Translation For Lawyers

Legal translation and legal interpreting services play an important role in the practice of law. A recent series of legal opinions have addressed the trend for lawyers having a "mobile practice" where they tend to practice across and between jurisdictions. In New York, for example, the State Bar Ethics Committee is urging the development of rules for out-of-state lawyers serving as in-house counsel for New York-headquartered companies. A federal district court ruled that a New York law requiring non-resident licensed lawyers to maintain a New York office could give rise to a challenge under the Comity Clause. And in yet another case a California attorney challenged Utah's admission policy, which requires out-of-state attorneys to hold a law degree from an ABA-accredited school. In the case, the Utah Supreme Court ruled that "a lawyer's unblemished record can outweigh the educational accreditation requirements".

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Although by agreeing to arbitration the parties involved are free to determine the procedure applicable to their arbitration, national laws will nonetheless have a significant impact on arbitral proceedings. In fact, all arbitral proceedings are governed by a codified procedural law (lex arbitri), which is often not the same as the law governing the parties' contract. Usually the parties do not choose lex arbitri and instead select only the law governing their contract. When this occurs, the lex arbitri will be the law of the country in which the arbitration occurs.

Continue reading " Language Translation and the Impact of National Law on International Arbitrations" »

Legal document translation services play an important role in the context of international attorney malpractice. In a recent case a major international law firm had a negligence claim brought against it by a property consultancy company relating to advice it gave to a client, Northern Rock, on fraudulent property transactions. The claim sought contribution to the £1.6m settlement the company paid to Northern Rock over alleged negligence by the firm on three property transactions.

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Multilingual translation and legal language translation services come in handy when dealing with foreign language documents, such as reference letters from a former employer. In the previous legal translation post we discussed the major legal problems employers face when asked to provide a job reference for an ex-employee. As the American legal system provides no requirement for mandatory job references, employers who give them may open the door to a defamation lawsuit. The unfortunate effect is that the hiring employers are not able to get the information they need to make an informed hiring decision.

Continue reading "On-Site and Offsite Professional Translation, Online Law Translation and a Possible Solution to the Job Reference Issue" »

We've blogged about legal language translation services in the context of foreign direct investments, the need for accurate corporate translation of share pledge agreements, and multilingual legal translations of multinational corporate governance documents. By definition, derivative lawsuits are suits brought by aggrieved shareholders in the name of the corporation to remedy corporate governance failures. If one prevails in the derivative lawsuit, the winnings are returned to the firm for the direct benefit of all shareholders involved. In the United States, derivative lawsuits as a whole have not been much of a success. However, when placed in the international arena, new issues arise - particularly in a rapidly globalizing world.

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We've blogged about court translation, courtroom interpreting experts, certified translation professionals and document interpreting professionals in the context of pleading a case for libel, and in the context of legal protection of posthumous personality rights.  Under the US Constitution, people enjoy significant rights to free speech. Although hate speech is not protected per se, it does enjoy significant constitutional protection. Thus, a neo-Nazi group is allowed to hold a march through a predominantly Jewish neighborhood and the website Yahoo! or eBay can facilitate auctions of Nazi artifacts.

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We've blogged about the role of professional court translators and document interpreters in national origin discrimination cases and in employment discrimination cases.  Under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, discriminating against an individual on the grounds of their foreign accent may be prohibited. However, many cases brought under this action are unsuccessful due to the high burden of proof placed on the plaintiff. One example is the Customer Preference defense, which argues that employment decisions may be justified when done in order to appeal to a target demographic group - namely, the customer.

Continue reading "Translation / Interpretation Experts for Litigation, Court Interpreters, and Foreign Accents in the Courtrooms" »

Earlier we've blogged about corporate translation services in the context of international arbitration. Although the purpose of arbitration is to allow for the amicable resolution of business disagreements, sometimes a party will be left unsatisfied with the choice of arbitrator. Both the arbitration done under the Rules of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) or via internal (ad hoc) rules allow for a challenge. When raising a challenge, specific requirements must be met:

Continue reading "Language Translation & Interpreting for Corporate Litigation Attorneys, and Challenging Arbitrators under an International Arbitration Act" »

Professional translation services play an important role in arbitration. Nearly every industrialized nation has an International Arbitration Act on their books. Although every nation's Act is unique, all are similar in purpose - to facilitate the mediation and arbitration of international commercial disputes. Further, all states who have International Arbitration Acts agree to specific formalities as part of the International Arbitration Convention.

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Foreign language document translation and language interpreting play an important role in the investigation and defense of money laundering cases. Money laundering occurs when an individual or organization attempts to disguise the origin of proceeds which stem from a preceding criminal act. In other words, it is the act of transferring the proceeds made from a criminal act in order to conceal their criminal origin. In the setting of international commercial arbitration, the following elements of the offense of money laundering need to be established:

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A recent article in The Washington Post explores a new flare-up of old tensions between French- and Dutch-speaking populations of Belgium. Many of these tensions spring up from the linguistic, cultural, and political obstacles (such as Flemish demands for greater autonomy), and cannot be easily overcome even with the help of professional legal French language translation and French language interpretation services, or with the help of professional legal Dutch language translation and Dutch language interpretation services.

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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 "Witness Interview Translators, Deposition Interpretation & Translation Services in a Foreign Deposition in U.S. Federal Cases" »

As linguistic and cultural diversity in the United States continues to grow, American courts will increasingly deal with cross-cultural disputes, as well as with the intersection between foreign and domestic law, and, often, with the intersection between cultural or religious customs and domestic law.

Continue reading "Ohio Appellate Court To Rule on the Interpretation of Islamic Marriage Contract- Mahr" »

Two important rules applicable to interpreting a prenuptial agreement with a foreign national are the Parol Evidence Rule and the Statute of Frauds. The Parol Evidence Rule holds that prior or contemporaneous negotiations and agreements that contradict, modify or vary the terms of the contract are inadmissible when the contract is intended to be a complete and final expression of the parties.

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The European Union currently has 23 official languages. In order for each version of the EU documents translated into those 23 languages to be binding, there’s an ongoing need for precise Bulgarian translation and Czech translation; Danish translation and Dutch translations; English translations and Estonian translation; Finnish translations and French translation; German translations and Greek translation; Hungarian translations and Irish translation; Italian translation and Latvian translation; Lithuanian translation and Maltese translation; Polish translation and Portuguese translation; Romanian translation and Slovak translation; Slovenian translation; Spanish translation and Swedish translation.

Continue reading "Bulgarian Translation of "Euro" as Bulgarian National and Cultural Identity Issue" »