Translation For Lawyers

Medical translation and medical interpreting services constitute just one of the facets of the ongoing health care debate. As debates about health care reform continue in Washington, D.C., many Americans participate in the popular trend known as medical tourism. Essentially, medical tourists are individuals who seek specific medical care or treatment in a foreign country - taking advantage of that country's lower costs. Popular destinations include Mexico, India, and Thailand. What many of these Americans fail to understand is the risks they take on in the case that something goes wrong.

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We've blogged about professional legal translation services and the non-personal service of process in the age of Twitter. Professional translation and interpreting services continue to play an important role in transnational service of process which, in most cases, is governed by the Hague Service Convention.

Mexico joined the Convention in 1999, with entry into force occurring in 2000. According to accession protocol, Mexico designated the Directorate-General of Legal Affairs of its Ministry of Foreign Affairs as its Central Authority. This in effect designated this DG to receive and forward all request for service of both judicial and extrajudicial documents from other Hague Convention participating states. However, in doing so, Mexico rejected the alternative methods for serving documents as outlined in Articles 8 and 10.

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Professional translation services and legal translation and court interpreting services are essential when dealing with a non-citizen spouse and global assets, as foreign languages and foreign laws often come into play.

Continue reading "Language Translation Services and Estate Transfers to Non-Citizen Spouses" »

Foreign language translation and legal translation and interpreting services play an important role in international business and financial transactions. Recently the International Accounting Standards Board released its book of accounting rules for SMEs.

This publication was highly anticipated because how a SME is defined will have significant legal and tax consequences, particularly as more and more SMEs go global - thanks to the advance in technology. The issue arose because every country had a different definition for SME and were essentially creating tax havens for these companies by writing definitions that could include even the largest corporations.

Continue reading "Language Translation and Small and Medium Sized Enterprise in a Global Context" »

We've blogged about legal translation services, legal translators and foreign language disclosures. In the case Seger v. Ernest-Spencer, Inc., 2010 WL 378113 (D. Neb. Jan. 26, 2010), the court held that a non-party waived its claim of privilege to previously-produced email documents and thus granted the defendant's motion to compel. The court based its decision on its finding that the disclosure was knowing and intentional - as the non-party failed to establish reasonable precautions to prevent disclosure and their lack of a timely claim to privilege.

Continue reading "Language Translation, Assertion of Privilege and Foreign Language Speakers" »

Legal translation services play an important role in e-Discovery. In the case Accessdata Corp. v. ALSTE Tech. GMBH, 2010 WL 3184777 (D. Utah Jan. 21, 2010), plaintiff's (a U.S. company) motion to compel a German company to produce responsive third-party personal data - despite their objections that such a demand was in violation of German law - was granted by the court. The plaintiff's motion to compel the re-reproduction of previously produced electronic discovery was also granted as the defendant's original production failed to meet the requirements of Fed. R. Civ. P. 34.

Continue reading "Legal Translation Services, International Contract Cases and Motions to Compel " »

We've blogged about translating financial double tax treaties. According to section 911 of the U.S. Tax Code, a qualified individual is able to exclude foreign earned income and housing costs amounts from gross income. 911(d)(1) defines a qualified individual as an individual whose tax home is in a foreign country and who is either a U.S. citizen with bona fide resident status in a foreign country for an uninterrupted period of an entire taxable year, or a U.S. citizen who during a period of 12 consecutive months is present in a foreign country(ies) for at least 330 days.

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We've blogged about foreign language interpretation of expert testimony in international family law cases and legal translation services for international child support enforcement.

Continue reading "Legal Translation and Jurisdiction in International Divorces" »

We've blogged about intellectual property translation, legal online translation and language translations in the context of probative value of foreign language Web site evidence. In the case Elsevier B.V. v. United Healthgroup Inc., S.D.N.Y. Jan. 14 2010, the plaintiff claimed that the provision of the Copyright Act requiring copyrights to be registered prior to infringement violated the Berne Convention and thus were preempted by the US Constitution.

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We've blogged about legal translation services and legal interpreters in the context of admissibility and exclusion of foreign language testimony and about translators and interpreters as expert witnesses in federal courts. Expert testimony is frequently needed in international family law cases, and such testimony is often secured in cases concerning international child abduction, particularly in cases in which one parent is seeking to prevent the other from having overseas visitation with the child or relocating with the child to another country.

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Professional translation services are important not only in the context of foreign-language wills and probate, but also for estate planning in an international setting. One of the major concerns of many Americans living abroad is the lack of an Estate Tax Treaty between the US and their country of residence. The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 gradually reduced the top tax rates and raised estate tax exemption levels through 2009.

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Professional translation services play an important role in managing pension funds. Several groups of multinational and multilingual companies are working out structures to pool the assets and liabilities of their different local pension plans within one single cross-border institution.

One of the reasons in favor of a pooled pension institution relates to economies of scale, which can be realized when pooling pension assets and liabilities. Economies of scale offer more and better investment opportunities, reduction of costs and better negotiation positions in such areas as pension fund administration, asset management, statutory reporting, actuarial assistance and other management services.

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One area that always seems to be a hotbed for malpractice suits is client billing. It's difficult enough when the client is within your jurisdiction - and it only becomes more complex when you bill clients across the globe. For instance, if the client speaks a foreign language, then your bill should have a foreign language translation that clearly outlines all services, fees and charges. You should also become familiar with customary billing practice of the country your client lives in - which may require a foreign language translation of local laws and codes of ethics. For example, in many countries hourly billing is viewed as highly suspect.

The solution is often a mixture of creative billing strategies tailored to keep your international clients satisfied. Here are some ideas:

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We've blogged about the importance of professional translation services in international arbitration. Most countries have statutes that not only recognize foreign issued arbitral awards, but also provide the requirements for enforcement and, when needed, recourse. Take, for example, France. According to its national code, Title VI - Recognition of, Enforcement of and Recourse Against Arbitral Awards Made Abroad or in International Arbitration, Article 1498 states:

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We've blogged about legal translation services in the context of authenticating foreign government documents, and about language translation and the probative value of foreign website evidence. Typically, authenticating documents for evidence is rather straightforward. However, when the document is a screenshot of a given website or - as often is the case now - a social media site like Facebook, attorneys are running into significant challenges. This is even more the case when the screenshot is of a foreign-based website or in a foreign language.

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