Legal Translation and Interpreting

What certification will my filing actually be accepted with?

It depends entirely on the receiving jurisdiction. Brazil requires a sworn public translator registered with a state commercial board. Many US courts accept a translator's certificate of accuracy. Germany and France require a court-sworn translator. Tell us the forum and we confirm before quoting.

Documents crossing borders usually also need authentication of the original, separate from the translation. Since the Hague Apostille Convention came into force for Brazil in August 2016, documents moving between Brazil and other contracting states are apostilled rather than consularised, which removed a step and a common source of delay.

The order matters: in most cases the original is apostilled first and the translation then covers the apostille as well, because the receiving authority checks that every stamp and seal on the original is accounted for in the translation.

How is a deposition interpreted?

Consecutive interpreting, in the first person, with nothing summarised. The interpreter renders each question and answer in full so the transcript reads as a single record, and flags ambiguity in the original rather than resolving it silently — because the resolution would become evidence.

Depositions run long and the cognitive load is high, so sessions beyond a couple of hours need either a second interpreter or scheduled breaks built into the notice. A check interpreter engaged by opposing counsel is common and entirely normal; the working interpreter should expect challenges on the record and be able to explain a choice.

Send the pleadings, the exhibit list and any name spellings in advance. Proper nouns and numbers are where interpreted testimony goes wrong, and both are fixable with preparation.

• Consecutive, first person, no summarising or explaining
• Exhibits and terminology sent ahead of the session
• Second interpreter or scheduled breaks for long sittings
• Check interpreter treated as routine, not adversarial

How do you handle foreign-language discovery volume?

In tiers. Machine translation is appropriate for triage across a large collection to find what is potentially relevant; human translation is for the documents that are actually going to be relied on, produced or put in front of a tribunal. Paying for human translation of the whole collection is usually waste.

The triage layer needs a human in it too — keyword lists have to be built in the source language, because searching translated text for English keywords misses documents where the concept is expressed with different words.

What about international arbitration?

Arbitration hearings are commonly bilingual with simultaneous interpreting for the tribunal and consecutive for witness examination. Sittings run for days, so interpreters work in rotating teams, and the terminology of the contract in dispute is agreed with counsel in advance.