Translation For Lawyers

We've blogged about the importance of professional foreign language translations for estate planning. At its most basic definition, a living will is a legal document that specifies exactly how one wants things run in the case he or she becomes medically incapacitated by, for example, a coma or Alzheimer's. A living will is only valid so long as the person is alive (otherwise a last will and testament will go into effect). Typically, the living will shall cover:

Continue reading "Multilingual Language Translation and the Living Will" »

Professional legal translation services play an important role in antitrust litigation. The English Courts recently issued a decision (Provimi Ltd and ors v Aventis Animal Nutrition SA and ors) that essentially opened the door to non-UK claimants bringing competition law damages claims in English jurisdiction. The Court held that a corporate entity, such as a branch or subsidiary, may be held liable for implementing a cartel contrary to the law, even if it had no knowledge of the cartel or never made sales of a cartelized product to the claimant.

Continue reading "Language Interpreters Service and Antitrust Forum-Shopping: The English Situation " »

Professional foreign language legal translation and court interpretation services play an important role in transnational litigation. In 2007 the Russian Federal Customs Service (FCS) filed a suit against the Bank of New York (BONY) in Russia seeking to recover customs duties and damages under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act's (RICO). Filing a RICO claim in a Russian Court raises many procedural and choice-of-law principles - along with issues in international litigation. In this case a foreign plaintiff was seeking a civil remedy in a foreign court but applying US federal regulatory law.

Continue reading "Foreign Language Translations in Transnational Litigation" »

Business contracts are complex enough when dealing with a transaction happening in a single jurisdiction. When an international business enters into a contract, the complexity of a US contract pales in comparison. Besides having to deal with the basic content of the contract, you also have to understand such issues as national sovereignty and foreign export controls - not to mention having a foreign language translation of all the documents.

Continue reading "Legal Translation, Drafting an International Contract and Choice of Law" »

Legal translation and legal language interpreting services play an important role in international estate planning. Let's look at the non-tax issues that should be taken into consideration when working with a foreign client who has property located in a foreign country.

First, a will or trust created according to the laws of the United States may not be applicable to the property located in a foreign jurisdiction. More often than not, the distribution of foreign property will be controlled by foreign law, meaning that you will need to have a will or trust prepared in accordance to that country's laws. This will require a foreign language translation of the foreign law and of any existing wills and trusts that were previously created.

Continue reading "Legal Language Translation, International Estate Planning and Non-Tax Considerations" »

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 language translation and language interpretation issues in international family law cases. Determining the jurisdiction of your child custody case is an essential step in divorce process. Once jurisdiction is determined, one cannot move the child from that jurisdiction without express permission from the court. This may not seem like an issue at the time, but years later if one parent moves to a different country and wants to take the child with them, jurisdiction will prevent the move until a court order is granted. If you currently do not have a custody order, you need to first determine jurisdiction, which is typically the place where the child has been living for the past six months.

Continue reading "Language Translation, Child Custody and International Borders " »

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.

Continue reading "Language Interpretation and Expert Testimony in International Family Law Cases" »

We've blogged about professional translation services and having a foreign divorce recognized in a U.S. court.

When one parent is living in a foreign country, finding a way to enforce a US child support order overseas can be a challenging prospect. Under Section 459A of the Social Security Act (42 USC 659A (1996)) the Department of State and the Department of Health and Human Services have the authority to enter into agreements with foreign countries for child support enforcement. In general, under the law a parent can be required to pay child support by income withholding, and overdue child support can be collected from federal and state tax refunds. Liens can be placed on property and the property itself may even be sold with the proceeds used to pay child support arrearages.

More so, if a person arrears in excess of $5,000, their US passport may be denied.

Continue reading "Legal Translation and International Child Support Enforcement" »

Can a foreign language speaking jury member be dismissed for cause because of their foreign language abilities? This is a question that has arisen but one which the courts have generally failed to address directly. Take for example Hernandez v. New York, 500 US 352 (1991). In this case, Petitioner argued that Spanish-language ability bears close relation to ethnicity and that, as a consequence, it violates the Equal Protection Clause to exercise a peremptory challenge on the ground that a potential juror speaks Spanish.

Continue reading "Translation, Foreign Language Ability and Jury Excusal" »

We've blogged about foreign language interpreters, medical examinations and the Rules of Evidence. In an Illinois case, the question to the court was whether or not a non-English speaking defendant failed to participate in good faith and in a meaningful manner at a mandatory-arbitration hearing and thus violated the notice to appear by failing to provide a foreign-language interpreter so she could testify.

According to the facts, the defendant did personally appear at the hearing but was unable to testify due to her inability to understand English.

Continue reading " Court Interpreters, Non-English Speakers and Good Faith Participation" »

Legal translation services play an important role in protecting the rights of limited-English-speaking consumers. According to the Business Opportunity Rule, issued by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as 16 CFR Part 437, business opportunity sellers must provide prospective purchasers with material information needed to combat fraud and that would prohibit other acts or practices that are unfair or deceptive from occurring. This rule was explicitly created to help protect non-English speakers from business opportunity fraud. Thus, if a non-English-speaking client finds themselves in a potentially fraudulent business opportunity, one should look to see if the Seller provided foreign language translations of all business contracts and documentation. If not, this should be used as evidence according to this Rule.

Continue reading "Legal Translator Services for Attorneys, Non-English Speakers and the Business Opportunity Rule " »

In the typical case, a request for extradition begins when a pending charge or conviction occurs in a foreign country. When the issue concerns a conviction, the requesting country is usually required to provide proof of conviction via a certified copy of the conviction. If the requesting country and the country where the fugitive is thought to reside utilize different languages, then the certified copy of the conviction should include a foreign language translation.

Continue reading "On-Site Legal Language Services, On-Site and Off-Site Legal Translators and Foreign Extradition when Conviction is In Absentia" »

We've blogged about professional legal translation and court interpretation services, and proving translation accuracy in preliminary injunctions and trials. According to the Federal Rules of Evidence, evidence is relevant "if it has any tendency in reason to prove the existence of any material fact, i.e. it makes determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence." As a general rule, "all relevant evidence is admissible unless its admission violates some exclusionary rule." One common exception is when evidence is excluded by the court's discretion when its probative value is seen as being substantially outweighed by the danger that it will unfairly prejudice the other side or mislead the jury.

Continue reading " Legal Interpreters, Court Translation, Admissibility and Exclusion of Foreign Language Testimony" »

Many state courts do not require court interpreter services in all civil cases. Some states mandate that court interpreters be appointed only in small claims, divorce and custody cases. A new study of civil courts by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University law school examined 35 states with the highest immigrant populations. According to its findings, 46% of civil courts do not require court interpreters to be provided in all cases, 80% fail to guarantee that the courts would pay for court interpreters, 37% do not require court interpreters to have proper credentials, and most state courts are not keeping up with the growing demand for foreign language court interpreters.

Continue reading "On-Site Legal Interpretation, Professional Court Interpreters, Legal Translators and State Court Interpreter Programs " »