Legal Sector Translation and Interpreting

Legal sector

Legal translation and interpreting for solicitors, barristers and the courts

In legal work, a translation that is nearly right is wrong. A witness statement that reads slightly differently in English, or an interpreter who tidies up a client's answer, can change the way a case goes. That is why our legal translation and interpreting is only done by certified, experienced legal translators and interpreters, and why it goes through our quality checks before it reaches you.

We handle all types of legal documents, from contracts to witness statements, and we provide legal interpreters for prison visits, court hearings, client meetings and other legal settings. Our specialist experience covers family, criminal, personal injury, immigration and employment law, and legal aid work, where the rules on what can be paid for matter as much as the language.

Legal documents we translate

If it is going into a bundle, being filed at court or being sent to the Home Office, we can translate it. Typical legal documents include:

• Witness statements and exhibits
• Contracts, leases and shareholder agreements
• Court orders, judgments and claim forms
• Wills, powers of attorney and probate papers
• Birth, marriage, divorce and death certificates
• Police disclosure, phone downloads and interview transcripts
• Medical records and expert reports
• Asylum interview records and Home Office decisions
• Employment contracts, grievance notes and tribunal bundles

Send the whole document, not only the pages that look relevant. Stamps, handwritten notes and the back of a certificate can matter as much as the typed text. A clear scan or a good photo is fine to work from. There is more detail on our legal translation services page.

Certified translations for court and the Home Office

Translations for court proceedings, UK Visas and Immigration and most official bodies need to be certified. The Home Office asks for a statement from the translator or translation company confirming that the translation is accurate, together with the date, the translator's full name and signature, and their contact details. Our certified translations are prepared with that in mind and are accepted by courts.

If you are not sure whether a document also needs notarising or an apostille, ask the organisation receiving it before you order. That is their requirement, and it varies.

Witness statements in another language

The Civil Procedure Rules expect a witness statement to be drafted in the witness's own language (Practice Direction 32). Where that is not English, the foreign-language statement is filed with the court alongside an English translation, and the translator signs the original and certifies that the translation is accurate.

In practice, the statement is taken with an interpreter present and drafted in the witness's language, then translated into English for the bundle. Leave time for both steps. A statement that has been through two languages needs checking in both.

Legal interpreters for court, prison visits and client meetings

Our legal interpreters work at court and tribunal hearings, prison visits, conferences with counsel, client meetings, mediations and medical examinations for injury claims. A few things are worth knowing before you book.

Hearings. For many criminal and tribunal hearings the court books the interpreter itself, so check before you book one. Conferences, prison visits and most private matters are for you to arrange. Our court interpreting page covers hearings in more detail.

Prison visits. Prisons want the names of everyone attending when you book a legal visit, and the interpreter will need photo ID at the gate. Book the interpreter first so that you have a name to give.

Time. Evidence given through an interpreter takes roughly twice as long, because everything is said twice. Build that into your trial time estimate and into the length of the booking.

Papers. Interpreters are bound by confidentiality, so you can send the charge sheet, the particulars of claim or a list of names in advance. Ten minutes with the papers helps the interpreter get names, places and technical terms right.

Remote hearings. Short hearings and conferences often take place by video. Our interpreters can join by video or telephone, which also helps when the nearest interpreter in a rarer language is two hundred miles away.

Areas of law we cover

Family

Care proceedings and child arrangements cases often involve a parent who needs an interpreter throughout, for conferences, statements and hearings. Where you can, keep the same interpreter from start to finish. Parents find it easier, and the interpreter gets to know the family and its history. We also translate the documents these cases produce, from foreign court orders and marriage certificates to school and medical reports.

Criminal defence

Disclosure in a criminal case can include hundreds of messages in another language, taken from a phone download and written in slang, abbreviations or a mix of two languages. They need a translator who can say what the words meant to the people who wrote them, and who will flag a message that could be read two ways rather than quietly picking one. We translate evidence for defence teams and provide interpreters for conferences and prison visits. Police forces and investigators should see our page on police interpreters and translators.

Personal injury

Claimants often need an interpreter for their medical examination, their witness statement and any conference with counsel. The medical expert's report depends on what the claimant was able to tell the expert, so this is not a job for a relative. We also translate overseas medical records, accident reports and the payslips behind a loss of earnings claim.

Immigration and asylum

The First-tier Tribunal arranges interpreters for appeal hearings, but the preparation falls to you: taking instructions, drafting the witness statement and translating the client's documents. Asylum work involves several languages in which qualified interpreters are in short supply, so book early. Dialect matters too. An Arabic speaker from Sudan and one from Syria will not always understand each other easily, so tell us where your client comes from as well as the language they speak.

Employment

We provide interpreters for disciplinary and grievance meetings, investigation interviews and settlement discussions, and we translate contracts, handbooks and correspondence. For an internal investigation, the interpreter should have no connection with anyone involved. In a small language community that is worth checking, so give us the names when you book.

Legal aid

On legally aided cases, interpreters' and translators' fees are paid as disbursements, and the Legal Aid Agency limits what it will pay. Tell us the case is legally aided when you ask for a quote, and mention any limit on your prior authority, so that we can quote with that in mind.

Who does the work

Our legal interpreters are experienced, qualified and fully vetted, and most are native speakers of the language they interpret. They hold qualifications such as the Diploma in Public Service Interpreting (DPSI) and are registered with or accredited by bodies such as the National Register of Public Service Interpreters (NRPSI) and the Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL). Our translators translate only into their native language, and every legal translation is checked before it is delivered.

Languages for legal work

We work in more than 350 languages and dialects. For legal work that runs from European languages such as Polish, Romanian, Lithuanian, Portuguese and Albanian to the languages of immigration and asylum work, including Arabic, Farsi, Dari, Pashto, Kurdish Sorani, Tigrinya, Amharic and Vietnamese. The full list is on our languages page.

Questions solicitors ask us

Can you translate from a scan or a photo?

Yes. Email us a scan or a good-quality photo and we will send you a quote. We accept PDF, Word, JPG and other common formats. Make sure every page is there, including the reverse of anything with a stamp on it.

How much notice do you need for an interpreter?

We take bookings 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so a short-notice request is always worth making. For rarer languages, long trials and hearings away from the big cities, the more notice you give, the wider the choice of interpreter.

Is the work confidential?

Yes. Our linguists understand the importance of confidentiality and security. If your firm needs a signed confidentiality agreement before you send papers, tell us when you ask for the quote.

Do you work with people handling their own case?

Yes. If you are a litigant in person, the process is the same: send us the documents, or tell us about the hearing or meeting, and we will quote.