Course design and lesson planning in legal translation training

One of the questions traditionally posed in forums of legal translation training and teaching is whether legal translations should be done by translators or jurists. Very often, the answer lies halfway, and current theoreticians agree that a double competence, in both translation and law, is the most adequate solution. In accordance with this idea, the present paper examines, on the one hand, the pedagogical elements which should be considered when preparing a legal translation course within the university context, and presents, on the other, a model of lesson planning, in the light of the future European Higher Education Area and according to the real needs of legal, sworn or court translators. Many of the reflections contained in this paper stem from the pedagogical practice of legal translation courses taught at the University of Alicante, and are also grounded in the teaching experience of the author as a legal translation trainer.