional Contexts (2012). He is Editorial Board member of international linguistic journals and chief editor of the Explorations in Language and Law publication series.

'The detailed chapters of this book constitute spectra from several angles, including the Western world and China. Furthermore, the book studies legal discourse in a variety of contexts as well as examining important didactic and research issues, making it highly recommendable to a wide readership.' Heikki E.S. Mattila, University of Lapland, Finland ’Applying the expertise and tools of corpus linguistics, discourse analysis, and sociolinguistics, the authors of this interesting melange of essays analyse and discuss a number of legal spheres in a wide variety of countries, including both civil and common law jurisdictions. The volume is a useful and often engaging addition to the growing literature on the intersection between language and the law.’ Peter Tiersma, Loyola Law School, USA ’Looking at law through the lens of language shows that all legal action has an aspect of argumentation and negotiation of meaning. This volume gives a broad overview of relevant contexts and approaches and is a valuable consolidation of these issues in legal linguistics.’ Jan Engberg, Aarhus University, Denmark

• List of figures, List of tables, Notes on contributors, Introduction, Part I Contexts, Part II Issues, Part III Applications, Index