Translating a legal document comes with many special requirements. An incorrect legal translation causes all kinds of problems for lawyers and their clients. When you do the work incorrectly, it needs to be done all over again, and you lose profits. Here are a few consequences of making inaccurate translations on legal documents.
Getting Off on a Technicality
Everyone has heard of cases where the murderer gets off on a technicality. This technicality could be a simple error or mission in a legal document that is used to prosecute a criminal case. For instance, a robber suspect may be released if the arresting police officer does not present a search warrant. In addition, there are certain words and phrases that must be stated in the criminal process. For example, not reading the Miranda rights to a suspect can reduce the amount of evidence that a prosecutor can use in court. Overall, translating your legal documents is extremely important to avoid making errors or omitting information that is needed to convict or free a suspect.
Incorrectly Used Legal Words and Phrases
There are certain legal terms that non-legal professionals do not understand properly. Therefore, a medical translator should not be hired to handle the work of a legal translator. Having a basic knowledge of major legal terms is important for every legal translator. There are hundreds of legal terms to understand that are written in both English and Latin.
Decreased Privacy
Many people think that all legal documents are public records, especially those that involve high-profile celebrity cases. However, not all documents are guarded by strict privacy and confidentiality laws. When errors are found, the document becomes even less guarded as it passes from one editor’s hands to another. The level of privacy for the document owner decreases when if it’s translated incorrectly and must be re-translated. This is risky for translators who are accused of legal malpractice by their clients.
Inadmissible in Court
Even worse than a technicality is a document that is not even admitted into court. Then, the lawyer and plaintiff or defendant have to start all over again. Inadmissible documents tend to omit key facts and information that are needed to prove certain statements.
When someone passes important legal information onto you for translating, you have the special duty of upholding the court of law. Legal documents are regulated by specific rules that you cannot ignore or forget in the course of your translation. Translate every legal term correctly and translate every fact without omitting one since all of this information will be used in court. Look for a company that hires experienced legal translators. In addition to legal documents, a good translation company provides medical and business conference translation services.