📖 ABSTRACT/OVERVIEW
Legal communication in the Nigerian justice system demands precise, genre-specific discourse skills that are inadequately developed by conventional university English and Law curricula, creating professional readiness gaps that affect the efficiency of legal proceedings and document management. This study develops and evaluates a professional discourse skills programme for law clerks working in the Nigerian courts system, with field implementation at the Federal High Court in Abuja. The programme was developed through a structured needs analysis process involving interviews with twenty-five judges, thirty law clerks, and fifteen senior legal officers, combined with discourse analysis of thirty samples each of court rulings, legal briefs, and procedural correspondence. The needs analysis identifies legal brief drafting, judgment summary writing, procedural notice composition, and oral courtroom communication support as the primary discourse skills requiring systematic development. The programme developed in response comprises an eight-week modular course with weekly two-hour sessions covering target genre analysis, drafting practice with structured feedback, and oral discourse simulations. Programme implementation with a cohort of thirty law clerks was evaluated through pre- and post-programme competence assessments and qualitative feedback from supervising judges. Post-programme assessment shows statistically significant improvement across all four target skill areas, with judgment summary writing showing the largest gain. Supervising judges' qualitative feedback confirms observable improvement in document quality and courtroom communication support. Keywords: legal discourse, law clerks, professional development, court communication, Nigeria.
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