Translation For Lawyers

Translation-related and foreign language interpretation issues often come up in the courtrooms, as well as when conducting business in the EU. According to the EU case C-161/06 Skoma-Lux, the Court of Justice held that the obligations contained in the European Commission's legislation that was not published in the Official Journal using the language of the Member State in which enforcement is sought cannot be enforced against that State. In this particular case, a specific Article in the Act of Accession for the Czech Republic was not published in Czech. The reason for this ruling - which is applicable to both legal and natural persons in a Member State - is to allow the party to familiarize itself with the law in a language they can understand. According to the court, this is only possible with the act being translated into the language of all parties it applies to.

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Deposition interpreters and translators are commonly used in domestic, cross-cultural and international depositions. Objections are also common in such depositions. In the case Christman v. Ray, 42 I11. App., 111, involving parties from Switzerland and Illinois, a deposition was taken in Switzerland before a notary public, in accordance with Swiss law. All interrogatories and cross-interrogatories were given and answered to in French. At the time of the deposition, the attorney on behalf of the U.S. clients objected to the use of French, based on Section 18 of the Illinois Constitution, which states:

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We're blogged about professional translation online, what litigators and trial lawyers should expect from deposition interpreters, and what mode of interpreting (consecutive or simultaneous) deposition translators and court interpreters should manifest during a cross-cultural deposition.

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We've blogged about the role of professional translation services in determining the scope of  U.S. employment discrimination laws in international setting.  When confronted with the question of whether a U.S. employment discrimination law is applicable to an international employer, one must begin the determination by looking at where the job is located, employer and employee status and international law defenses.

In general, US law will be held applicable when:

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We've blogged about court translations, professional translation online and employment contract translations provided in languages other than English to ensure worker safety and non-discrimination of foreign workers.  One of the most complex legal questions is whether or not U.S. employment discrimination law applies to international employers. Specifically, this question tends to focus on the international applicability of such laws as the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (as amended in 1991) and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

As a general rule, these laws do not apply to foreign corporations unless a U.S. firm controls the foreign corporation. And even then their applicability is not guaranteed. In general, these laws are only applicable so long as certain conditions are met. The required conditions can generally be summarized into four "guidelines":

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How can lawyers sense that they've been given a chance to work with an excellent deposition interpreter?  When in the deposition process do they stop wondering: "What if this deposition interpreter is just so-so"?  What should our clients- attorneys-at-law and law firms that retain our legal translation firm- expect from the deposition interpreters we provide?  The answer to these questions may surprise you.  It lies in the unimpeded flow of the interpreted deposition.

An acquaintance of mine is a New York lawyer with over 25 years of litigation experience. During that time, he's handled over 1,000 depositions; more than 50 of those depositions have involved foreign language interpreters. The other days he said something profound: "What you are looking for is an interpreter who essentially becomes transparent during the deposition. You hardly notice the interpreter at work, and the flow of your deposition proceeds unimpeded."

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Every week our deposition and legal translation firm receives requests for services of  simultaneous legal interpreters or legal translators.  After spending a few minutes on the phone with the law firm's representative we often discover that the law firm wants to hire a deposition interpreter.  After the differences between the consecutive and the simultaneous modes of court interpreting are explained to the litigator, that attorney often changes his or her mind and decides to hire one of our deposition interpreters, who is well-versed in the consecutive mode of court interpreting.  

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Multilingual document translation and language interpreting plays an important role in international transactions.  In attempt to create an effective, multilateral framework of rights and obligations with respect to laws, regulations, procedures and practices regarding government procurement, as part of its Uruguay Round of talks, the World Trade Organization created an Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA). According to the agreement:

All technical specifications shall be laid out in detail, including:

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We've blogged about oil and gas industry translations and mulitilingual technical translation services for manufacturing and industrial companies.  Petroleum and gas companies are perhaps one of the world's most global sectors, with transactions spanning across many borders. However, in recent time, many oil-producing countries have also established their own, state-owned oil companies. As a result, international oil companies often find themselves negotiating transactions and agreements with the state-owned company. These transactions often pertain to the exploration and exploitation of oil resources where the state owns the resources while the company uses its technology and capital to use the resources for profit. In its most simple structure, such transactions are business partnership agreements.

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We've blogged about international translation of multilingual legal and financial documents for foreign representatives and foreign receivers in foreign insolvency proceedings provided by online professional translation services.    Although filing for insolvency is no easy task, in light of the current economic situation the number of international insolvencies has increased to such a level that demands are now being made for the establishment of an international insolvency system. Such a system would be pragmatic, efficient, predictable and in-line with national bankruptcy policies.

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More often than not, international disputes that make their way to the U.S. courtrooms involve live testimony by a foreign language-speaking witness. In order to effectively examine or cross-examine this witness, a foreign language translator or a foreign language interpreter is needed. However, whenever a third party- namely, a court interpreter, or a court translator,- is brought in to translate sworn testimony, specific rules of evidence apply. When dealing with a witness testimony, which will be interpreted/ translated into English by a court translator, keep these tips in mind:

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We've blogged about serving culturally diverse clients, who require services of court interpreters and language translators.  Today, the simple use of a phonebook advertisement is not enough to compete in the ever-growing legal business. Instead, attorneys and law firms must have a succinct marketing campaign in place that looks beyond the borders of their town or city. One key component to any law firm marketing campaign is a multilingual website. Typical websites will provide background information on the firm and its attorneys, areas of practice, contact information and some basic information regarding the law firm's areas of expertise.

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All foreign-language documents submitted in federal court proceedings must be translated into English. If the parties can't agree before trial on the accuracy of a document translation, and the disputed portions of the translated document(s) are material to the issues in the case, the translators may end up as witnesses at trial.

Fed. R. Evid. 604 states that "(a)n interpreter is subject to the provisions of these rules relating to qualification as an expert . . . ." Even though this rule explicitly applies only to interpreters (who translate spoken language), as opposed to translators (who translate written language), no less an authority than Prof. Edward Imwinkelried says, without qualification, that translators are expert witnesses (The Taxonomy of Testimony Post-Kumho: Refocusing on the Bottomlines of Reliability and Necessity, 30 Cumb. L. Rev. 185, 211, fn. 150 (1999-2000)), and the courts generally treat them as such.

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We've blogged about the importance of mortgage contract translations for the benefit of non-English-speaking homeowners.  Owning a home is one part of the American Dream. With secure jobs and attractive mortgage packages, many immigrants were able to pursue that dream.  In today's tight economic situation, an immigrant facing property foreclosure can either surrender the keys and walk away from the property, or devise a strategy to avoid foreclosure. Under general circumstances, these could be any of the following: repayment plan, forbearance, loan modification, selling one's home, deed in lieu of foreclosure, Chapter 7, or Chapter 11, or Chapter 13.

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Language translation issues are common in multilingual e-Discovery.  And since e-Discovery is coming up in international legal disputes more and more often, various national and international organizations have established e-discovery protocols. For example, under the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators' protocol, parties are urged to confer early and often on all e-discovery matters to seek resolution on such issues as scope, method and costs.

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