The use of legal translation services has massively increased over the past few years with law firms and corporate legal departments relying on legal translation service providers to meet their growing translation requirements. These requirements mainly come from various different legal practices which include litigation and arbitration, corporate and commercial, mergers and acquisitions of companies and capital markets to name a few. The need for legal translation services mainly arises when an entity is involved in either a transaction or a dispute with a foreign entity where English is not the main language. This can result in legal documents being produced in different languages leading towards the need for legal translation services.
Shipping and maritime practice is among one of the few legal translation practices that relies on legal translation services on regular basis. Law firms working on shipping disputes, shipping contracts or shipping finance may receive documents in different languages. For instance, any shipping dispute arising out of the Middle East would most likely have documents in Arabic which will be required to be translated into English in case the lawyers engaged on the matter are native English speakers. Furthermore, documents to be filed in the UK for court proceedings will also be required to be translated into English. That being said, shipping disputes arising from different legal jurisdictions will most likely require legal translation services. Apart from shipping disputes, shipping contracts and ship financing agreements also have frequent requirements to translate contracts and agreements. For example, a European company buying large shipping vessels from China may have to translate contacts and other terms of business into Chinese in order to execute that contract. All in all, the use of certified legal translation services is of key importance within maritime legal practice specially within maritime disputes.
Types of legal documents required for translation in shipping disputes and key features required
There are a variety of documents that are commonly required for translation on matters related to shipping disputes. Some of those documents include court judgments, bills of laden, tax invoices, contracts and agreements, witness statements etc. All these documents are crucial for a legal case therefore it is of utmost importance to translate these documents accurately. To avoid any quality issues with the translation, law firms assign professional legal translation companies to handle the translation of legal documents to ensure that documents are translated by legal professionals and are thoroughly checked before court submission. On the other hand, what to look for in a legal translation agency is the ability to provide accurate translations in a timely manner so that legal professionals are able to use the translation as per their requirements.
Most commonly required languages within shipping disputes
Shipping disputes take place globally due to which law firms are often required to arrange translation of legal documents in variety of languages. Some of the most commonly required languages that are associated with shipping disputes are Arabic, Greek, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. While other languages can’t be disregarded, LingArch has extensive linguistic capabilities to translate all type of documents related shipping and maritime disputes in over 100+ languages. Law firms and corporate legal counsels prefer to engage with those professional translation companies that are able to translate documents in multiple languages so that they have one reliable agency to deal with any type of document translation as and when the need arises.
Common issues when providing legal translation services related to shipping and maritime disputes
Shipping and maritime disputes can be both demanding and challenging due to which it is crucial to work with individuals that are well-versed within the field of shipping disputes. Same applies for a legal translation agency that is tasked to translate legal documents related to shipping disputes. There are hundreds of specific terms that are used in shipping and maritime law therefore professional legal translators assigned to translate shipping related documents need to have extensive experience working on similar documents to ensure correct terminologies are used in the legal documents. With limited experience, it is likely that the translators would encounter challenges working on those documents. Some of the most common issues when providing legal translations related to maritime disputes are:
1. Format of documents and formatting time required
Shipping documents are often in PDF formats with images which becomes challenging for legal translation companies to deal with. PDF files are commonly known as dead files since they are un-editable. Extracting content from such PDF files can be challenging and time consuming therefore translation companies have dedicated document formatting tools and in-house formatting teams to handle such requirements in a timely manner.
2. Tight turnaround times required
Law firms working on shipping disputes often have tight deadlines to translate the documents for court proceedings. At times, they need large number of documents to be translated into any language of their understanding to learn more about a dispute and prepare for the case. With such circumstances, legal translation companies are often instructed to work on translating large number of documents on expedited basis leaving them in a challenging spot.
3. Highly specialized team of translators required to handle shipping disputes
Shipping related documents can be complicated as they use numerous different shipping related terminologies in legal documents therefore it becomes challenging for a translation company to have a dedicated team of legal expert linguists with background of translating documents related to shipping disputes.
Contact LingArch for managing your legal translation requirements on shipping disputes
As established above, document translation services play a key role on matters related to shipping disputes therefore it is extremely important to partner with a reliable translation agency that is not only experienced in handling translation requirements related to shipping disputes but also able to turnaround large volume of documents on expedited basis with an affordable cost. In case you are embroiled in a shipping dispute and are looking for a translation company to manage the translation of documents, look no further. Please don’t hesitate to contact LingArch and their specialists will be happy to assist you in a timely manner. With over a decade long experience in this field, LingArch is well-equipped to manage your translation requirements in a best possible manner.
