Translation For Lawyers

Earlier we've blogged about document translation in the context of foreign regulatory evidence in products liability cases and about the role of professional translating and interpreting services in enforcing U.S. judgments in Europe. As the business world becomes more and more global, there are increasing instances of conflict of law questions. Essentially, a conflict of law arises whenever a business transaction spans two different countries.

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When it comes to depositions involving non-English-speaking witnesses, the last thing an attorney wants is surprises - especially from their client. This is why preparing your client and all other individuals involved in the deposition is essential. Nowhere is this truer than when dealing with a foreign language speaking witness, who requires services of a deposition interpreter, in the context of a cross-cultural deposition.

When preparing for a foreign language deposition, keep these tips in mind:

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Like many professional specialties - including the law, computer science and medicine - the field of accounting has many terms that are particular to the accounting profession. Although people within the finance and accounting field understand these trade terms, these terms often do not translate easily outside the profession. This is particularly true when accounting documents need to be translated into a foreign language for transnational and cross-border accounting litigation.

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Irrespective of the availability of foreign language legal document translations, various issues may come up in the context of foreign language evidence. What happens if an opposing party uses a foreign language document in an unethical manner and receives a favorable judgment because of it? Can the ruling be challenged, based on the unethical use of the document? If so, what is the standard of review?

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Sometimes during multilingual discovery an attorney will inadvertently file a privileged document. This can happen with foreign language documents, especially when the English translation is not available. When this occurs, the receiving attorney has various ethical obligations as to how to handle the filing. However, every state has very different approaches to what these ethical obligations are.

Continue reading "Language Translation and Ethical Issues of Filing Privileged Foreign Language Documents: The Receiving Attorney’s Side" »

In the legal translation firm's White Paper "A Lawyer's Guide to Cross-Cultural Depositions" we talked about the importance of establishing a rapport between a deposing attorney and a non-English-speaking deponent to help overcome the deponent's mistrust and defensiveness. However, building respect when deposing a foreign-born witness is not even a consideration during hostile depositions where the witness speaks in a foreign language. In fact, some deposing attorneys have been known to act rudely towards a foreign language speaker during a deposition involving a foreign language deposition interpreter. But whether or not an attorney's rude behavior towards a foreign language speaker during a deposition is considered unethical behavior is a question the courts continue to struggle with.

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Clear communication across foreign language barriers is critical for success of any international
venture, and is as important, as the accurate courtroom translation. It becomes even more important during conference calls between the English-speaking investors and the Chinese-speaking managers of the company they invest in. Always advise your international clients- public and private companies- to invest in professional translation and interpreting services- to safeguard their company's reputation and brand, to promote goodwill among culturally diverse investors, and to protect their company’s bottom line.

Continue reading "Don't Let Your Foreign Clients Skimp on Professional Translation Services, Or Why It's Important to Translate "Comp-Store Sales" into Chinese" »

When dealing with a foreign party during transnational litigation, the discovery and deposition process is often more tedious than it is when dealt with domestically. When conducting multilingual foreign language discovery and cross-cultural depositions requiring professional foreign language translation and interpreting services, keep these tips in mind:

Continue reading "Foreign Language Certified Translation, Foreign Language Depositions, and Multilingual Discovery Tips" »

The management of electronically stored information (ESI) created and/ or stored on a company’s computers presents challenges, when such data is in a foreign language. And I am not talking about the challenges related to foreign language translation of the electronically stored information during discovery, also known as foreign language e-Discovery.

Rather, I’m talking about the decision to either preserve or erase multilingual ESI on a work-owned computer, which can have significant legal consequences for both the employer and the employee, if the need to produce foreign language evidence later were to come up in litigation.

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During a U.S. federal case, an attorney will often be required to take a deposition in a foreign country. Such foreign depositions, or cross-cultural depositions, if you will, often involve non-English-speaking witnesses and require services of professional foreign language court interpreters, fluent in the deponents' languages.

Continue reading "Deposition Interpretation & Translation Services in a Foreign Deposition in U.S. Federal Cases" »