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Legal and Court Translation
Legal translation, precise enough to be read adversarially.
Contracts, filings, judgments and evidence — translated by linguists experienced in legal texts, with consistent terminology across the whole matter and a signed Certificate of Accuracy where certification is required.
What makes it different
Legal translation is not general translation
A marketing brochure can be improved in translation. A contract cannot. Legal translation is constrained work: the task is to carry meaning across without adding, removing or resolving anything the original left open.
The difficulty is rarely vocabulary. It is that legal concepts are creatures of the systems that produced them. A common-law trust has no clean civil-law equivalent. A German Vollstreckungsbescheid is not quite a default judgment. Rendering these well requires deciding — case by case — whether to translate, retain the original term, or add a note. Get it wrong and a clause means something the drafter never intended.
The second difficulty is consistency. A matter may run for years and produce hundreds of documents. If a defined term is translated three different ways across three filings, someone will notice, and explaining it will cost more than doing it properly would have.
How we work
What legal clients get from us
- 1
Precision over fluency
A legal translation is read adversarially. It should be accurate before it is elegant, and where the source is ambiguous the translation should not resolve that ambiguity on the author's behalf.
- 2
Legal systems, not just languages
Concepts frequently have no counterpart in the target system. Handling that well means knowing when to translate, when to keep the original term, and when to add a translator's note.
- 3
Consistency across the matter
Defined terms, party names and clause references must match across every document, including ones translated months apart.
- 4
Confidentiality as a default
Access limited to the assigned team, documents stored outside public paths, and linguists who never see who the client is.
- 5
An auditable record
Every project carries a full history — who did what, and when. Useful when a matter is examined long after the work is done.
What we translate
Legal documents we handle
Contracts and agreements
Commercial, employment, licensing and shareholder agreements.
Court filings and pleadings
Complaints, motions, briefs and responses for filing.
Judgments and orders
Foreign judgments for recognition and enforcement.
Affidavits and declarations
Sworn statements requiring precise, defensible rendering.
Discovery and evidence
Correspondence, records and exhibits, at volume.
Powers of attorney
Including forms intended for use abroad.
Corporate records
Articles, resolutions, registers and due diligence material.
Patents and IP filings
Where technical and legal precision meet.
Wills, probate and estates
Cross-border inheritance and succession documents.
Regulatory and compliance
Filings, correspondence and internal investigations.
Confidentiality
How your documents are handled
Law firms send us material that is privileged, commercially sensitive, or both. The handling reflects that.
- Stored outside public paths. Files are validated on upload and held where no web request can reach them.
- Access limited to the assigned team. A named coordinator and the linguists working the matter — nobody else.
- Linguists never see the client. Assigned translators receive the documents, languages, deadline and a brief. Not who the client is, not what it costs.
- A full audit trail. Every action on a project is recorded with the person and the time.
- Your paperwork, signed. If your firm requires a specific NDA or confidentiality undertaking, send it before work begins.
Timing
Turnaround on legal work
| Type of project | Typical delivery |
|---|---|
| Short certified documents Powers of attorney, single affidavits, certificates | 1–2 business days |
| Standard legal documents Contracts, pleadings, judgments | 2–3 business days |
| Large legal projects Discovery sets, case bundles, multilingual matters | Depends on volume and complexity |
Larger or more complex projects may require additional review time. If you are working to a filing deadline, tell us at the outset — we would rather decline than miss it.
Related services
Where to go next
Questions
Legal translation, answered
Yes. Every certified translation includes a signed Certificate of Accuracy naming the translator, identifying the languages and confirming the translation is complete and accurate. Requirements vary between jurisdictions — some courts ask for notarization or a sworn declaration in a particular form. Tell your Project Coordinator which court and we will prepare it accordingly.
Documents are validated on upload and stored outside any publicly accessible path. Access is limited to the coordinator and the linguists assigned to your matter, and assigned linguists see the documents, languages and deadline — not client identities or commercial detail. If your firm requires a specific confidentiality undertaking, send it and we will sign it before work begins.
Yes, and on litigation of any size it is essential. Translation memory and a matter-specific glossary keep defined terms, party names and contractual language identical from the first exhibit to the last. Where a term was rendered a particular way in an earlier filing, it stays that way — inconsistency between documents is the kind of thing opposing counsel notices.
Standard document projects are typically 2–3 business days. Large legal projects — discovery sets, full case bundles, multilingual matters — depend on volume and complexity, and we will give you a realistic date rather than an optimistic one. If you are working to a filing deadline, tell us at the outset and we will confirm whether it is achievable.
Legal work is assigned to linguists with experience in legal texts and the relevant jurisdiction, because legal translation is as much about legal systems as language. A term with no equivalent in the target system — a trust, an usufruct, a Bereitschaftsdienst — requires judgement about whether to translate, transliterate or annotate. That is not a decision to leave to a generalist.
Yes. Large sets are scoped before work begins so that terminology, formatting and file naming are consistent across the whole production. Tell us the volume, the languages and the deadline and we will tell you honestly what is achievable.
Yes — arbitration filings, foreign judgments, letters rogatory, corporate records and evidence from foreign proceedings. Cross-border matters often involve several source languages at once, which is where consistent terminology and a single point of coordination matter most.
It depends on the receiving body. Many courts accept a certified translation with a signed Certificate of Accuracy. Others, and some foreign jurisdictions, require notarization or legalization. We can arrange notarization when it is required — tell us the destination and we will advise rather than let you pay for something unnecessary.
Start your legal translation
Upload your documents and a Project Coordinator will review scope, terminology and deadline before preparing a quotation. Most requests are reviewed within 30–60 minutes during business hours.
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