Claude, ChatGPT & Co. are an excellent way to look up, translate and learn legal English: translate a legal term from your own language into English, or have an English legal term explained with examples in a legal context. Tell the chatbot that it is a legal term and it will answer accordingly.
One warning. Legal terms belong to a legal system, not just to a language. A term from your own law often has no exact equivalent in English, and English terms such as «consideration», «equity» or «trust» have no counterpart in many civil-law countries. Even a term that exists in both systems, such as «good faith», may mean something different in England, in the USA and in Switzerland. Therefore always tell the chatbot which legal system you start from and which one you are translating into, and ask for the sources.
Prompts for legal English
From your language into English: «I am a business student. Translate the legal term «[term]» from [my language / the law of my country] into English as used in international business contracts. Give the standard translation, alternatives with the jurisdiction in which they are used, one example sentence each, and your sources.»
From English into your legal system: «Explain the English legal term «[term]» to a business student from [my country], with an example sentence and the closest equivalent in the law of my country.»
Validate: open the sources the chatbot gives you. For Swiss legal terms, the English translations on Fedlex are the reliable reference.
Each chapter of intla.ch has its own glossary of the most important legal terms (for this chapter: 01.A Glossary of legal terms). Use it as a starting point and let the chatbot explain the terms in more depth.