Translation For Lawyers

We've blogged about legal translation services and foreign tax treaties and about foreign language translation and foreign income and taxes. Most countries have a Double Tax Treaty with the US, but depending on the individual country's treaty, whether or not a foreign national can contribute to their US pension fund without tax penalties is questionable. For example, in Belgium the treaty was amended to hold that when an employee comes to work in Belgium, he and his employer can continue to pay into his US pension plan for a maximum of ten years. His employer's contributions are not taxable income and the employee's personal contributions are tax-deductible.

Continue reading "Legal Translation and Pension Plans for Foreign Nationals" »

We've blogged about partial translation in complex patent cases and language translation in Chinese patent infringement actions. In both the US and European Union, to qualify for a patent the invention must be: new, capable of industrial application and represent an inventive step over what was previously known. But from this basic three-pronged approach the two laws differ significantly.

Continue reading "Foreign Language Translation and Patent Protection in the EU" »

We've blogged about foreign legal document translations and litigating foreign language life insurance policies. We also blogged about multilingual translations of international pension fund materials. When a US company does business outside the US, they open themselves to risks that may or may not be covered by their US insurance. In fact, many domestic policies do not cover the exposures to lawsuits or employee injuries that can occur in a foreign country.

Continue reading "Legal Translation and Insurance when Doing Business in a Foreign Country" »

We've blogged about multi-language professional translation services and mortgage contract translations, as well as the importance of multilingual lease agreement translations. A timeshare essentially lets you buy a fraction of real estate - usually measured by a certain amount of weeks per year. You share the ownership with the other timeshare owners. In other words, you pay a share of the price and therefore own the equivalent share of the real estate property, giving you the right to use the property for a certain period of time every year.

Continue reading "Multilingual Translation Services and Buying Timeshare Real Estate in a Foreign Country" »

We've blogged about legal translation services in the age of Twitter. The use of social media tools can be both a godsend and a nightmare for lawyers - particularly from an ethics point of view. Whether it is with using Twitter for promotion of one's legal services or a Facebook page as evidence in court, social media presents new challenges to the legal world, one in which few rules and regulations yet exist. In fact, recently the Florida Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee issued an opinion stating that judges should not "friend" lawyers of Facebook or risk being seen as biased. And the police commonly go to such sites as facebook and MySpace for evidence. Another issue is with jurors going to social media sites and improperly communicating about a case or looking up a witness.

Continue reading "Language Translation, Social Media Lingo and Foreign Clients" »

We've blogged about English-Chinese and Chinese-English legal translation and legal interpretation services in the context of mergers and acquisitions. Interestingly,China's ethical rules for lawyers have a "bright line" provision that forbids attorneys from representing both sides in the same conflict. This is similar to most state ethics codes. However, unlike most US state ethics codes, the Chinese code fails to go any further. But with a proposed new law, this may get better.

Continue reading "Chinese-English Legal Translation and Legal Ethics in China" »

Lack of accurate translations of social security documents into foreign languages can often lead to misunderstandings and even to criminal changes. But what happens in the absence of a language barrier when a person applies for Social Security Benefits on the basis of a claim that she has breast cancer, diabetes, kidney disease and post-traumatic stress disorder and then gives the Social Security Administration medical documents related to these diseases - that she made herself - not to mention claiming she only has eight to twelve months to live?

That person ends up in jail - at least in Wisconsin. And that's exactly what a 32-year-old Wisconsin woman found out last month when she was sentenced for Social Security fraud.

Continue reading "Language Translation, Foreign Language Speakers and Social Security Fraud " »

We've blogged about court translations and legal translations in the context of cross-border contract law. According to one of the basic laws of contracts, "the formation of a contract requires... a manifestation of mutual assent to the exchange." When determining whether this requirement has been met, courts use an objective theory. However, as contracts now span international borders and incorporate various languages, the validity of the objective theory is being challenged.

Take, for example, an individual who signs a contract that is in a language they do not understand and for which no foreign language translation is provided. In such a situation, under the objective theory, a party will be bound to the contract's terms when the other party can reasonably regard the signing party's outward manifestations as an assent to the terms.

Continue reading "Court Translation, Legal Translation Services and Contract Law " »

We've blogged about legal translation and legal interpreting services in the context of international matrimonial law. Divorce law is highly influenced by the culture of the individual country. And when a country is defined by religious custom, then religion plays a role in the evolution of divorce and family law. For example, in Israel family law falls into two different areas of practice: civil law and religious law (although religious law is applicable to citizens based on their religious affiliation). For this reason, depending on the issue, a case may be brought before either a family law court or a religious court.

Continue reading "Hebrew Legal Translation and Divorce in the International Context" »