The article is devoted to the problem of education content that is significant for modern pedagogical theory. It is written using teaching English to postgraduate students at Saratov State Law Academy as an example. A foreign language for postgraduate students in higher education institutions has always been associated with the postgraduate students’ major in which they carried out scientific research. However, during the last decade, postgraduate studies have become the third level of higher education, and postgraduate students, who complete the course of study, receive a comprehensive qualification “Researcher. Teacher-researcher”. Therefore, the content of foreign language education should be expanded due to the need for postgraduate students to acquire knowledge, habits and professional communication skills not only in the field of legal specialization, but also in the sphere of pedagogical activity. At the same time, the presence of general legal terms and terminological systems belonging to various branches of law and expressing special systems of theoretical concepts suggests the need to include even more sections in the syllabi. All the three areas involve teaching a foreign language in the context of cross-cultural communication for mastering universal competencies specified in the Federal State Educational Standard of Higher Education in the direction of training 40.06.01 – Law (the level of training highly qualified specialists).