Based on the Web of Science core database and the journal database of China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), it deploys the CiteSpace scientometric analysis technology and corpus method to review the developments and research foci of legal English, thereby clarifying development tendencies in this field. The investigation of current literature shows that the legal English studies present an interdisciplinary nature and there exist differences in research contents between legal English studies in China and abroad. Legal English studies abroad show an interdisciplinary attribute and the scholarship could be divided into two fields: law and language, specifically law and legal systems, legal language, legal English, and legal translation, with different link intensities among these research hotspots. However, domestic legal English studies mainly focus on the area of language, namely, legal translation, linguistic features of legal English and legal English teaching. Given the development of legal English in China, it suggests to advance legal English studies as an emerging discipline and cultivate legal English talents with disciplinary backgrounds.