Translation for Law Firms

Translation and Law Firms: Understanding Translation Work

Demand for delivery of translation services to companies has doubled over the last decade in the UK. Fluency (understanding, reading and writing) in more than one language is a highly valued asset in a multilingual individual and human translators always take priority over any automated software tools. Getting paid for freelance work or the odd translation job is well accepted. However, when it comes to doing business either nationally or internationally, private companies and government bodies require authenticity, high standards and 100% reliability.

Prior to any translation they’ll need a legal adviser for all the legal documents they’ll be handling. After that is where a translator of legal documents comes into the picture. And not just any translator, he/she must be absolutely competent in the most widely spoken European languages, or others, in which they work and prove this with a university qualification and/or accreditation. Fortune 100 Companies are always happy to hire translators who are successfully able to communicate their business plans and files accurately with overseas partners. And in doing so, it is the sole responsibility of such translators to take great care over the minute details of any legal files they translate. It is essential that they retain the full intention of any legal documents.

Translation for law firms

Depending on the areas of law practiced, law firms often must have current knowledge of both national and international legal systems. Many larger law firms have international offices so fluency in different international languages is as important as it is for European languages. It facilitates certain communication with foreign clients and associates and may even convert prospects to clients for their clients. If a law firm has to deal with cases involving foreign documentation and other languages, and cannot release its multilingual staff, if it has any, then it needs to look for a professional language translator of legal documents immediately.

Only human translations by qualified professionals convey the expertise required to translate the content of legal documents between different languages.

English legal system

This refers to the laws of England and Wales. A unique feature of this is judicial precedence, in other words, the precedents established by case law in the courts of England and Wales. This is in addition to the legislation provided by statutes enacted by Parliament and EU law.

Without getting bogged down in legal and historical detail, something that must be remembered is that all of these sources of law found in the English legal system contain complex terminology. It is vital that the translator is able to work on documents referring to and often quoting such texts without getting confused. A clear understanding of such language is essential and ability to research is a useful skill for a translator of legal documents.

With case law precedents the translator must be extremely confident in his or her knowledge. Many cases that are still referred to today to decide the outcome of a case date back several hundred years and therefore contain legal and non-legal expressions that are particularly uncommon today.

Conclusion

All that remains to be said is that only a competent, qualified and experienced individual in legal, international and linguistic matters should be relied on to safely complete any translation for law firms.