Translation For Lawyers

We've blogged about professional legal translation of premarital agreements. When a foreign prenuptial agreement is sought to be enforced in the United States, one of the first questions a court faces is to determine the validity of the agreement. Thus, the question is whether or not the foreign country in which the agreement was entered has ruled that the agreement is in fact valid. When making a determination as to whether a foreign judgment can be enforced in the U.S., two bodies of law come into play.

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We've blogged about the role of professional translation and legal interpreting services in drafting an enforceable cross-border prenuptial contract with a foreign fiancée or a foreign fiancé, or with a foreign bride or a foreign groom. Unlike most jurisdictions, California operates under the unique legal system of community property. Under such a legal system, when two people in California get a divorce, they are subject to the community property laws of the state. This means that all property belongs to the couple and therefore will be divided evenly. However, California does allow a couple to  enter into a premarital agreement - or prenuptial agreement. Although this works fine for California couples, problems arise when a foreign marital contract is involved as most foreign marital contracts specify a regime like joint, separate, or a variation thereof.  The question is whether or not a California court, under California law, can enforce a foreign marital contract.  

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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" »

Attorneys drafting cross-border premarital agreements occasionally overlook the importance of professional document translation and language interpreters. At its most fundamental level, a prenuptial agreement with a foreign bride or a foreign groom is nothing more than a contract and thus must conform to the basic laws of contract.

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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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Although the Federal Rules of Evidence are silent on the topic of using translations of foreign language documents as evidence in civil or criminal cases, several states have adopted specialized rules governing this issue. Texas Rule of Evidence 1009 provides a general outline of how the Rules of Evidence apply to admitting and objecting to foreign language translations as documentary evidence.

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As your law firm launches yet another discovery in transnational litigation, or continues its patent prosecution work, or starts dealing with foreign-language taped-recorded evidence, you may be swamped by spam emails from Latin America, or China, or India, touting cheap and fast legal translations. The pushy overseas vendors may tempt you to look at legal translations as yet another commodity- such as toner cartridges, or tires. But is it really such a good idea? Consider this:

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Is your law firm or legal department working with a professional document translation service? Will the translated documents stand up in court? Have you made sure that your evidentiary documents are being translated professionally, or are they riddled with mistranslations and inconsistencies? Are your attorneys relying on automatic translation, or translation software, or on their own bilingual skills? Or are you working with a professional patent translation service and legal document translation service?

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