Legal Translation Demystified: What Every Lawyer Needs to Know

Barbara J Macon, Esq.

General

The legal translator is often the unsung, underestimated, and underutilized member of legal project teams. As The Economist once put it, translators are “the world’s unsung facilitators,” yet both translators and interpreters “rarely get the recognition they deserve.”While a team may spend countless hours drafting and refining a key document, far less attention is paid to the quality of legal translations — to their accuracy, clarity, and fidelity to the original language. All too often treated as an afterthought, legal translations nonetheless play a critical role in the progress and success of a project.History offers many striking examples of the consequences that can result from an imprecise legal translation or interpretation. In 1877, an Italian astronomer observed “canali” on the surface of Mars. The term was mistranslated as “canals” — suggesting artificial waterways created by extraterrestrial intelligence — instead of “channels” (natural or dredged passages), fueling the myth of a Martian civilization.

More recently, Nikita Khrushchev’s famous declaration was translated into English as “We will bury you,” a literal rendering of a much more nuanced Russian original, which would be more accurately translated as “we will outlast you” or “we will see you buried.”

In 2009, HSBC bank had to spend several million dollars to reposition its brand after its English slogan “Assume Nothing” was awkwardly translated in some markets as “Do Nothing.” Even punctuation can prove costly: the omission of an “Oxford comma” cost a U.S. dairy company $5 million in unpaid overtime.

Legal translation is a vital component of the work performed by lawyers operating in a multinational legal context. From the preliminary analysis of a memorandum of understanding, letter of intent, term sheet, or non-disclosure agreement, to the finalization and signing of definitive contracts — whether for partnership, M&A, or distribution agreements — legal translation plays a role at every key stage of international negotiations. It enables the parties to clearly grasp the legal implications, ensures shared understanding of contractual obligations, and allows them to formulate proposals or counterproposals in full knowledge of the facts.

In litigation or international arbitration, legal translation plays a key role: it ensures that the parties’ positions are accurately and faithfully conveyed in the pleadings and supporting documents, which facilitates the work of counsel, arbitrators, or judges. A precise translation, carried out with a true command of the law, can make all the difference when defending a client’s interests on the international stage.

To successfully complete complex projects, a legal translator must bring together:(i) a thorough command of at least two working languages (including one native language), (ii) solid experience in legal translation and a reputation for rigor, accuracy, and professionalism, and (iii) in some cases, expertise in specific legal areas (e.g., complex transactions, life sciences, patents).

Understanding the Role of the Legal Translator

To fully benefit from the skills and expertise of a legal translator, it is essential that the client understand the role the translator plays in a project. The legal translator’s mission is to produce a translation that (i) accurately, precisely, and transparently reflects the content of the source document in its original language, respecting the specific terminology and legal nuances of each legal system, (ii) uses the legal terminology in effect in the target country, and (iii) clearly renders into the target language the equivalents of the legal concepts found in the source text. A legal translation should be as fluent as the original, while preserving its tone and intent. It faithfully mirrors the source text, without interpreting or altering its meaning.The legal translator must have a strong grasp of the legal principles and precedents applicable in the relevant jurisdiction(s). When the client understands the translator’s role, it fosters a work environment conducive to the translator’s effectiveness and, ultimately, to the project’s success.

The Client–Legal Translator Relationship

The relationship between the client and the legal translator is built on trust, accuracy, and confidentiality. The client expects the translator to have a perfect command of the applicable law and the linguistic nuances of the relevant legal systems. Clear communication from the outset is essential to set expectations: type of translation (certified or not), deadline, format, preferred terminology, and the use of tools such as glossaries or translation memories.The translator, in turn, must ensure they understand the legal context of the document and ask relevant questions if any ambiguity arises. They are also responsible for meeting deadlines and delivering rigorous, faithful work that is suited to its intended use (litigation, transaction, official filing, etc.). A long-term professional relationship is built on consistent quality, mutual respect, and absolute confidentiality.It is not uncommon for the client and the legal translator to enter into a service agreement that includes a confidentiality obligation binding on the translator. This type of agreement secures the relationship, sets clear mutual expectations, and ensures the discretion needed to handle documents that are often sensitive or confidential.

Early Involvement in the Legal Project

The legal translator should be brought into the legal project team from the earliest stages. They should be given (i) a clear and complete description of the project, as well as (ii) all existing project-related documents already translated into the target language (e.g., English), in order to ensure consistent terminology and style throughout the project, in line with the company’s business and industry. The translator may also be invited to participate in legal team meetings at various stages of the project. This level of involvement fosters better understanding of the context, increases translation efficiency, and ensures high-quality output. It is also crucial to keep the translator informed of any changes in project scope or timeline.The legal team should designate a point person responsible for maintaining clear and ongoing communication with the translator, including by updating and reviewing the project glossary (see below).

Providing Clear and Precise Instructions

It is the client’s responsibility to give clear, precise, and understandable instructions. The legal translator must receive detailed and contextualized guidance to deliver work that meets expectations. Vague instructions or insufficient communication can harm the quality of the translation and jeopardize the entire project. The client must also be willing to answer the translator’s questions and address any issues raised during the assignment.The legal translator’s role is not to evaluate the document’s content or decide which parts to translate. For example, if the client wants a translated summary for the purpose of providing legal advice or assistance to their own client, it is up to them to clearly indicate the relevant sections. Without specific instructions, the translator must always consult the client before proceeding.

Workflow Monitoring and Control

The flow of documents sent to the legal translator must be rigorously monitored and controlled. The absence of proper controls can lead to serious and avoidable issues affecting the quality and integrity of the translation. This is especially true when several lawyers are involved in revising the documents. Each may add comments or changes without considering others’ input, which can result in omissions, overlaps, or poorly integrated revisions.To ensure clarity and efficiency, a consolidated and final version of the document — incorporating all approved changes — should be prepared before being sent to the legal translator. Any open comments or unresolved questions must be addressed beforehand. These tasks fall within the legal team’s responsibility and should not be delegated to the translator.Each version sent to the legal translator must clearly indicate its version number, and if applicable, the date and time of modification. Integrating isolated changes from separate versions into a single document must be avoided.New versions must be provided to the translator on a reasonable schedule, allowing sufficient time for proper handling at each stage. Project progress tracking and timeline management can be entrusted to the designated point person.

Allowing Sufficient Time for Legal Translation

Setting a realistic deadline for translating a legal document requires a deep understanding of the complexity of translation work. Legal translators follow a rigorous drafting process, comparable to that of the lawyers drafting the original. In addition to writing, they must identify the applicable law in the relevant jurisdictions and incorporate the appropriate legal terminology.This is followed by a review and revision phase, including both the translator’s own edits and those of the legal team. The time allocated to the translator should not differ significantly from the time given to the original document’s drafters.Even if a translation is labeled as “for informational purposes only,” it is nonetheless essential to the smooth conduct of a project. Any professional legal translation requires adequate time to be completed properly.It is therefore crucial that time spent revising the original document is not extended to the detriment of the translation timeline. The project schedule must, from the outset, include the time required for legal translation, in coordination with the translator.

Setting and Adhering to Reasonable Deadlines

To enable the legal translator to deliver quality work, it is essential to set reasonable deadlines — and above all, to stick to them. It is the client’s responsibility to define, communicate, and ensure compliance with these deadlines.Any change in the schedule must be immediately communicated to the legal translator. Reducing the initial timeline directly affects their workload planning and may interrupt an ongoing translation. Careful planning helps prevent such disruptions and ensures smooth and effective collaboration.

Tools Used by Legal Translators

Two essential tools used by legal translators working on multilingual projects are:• A glossary, and• A style guide.

Glossaries

A project-specific glossary is a document that lists side-by-side the legal translations of frequently used terms by the legal team and legal translators. This glossary is tailored to the project and can be created using an Excel file or specialized translation software (many CAT tools include a “translation memory” feature — see below). It must be designed to be accessible and usable by both lawyers and legal translators. The glossary is dynamic and is updated throughout the project to ensure consistency in terminology across all legal translations.The glossary is developed with input from both project lawyers and legal translators. It includes the client’s preferred legal translations for technical terms and terms specific to its business and industry. The designated point person (often a law firm associate) may be responsible for compiling, preparing, and updating the glossary.

Style Guide

A style guide governs how the legal translation should visually reflect the original. This document, typically used for multiple projects, ensures that the final product follows established citation systems and formatting conventions. The Chicago Manual of Style, published by the University of Chicago, is a commonly used guide in the U.S. and beyond, and is available online. Similar guides and general glossaries exist in many jurisdictions.The style guide includes (i) the appropriate citation style (often referred to as “blue-booking,” in reference to the color of early Blue Book editions that U.S. law students memorize) and (ii) general formatting and design standards. For large-scale multilingual legal translation projects involving several translators, a shared style guide ensures consistency. For such projects, the legal translation project manager provides the style guide to follow.

Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) Tools and Machine Translation

In legal translation, two tools currently dominate practice: Trados Studio, a CAT software, and DeepL, an automatic translation platform. Both tools provide enhanced data protection, ensure confidentiality of the processed content, and maintain document formatting.

Trados relies on a translation memory built and enriched by the translator, ensuring long-lasting terminological and stylistic consistency. This approach, based on progressive human validation, offers more reliable and controlled translations, maintaining continuity with previous work.

In contrast, DeepL uses artificial intelligence. Its engine, based on neural networks, is trained on millions of translated texts, without guaranteeing domain-specific appropriateness or adherence to the translator's stylistic preferences.

While DeepL offers speed advantages, its output requires careful revision to meet the exacting standards of legal translation.

Finally, CAT tools and machine translation platforms facilitate collaboration among multiple translators, particularly on large or interconnected corpora, and enhance communication with clients. This collaborative working model contributes to terminological consistency across the project and optimizes the translation process.

Trados, developed in the 1990s in Germany and now owned by RWS, is one of the most widely used CAT tools in the professional field. Particularly well-suited for legal translation, it meets the demands of consistency, terminological precision, and traceability. It is based on a translation memory, a database of translated and validated segments, ensuring their reliability. When a similar segment appears in a new document, Trados automatically suggests the previously approved version, optimizing the handling of redundant or similar documents (e.g., standard contracts, judgments, statutes) and ensuring terminological uniformity across an entire project.

Trados also allows the integration of client-specific terminology databases or glossaries from recognized legal sources, while facilitating the tracking of changes, multilingual project management, and collaborative work. In a legal context where fidelity, precision, and formulation stability are paramount, Trados is a valuable ally. However, its effectiveness is closely tied to the translator’s linguistic and technical proficiency, as only the translator can fully exploit its potential while avoiding risky automatism.

Founded in 2009 in Germany, also the home country of Trados, DeepL is an automatic translation tool based on artificial intelligence. Using neural networks trained on billions of multilingual sentences, it produces fluid, contextual translations that closely resemble human style. DeepL offers: (i) rapid translation of texts or full documents, (ii) rewording suggestions, (iii) choice of formality level (depending on the language), and (iv) personalized glossaries. It can thus play a valuable role in legal translation when used strategically. Thanks to its contextual capabilities and superior accuracy in many language combinations, DeepL enables rapid drafting, which is particularly useful for handling large volumes under tight deadlines. It can also help the legal translator spot certain syntactical structures, save time on repetitive segments, and harmonize certain formulations. When used discerningly, it becomes a productivity tool rather than a replacement for human expertise.

However, its use presents significant limitations in legal translation. Unlike Trados, its translations are not derived from a translation memory previously created and validated by the translator. DeepL generates its suggestions based on statistical and neural models, without guaranteeing terminological consistency or adherence to previously adopted terminology choices within a specific project. The tool does not always grasp the nuances of legal reasoning or the subtleties inherent in comparative law systems, potentially leading to misinterpretations or misleading equivalents. This is why the intervention of a qualified legal translator remains indispensable to validate, correct, or even rewrite certain passages. Integrated into a rigorous post-editing process, DeepL can effectively contribute to high-quality legal translation, but it cannot replace human expertise.

Machine Legal Translation and Artificial Intelligence: A Future Solution or a Legal Risk?

In some cases, with the support of an experienced editor, machine translation may be considered. However, human intervention remains essential.

The rise of machine translation, powered by advanced technologies like deep neural networks, has transformed linguistic practices in many sectors, including law. While these tools now enable fast and often stylistically convincing translations, their use in legal contexts must remain controlled, cautious, and systematically accompanied by qualified human revision.

In some legal projects, machine translation can be an effective solution, especially in the early stages or in low-stakes contexts. It can be used for:

• Initial document sorting during document review or discovery processes,

• Rapid drafting of internal memos or working notes not intended for external distribution,

• Regulatory or case law monitoring in foreign jurisdictions,

• Bulk translation of standardized legal documents with low strategic value (general terms, template contracts),

• Information gathering for preliminary legal research,

• Or preparing drafts of multilingual compliance documents for subsequent adaptation by an experienced legal translator.

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In these cases, the goal is often to gain speed and visibility over large corpora without fully compromising quality, as long as human post-editing is planned to correct any approximations or errors that could undermine the legal meaning of the text.

However, machine translation cannot reason legally, interpret specialized terminology, or grasp the conceptual subtleties inherent in each legal system. Its accuracy is therefore never guaranteed, and its unregulated use can carry significant risks. It should never be used for:

• Contracts or agreements intended for signature,

• Litigious writings, such as pleadings or briefs,

• Legal opinions or formal recommendations,

• Court-produced documents (arbitration or litigation),

• Or certified or sworn translations.

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In these situations, only human translation by a qualified professional can guarantee the legal reliability of the text, its evidentiary value, and its compliance with procedural or regulatory requirements.

In summary, machine translation can find its place in certain legal projects, as long as it remains an assistance tool, never a substitute for human intervention. The expertise of the legal translator or reviewer remains essential to secure the final result, ensure fidelity to the source text, and preserve the legal security of the client.

Legal Translations of Foreign Texts and Glossaries

Legal translators play a fundamental role in the proper functioning of national, regional, and international institutions, such as the United Nations, the World Bank, the WTO, and the European Union. Their expertise is indispensable for ensuring mutual understanding across judicial systems worldwide. For example, in Japan, the Ministry of Justice provides a bilingual glossary to facilitate legal translation for informational and operational purposes.

Similarly, Brazil made a significant step in 2023 by publishing an English version of its civil code, a valuable tool for international business lawyers, facilitating legal exchanges with foreign companies. These examples illustrate the growing importance of quality legal translations, not only to ensure the accuracy of legal documents but also to support effective legal strategies in a globalized context.

In sum, legal translators do not merely convey words from one language to another; they also facilitate communication between different legal systems, contributing to the integrity and efficiency of international transactions.

Other Uses of Legal Translations

In addition to their central role in contract negotiations and litigation procedures, legal translations are also valuable in administrative, fiscal, or regulatory processes involving multiple jurisdictions. They may be required for setting up subsidiaries abroad, filing trademarks or patents, responding to international tenders, or conducting compliance audits.

In these contexts, accurate legal translation, adapted to local law, helps avoid misunderstandings, secures processes, and ensures that documents are recognized by foreign authorities. It thus becomes a strategic tool for transparency, compliance, and smooth international exchanges.

Who Can Be a Legal Translator? What Is the Difference with a Legal Linguist?

A legal translator is a highly qualified professional with a solid command of both languages and law. While formal legal training is not a requirement for this activity, specialized education and academic degrees in legal translation greatly enhance credibility.

Unlike general translators, a legal translator must fully master legal terminology and understand the subtleties of different legal systems. Their work requires extreme precision, as even the slightest inaccuracy can distort the meaning of a legal text.

Some legal translators, known as legal linguists, hold a law degree from a recognized institution, giving them dual expertise. Others are trained lawyers who have worked in firms or businesses. Their practical experience in legal interpretation, application, and advice enables them to approach complex texts with greater precision and nuance.

The Good Legal Translator

A legal translator is a highly qualified professional with an in-depth understanding of both languages and law. While no formal legal degree is required, specialized training and academic qualifications in legal translation significantly enhance legitimacy and credibility.

Unlike general translators, a legal translator must handle legal terminology with precision and understand the subtleties of different legal systems. Their work requires absolute rigor, as even a slight approximation can alter the legal meaning of a document.

Some translators, called legal linguists, hold a law degree from a recognized institution, giving them a valuable dual competence. Others are lawyers by training, having worked in law firms or corporations. Their practical experience in advising, interpreting, and applying law enables them to approach complex texts with greater accuracy and insight.

Mastery of terminology is crucial, as illustrated in concrete examples: for instance, the French "procédure en référé" is not literally translated as "referee proceedings," but rather as "summary proceedings" or "emergency proceedings," depending on the context and legal system of the target language. A competent legal translator will identify the exact equivalent, ensuring that the legal meaning of the text is preserved while respecting the normative framework of comparative law.

Guide to Legal Translation Rates

The rates for a standard legal translation are usually calculated per source word, although some providers may charge by the page or flat rate depending on the type of document. These rates are significantly higher than those for general translation, due to the technical nature of legal language, the requirement for precision, and the responsibilities involved. Specialized fields such as corporate law, contract law, public international law, or intellectual property require advanced expertise and perfect mastery of comparative legal vocabulary.

The final cost may also vary based on several factors: the urgency of the project, the need for a certified or sworn translation, the volume of text to be processed, or the complexity of the original format (scanned PDF, handwritten documents, etc.). "Rare" or less commonly translated languages, such as Japanese, Arabic, or certain Eastern European languages, may incur a higher rate due to the lower availability of qualified translators. Additionally, legal translation agencies often charge higher rates, including project management, internal revision, and quality guarantees, while independent translators, who are more flexible and accessible, may offer more competitive prices while ensuring a personalized service and direct client contact.

Conclusion

The role of the legal translator goes far beyond simple linguistic conversion; it serves as an essential link between legal systems and cultures. As globalization progresses, the demand for accurate and contextually adapted legal translations continues to grow. Legal translators must combine linguistic skills with a deep understanding of legal frameworks to ensure faithful and precise translations.

The relationship between the translator and the client is crucial, relying on clear communication and mutual understanding of the project's stakes. Legal translations are used in various contexts, from contracts to litigation to regulatory compliance, requiring special attention to legal terminology and jurisdictional specifics.

While CAT tools and machine translation improve efficiency, they must be complemented by human expertise to preserve legal nuances. The choice of the ideal legal translator—combining linguistic mastery and specialized legal knowledge—ensures precise, contextually appropriate, and culturally sensitive translations, minimizing risks and fostering positive outcomes in international legal affairs.

For more details, visit:

Transjuridique | Expert Legal Translation Services in French-English, Paris

www.transjuridique.com | barbara@transjuridique.com

Specialists in legal translation, based in Paris, offering precise and reliable French-English legal translations. Your trusted partner for navigating language barriers in the legal world.