Translation For Lawyers

We've blogged about legal document translation and legal protections against research on human subjects in developing nations. One of the ongoing debates in international trade law is how to balance access to medicines with the intellectual property rights of the developers. And professional pharmaceutical and legal translation services play an important part in this process.Typically, this debate comes down along the lines of developed versus developing countries. Developed countries typically push for the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights to be interpreted as conferring price inflating monopolies over drugs that are neither patented nor patentable via guarantees of exclusive rights to clinical testing data needed to secure marketing approval.

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We've blogged about professional translation and engineering translation and technical translation services for the oil and gas industry and for the aircraft industry. When dealing with an international chemical or pharmaceutical patent case, one will often come across the use of chemical compound names as they are the primary way of conveying molecular structures between chemists and researchers. In other words, understanding the chemical nomenclature is key to understanding the patent. Unlike other words, generally the use of a compound name is universal. And although a vast majority of the profession uses English, a company will often use its employees' native language when writing a chemical compound name.

Continue reading "Technical Online Translations and Online Professional Foreign Language Translation of Chemical Nomenclature" »

We've blogged about pharmaceutical translations in the context of the European Union's fast track approval process for US pharmaceuticals, and about professional translations of foreign regulatory evidence in products liability cases.  Professional pharmaceutical and technical translations provided by multilingual translation experts are equally important for the new sector of international law, pertaining to the use of human subjects for pharmaceutical testing and research.  Since this practice is heavily regulated in the United States, many companies are turning to developing nations that typically lack such protections. As regulations and protections are being implemented - thus creating a new sector of international law- and as with any law involving various foreign jurisdictions, foreign language translations play an important role.

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Earlier we've blogged about the role of professional translation services in the global economy. As China continues to develop as a dominant international business player, it is essential for the international lawyer to understand China's antitrust review process, and the role of English-Chinese and Chinese-English legal translations in this process.

Continue reading "English-Chinese and Chinese-English Legal Document Translations, and China's Antitrust Review Process" »

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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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" »

Earlier we blogged about language translation in the context of products liability claims in the presence of the English only warnings. Foreign language translation becomes even more relevant in product liability cases when the issue of foreign regulatory evidence arises in pharmaceutical lawsuits, mainly due to the international scope of pharmaceutical sales.

Continue reading "Translations for Lawyers & Litigators, and Foreign Regulatory Evidence in Products Liability Cases" »

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:

Continue reading "Legal Translation, and Asserting a Money Laundering Defense in the International Arbitration Setting" »

A very common occurrence in a hospital setting, particularly an emergency room, is the arrival of a non-English speaking patient. In such a situation the physician often struggles with trying to understand the symptoms and make a correct diagnosis. This becomes an issue when the patient can only communicate in a foreign language and no qualified foreign language interpreter is available. In the worst-case scenario, it becomes a medical malpractice problem.

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When a party relies on a piece of documentary evidence written in a foreign language, they must have the document translated into English and file an affidavit attesting to the accuracy of the translation.

So what happens when both parties submit separate affidavits by two different document translators attesting to having submitted an accurate translation?

Continue reading "Certified Language Translator's Affidavit, and Professional Translation & Interpreting Services for Litigation, Court Proceedings & Arbitration Proceedings" »

Earlier we blogged about the admissibility of the telephonic expert witness testimony by a foreign language translator/ court interpreter. One key factor in a court’s decision to allow telephonic testimony is whether or not the witness is available. Thus, in order to admit foreign language translator testimony via telephone, a party must sufficiently demonstrate that in fact the foreign language translator/ interpreter is “truly unavailable”.

Continue reading "Determining the Unavailability of Foreign Language Translator/ Interpreter to Provide Expert Witness Testimony in Person- Telephonic Evidence" »

Although sometimes admissible, the use of telephonic expert witness testimony given by a foreign language translator or court interpreter is highly disfavored by the courts. In general, the courts are likely to apply the same standards of admissibility of telephonic testimony by a foreign language translator/ interpreter as they would to any type of telephonic testimony.

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Depending on the quality of the original, source text, foreign language translations may sometimes be perceived as ambiguous. According to the Law of Contracts, one method for interpreting the terms of an ambiguously written contract is to look at any terms of trade used within the document. This refers to any terminology that has a special meaning within a given trade that is the subject of the contract. However, this can become an even more complicated task when the terms of trade are in a foreign language.

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When applying for a trademark that contains a foreign language term or word, certain issues as to the meaning of the term may arise. This may become an obstacle to successfully obtaining the trademark when the foreign language term has different meanings in different cultures.

Continue reading "Language Translations for Patent and Trademark Lawyers, and Registering a Foreign Language Trademark" »

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?

Continue reading "Challenging Unfavorable Ruling Resulting from Unethical Use of Foreign Language Documentary Evidence" »