4 benefits of translations in the legal industry

The Translation People is trusted by law firms and legal professionals around the world, thanks to our demonstrable track record of delivering secure and accurate legal translation services. 

With legislation always evolving within and between countries, effective communication is a fundamental component of multilingual relationships in the legal industry. Specialist legal translation services facilitate smooth and legally compliant communication across language barriers. 

In this blog post we’ll explore four benefits of legal translation services. After reading you’ll have a better understanding of how your business stands to benefit from specialist legal translation services. 

About legal translation

Whether it be through criminal, civil or commercial cases, the legal industry makes invaluable contributions to global trade and security. Law firms and other legal organisations know the importance of precise communication, and will have an understanding of the pace and pressure at which the industry is expected to operate. 

Legal translation services exist to facilitate the smooth operation of the legal process, whatever the context. By combining a bank of highly-qualified legal translators with the most sophisticated translation technology and processes, we are able to offer translation services for legal businesses at all levels. 

Here’s what you can expect from legal translation services with The Translation People: 

• Qualified translators: All of our legal translation specialists have deep industry experience and a comprehensive knowledge of legal concepts and terminology in the countries for which they translate. 

• Specialist technology: Our sophisticated translation platform allows for dedicated legal glossaries to be uploaded, giving translators consistent access to accurate and verified terminology throughout the process. 

• Accreditations: Our ISO certification gives peace of mind that we comply with all relevant data security legislation, and many of our interpreters have DBS certifications and police/counter-terrorism clearance. 

Reasons your business might need legal translation services

There are many barriers to expansion or smooth operations that may suggest your business could benefit from legal translation services. To provide additional context before we explore the benefits, here are some indicators of these barriers: 

• You’re unable to communicate effectively across certain language barriers: To pursue opportunities in other regions, you need to be able to communicate with potential customers in those regions. For legal businesses this can include everything from marketing materials, to contracts, to advanced legal materials. Legal translation services can open up a broader range of language pairings for your business, giving you the means of engaging with users in these new regions. 

• You need to understand documents relating to international law cases that are presented in different languages: Many global Law firms have to process documents in multiple languages and may have to present them as evidence. Having a specialist legal translation partner can allow you to quickly process these requests and obtain the necessary translations. 

• You’re finding it hard to communicate advanced concepts in a way your target audience understands: In certain situations, your business will need to communicate advanced legal concepts to people with minimal legal knowledge, something that becomes especially difficult when a language barrier is involved. As well as proficiency in the languages involved, specialist legal translators have a deep grasp of the cultural nuances that can help in communicating these advanced concepts in a way the audience can understand. 

• You’re struggling to expand across borders: The two barriers above can combine to limit the ability of your business to expand its operations, and may even prevent you from taking on certain types of work altogether. Expanding the languages you’re able to operate in lets you market effectively in new regions, with the view to taking on cross-border legal projects. 

• You’re struggling to meet capacity internally: If staff are undertaking translation efforts themselves, this can quickly become a significant drain on their time. Outsourcing translation tasks is a reliable way to preserve what may already be limited internal resource, freeing up your staff to work on the more pressing (and potentially lucrative!) tasks. 

• You need to train people in different regions: If cross-border expansion is a goal of your business, you may be struggling to effectively transfer procedural and operational knowledge from locations in your home region to new sites. In this instance, legal interpretation and translation services can help to condense down organisational knowledge and present it in an engaging format that can be used by personnel in other locations. 

4 benefits of legal translation services

If your business is meeting any of these pain points, legal translation specialists can help you move beyond them and tap into the benefits on offer.  

Keeping up with the required pace

As we’ve seen, freeing up internal resource can give your staff more time to focus on their day jobs. There are also several important aspects of legal translation services that contribute to smooth operational efficiency, including: 

• Quick and predictable turnaround: Our translators understand the need for efficiency, and we have the processes and infrastructure in place to ensure quick delivery to pre-agreed timeframes.  
• Flexibility: We understand that time sensitivity sometimes means deadlines change or things need to be rushed, and we can accommodate accordingly. Our services are designed to meet the unique and evolving demands of the legal industry. 
• Scalability: We also understand that numerous types of documents require translation, from one-page summaries to complex multi-page contracts. Our processes are built to scale according to the demands of our clients, meaning we can translate what you need, when you need. 
• Single point of contact: We understand the need to build professional relationships that do not need the same information to be explained over and again, which is why our legal translation services involve the provision of an account manager who will oversee and manage the efficient delivery of all projects. 

Ensuring accurate translation of legal concepts

Precision and accuracy of paramount importance in the legal industry, because mistakes and misinterpretations can have severe and far-reaching consequences. Our quality assurance processes ensure that all of our delivered translations meet the highest standards. Here’s what that looks like: 

• Depth of experience: As well as linguistic proficiency, our legal translation specialists must demonstrate expertise in legal concepts. This firm grounding in core concepts underpins all our legal translations, and lays the foundations for the highest levels of accuracy. 
• Up to date knowledge: On top of these foundations, our legal translation specialists continually refine their understanding of legal concepts to ensure they remain up to date. In an industry that’s always evolving, out of date information can not only lead to incorrect translations: it can undermine the integrity of entire cases. 
• Terminology management: By creating and referring to legal glossaries, our legal translators are able to build a tailored and verified set of terminology to ensure translations are aligned to your organisation’s tone of voice and communication style, as well as being conceptually accurate. 
• Access to reference materials: Our legal translation specialists have access to reference materials required to accurately interpret and translate source documents. Where necessary they will refer to dictionaries, statutes, precedents and so on. 

Human oversight for the full translation

With a wealth of translation programs available including AI language models and other increasingly sophisticated software, the temptation exists to rely on non-human tools.  We firmly believe that technology has a part to play in the translation process as long as it is carefully managed and is coupled with specialist human input. The potential time and cost savings can make a compelling case for these solutions, but there are numerous potential pitfalls. Here are some reasons why human input is crucial for a quality translation: 

• Accuracy: While translation software can perform well in certain contexts, in industries with advanced and nuanced terminology, they can quickly fall flat. The legal industry contains multitudes of such advanced terms, and automated translation software alone is unlikely to handle accurate translations. 
• Nuance: When considering multilingual legal communication, cultural nuance becomes increasingly important. Not only do you have to take into account variations in communication styles between regions, but also intricate legal concepts. Human translators are far more capable of understanding and incorporating these nuances into their translations. 
• Expertise: Regardless how much data a piece of software or AI language model has to refer to, nothing compares to advanced levels of human expertise. This is especially true in the legal industry, where a deep bank of knowledge underpins all communication. 

Technology is something we embrace at The Translation People in some scenarios, given its ability to streamline processes and reduce costs, however it has to be carefully managed and accompanied by specialist human input.

Accessing wider audiences

Perhaps the most obvious benefit for legal translation services is the ability to help you communicate more easily across language barriers. Here’s what this can look like for businesses in the legal industry: 

• Multilingual content: Whether it be website copy, marketing materials, or subtitles on videos for your social media, legal translation services give your organisation a voice in regions where it may not currently have one. This means your words are seen or heard by more prospective customers. 
• Localised content: Translation is just one piece of the puzzle: making sure your communications resonate with audiences in other regions is just as important. Our localisation services for legal businesses make sure the cultural and legal nuances are retained. 
• Professional image: A legal organisation that takes time to create and present quality communication in a range of languages demonstrates its desire to be inclusive, accessible, and global. This has a subtle but tangible impact on your image and reputation. 
• Customer experience: If people are able to engage with your business easily and efficiently, they’re more likely to feel confident enough to ask questions or commission your services.  

The importance of a glossary in legal translation

Glossaries are a crucial part of the translation process, and this is especially true in legal translation. A glossary is a tool that allows for consistent and accurate translations, with contributions from both parties ensuring a verified and up to date bank of language. 

Our specialist legal account managers will work with you to create a glossary, and to keep it updated on an ongoing basis. This collaborative process facilitates a smooth translation process where issues can be identified and rectified before delivery. 

Working with a specialist legal translation agency

To find out more about how our legal translation services can benefit your business, please get in touch. One of our translation specialists will review your information and get back to you to discuss your needs.  

With offices around the world and a bank of highly proficient legal translation specialists, The Translation People are well placed to help your business. You can find out more about our legal translation services and review our case studies here.