We find the essence of learning the English language in every aspect of our life.

As the third most widely

spoken language, out of the 6 500 spoken languages in the world today. In addition to opening up
employment opportunities, being able to speak a foreign language helps to make a real connection with
people and to know more about diverse cultures, places and lifestyles. It has pervaded its significance
and cruciality all over the field. The field of law isn’t even exceptional.

English plays a major role in communication and practicing in law firms globally. International
jurisdictions are reliant on this language and its use affects the outcome of processes, lawsuits, and even
success rates. Legal English, a technical language specifically originated as a language for legal
professionals such as judges, lawyers, and attorneys isn’t a native language for these professionals.
Therefore, they’re required to learn this language from a technical context to perform well in the field of
law.

But when we come into Sri Lanka’s context, it might give some way to perform and to survive in the law
field only with the fluency of other languages as it has many languages, followed by different areas of its
citizens and courts that allow them to suit in their mother language. Further, studying law in the mother
tongue helps students who want to practice law in lower courts and in their native places. The litigants
also benefit as they can follow the proceedings with greater ease.

At the same time, it limits the lawyer’s career prospects as litigation in the regional language is possible
only till the district courts. While there’s an abundance of study material in English, can be pointed out
that there’s a shortage of material in regional languages. And without the basic skills in English, a lawyer
who has studied in a vernacular medium can only go so far. While practicing law in the local language
only helps certain groups of clients, the lawyer himself has to be reconciled to spending his entire career
practicing in the lower courts.

This impacts the quality of lawyers, because of the language problem, so many advocates are
incompetent and unable to conduct cases properly. So, we can't assuredly say that it's completely
possible to survive in the field of law in Sri Lanka without knowledge of English.