Translation For Lawyers

We've blogged about legal translation and language interpreting services in the context of nesting arbitration agreements in contracts. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently announced proposed changes to its framework for post-arbitral deferral. Traditionally, the NLRB has used a policy of declining to take jurisdiction over an unfair labor practice charge when an arbitrator has already issued an award. The standard used was that the arbitrator's award would be deferred to when the contract and statutory issues were 'factually parallel' and the arbitrator was 'presented generally with the facts relevant to resolving the unfair labor practice'.

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We've blogged about the importance of accurate Chinese-English and English-Chinese language interpreter and translator services when doing business in China. As China continues to open up to businesses, many SMEs are looking to move in. However, apart from the language barriers, there are many challenges to setting up shop in China, some specific to small and medium-sized enterprises.

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Accurate language translation services are important for trademark and patent law practitioners. The Supreme Court case Costco v. Omega is an appeal of a Ninth Circuit decision that upheld the Swiss watchmaker's right to prevent Costco from selling legitimate watches that it had purchased from a gray-market vendor. The issue here is the power of a manufacturer to use copyright laws, which typically are used to protect creative works such as books and movies, to protect a what is essentially nothing more than a tiny logo found on these expensive watches. Traditionally, protection for a logo would fall under trademark law. However, copyright law grants more powers to an owner, including the right to prevent protected works from being sold or given away.

Continue reading "Language Translation, Certified Translators, First Sale Rule and Costco v. Omega" »

We've blogged about trademark translation, patent and technical language translation services in the context of the doctrine of foreign equivalents. In anticipation to an upcoming video-game, Nintendo filed a trademark registration application for the mark "It's on like Donkey Kong". The reason why this move raised eyebrows in the legal world is that this phrase has become a well-entrenched part of the common lexicon, thus raising the question, will the common use of a phrase have an effect on one's ability to register a mark?

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Multilingual language translation and legal interpreting services are often required during mediation. According to a recent decision by the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, a mediation settlement agreement can be enforced over the objections of the defendant. The method used is basic contract analysis.

The case involved a handwritten document entitled "Mediation Settlement Agreement", in which the defendant agreed to an amount of payment in settlement of all claims, along with some other conditions.

Continue reading "Legal Interpretation Services, Mediation Agreements as Contracts, and Non-English-Speakers " »

We've blogged about translation of international business contracts and about professional legal and corporate translation services in the context of international family law. In the recent case Williams v. Kansas City Title Loan Co., the court held that a mediated settlement agreement was unenforceable because it did not subsist in writing. This is in contrast to other cases that have ruled that written agreements are not needed to enforce a mediated settlement - which goes to show the importance of carefully researching the case law and rules for the particular jurisdiction you are mediating in, even if this means having a foreign language translation of the relevant decisions and statutes.

Continue reading "Online Legal Translation, Mediation and the Importance of the Written Agreement " »

We've blogged about the role of professional English-Chinese and Chinese-English corporate and legal translation and interpreting services when doing business with China and other collectivist cultures of the East.

With the first day of the 2011 Chinese New Year of the Rabbit falling on February 3, 2011, attorneys who want to attract more domestic and foreign-born clients and to enhance their corporate reputation and prosperity will need to surround their law offices with more positive energies. And the transformational and healing power of Feng Shui can help. According to classical traditional Feng Shui, every office has lucky and unlucky areas. The unlucky areas are likely to generate unlucky negative energies, which can harm the law practice.

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We've blogged about the cost of foreign document disclosure involving multilingual document translations.

When a court has to decide on the adequacy of a keyword search done in response to a discovery requests, the case law shows that one of several conclusions are likely:

• 1. The parties must better cooperate to develop appropriate and effective searches
• 2. The party completing the keyword search and providing its results must employ an additional validating search mechanism
• 3. A party must engage an expert or present an expert affidavit attesting to the adequacy of the search.

In the first instance, when a party moved for sanctions when the defendant failed to produce the electronic documents that they believed were relevant, the court held that the parties - particularly in complex litigation - needed to cooperate and discuss electronic discovery protocol in detail between themselves. In fact, the court criticized the defendant for not involving the plaintiff in the process, recognizing that 'keyword searching is a cooperative and informed process'.

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We've blogged about legal translation services and foreign language legal document review by bilingual and multilingual attorneys and JDs. By definition, a keyword search is a set-based search using simple words or a combination of words, with or without Boolean and related operators. The purpose is to reduce large sets of documents to more easily navigable groups by returning documents that contain certain words, dates or other parameters as specified by a user. This in essence is the core concept of how a search engine such as Google operates.

Continue reading "Law Language Translator, Multilingual Keyword Searches, Electronic Discovery and Malpractice" »

When dealing with attorney language in multilingual international arbitration agreements, it is essential that the practitioner be precise in specifying the name of an arbitral institution in a contract.

This is because some jurisdictions simply do not favor arbitration. For example, the Ukrainian courts will not consider arbitration unless clearly specified in the contract with a foreign language translation. In a recent case, a contract included a clause stating that "disputes shall be settled by the International Commercial Arbitration Court at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Kyiv".

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We've blogged about legal language translation services and contact law. It is standard that an arbitration agreement nestled in a commercial contract has legal validity of its own. Further, once a court makes the determination that the nestled agreement to arbitrate is enforceable, then the arbitrator has jurisdiction to determine the enforceability of the contract.

However, if there isn't anything for the arbitration agreement to nestle into, the contract will be held to have only evidenced an agreement to arbitrate.

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We've blogged about legal language interpreting and translation services in representing non-English-speaking clients. One of the great things about online marketing, including multilingual marketing, is that it's affordable and effective - which is great for small and mid-size law firms. Further, using online marketing allows a firm to easily take its marketing materials and have a foreign language translation - further broadening the scope of its reach. In a sense, it evens the playing field for solos and small firms to get some footing in the ever-increasing competitive field of law firm marketing. From law firm websites to lawyer blogs and social media platforms - online marketing is a godsend for small and mid-size firms looking for a simple way to connect to clients and potential clients.

Unfortunately, this may be about to change.

Continue reading "Multilingual Legal Website Translations: ABA Looks to Limit Online Marketing Opportunities" »

We've blogged about professional multilingual legal translator services in the process of cross-border discovery. Traditionally, discovery of records has always involved the transmitting of papers and documents, carefully passed down a clearly laid out legal chain of custody. However, times have changed and the world continues to go 'paperless' - meaning that much of the traditional information sought after in the discovery process is now electronic. In response, the legal world is slowly shifting to an electronic discovery.

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