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46 P E E R T O P E E R : I L T A ' S Q U A R T E R L Y M A G A Z I N E | S U M M E R 2 0 2 1 Language One of the requirements of federal court proceedings is to have every document translated into English by the party of litigants. Despite this, it is still unavoidable for international dispute evidence such as emails and business documents to be in foreign languages. Thus, the law firm or government sector needs to make sure that the litigation team and the court will understand them through legal translations. If not, the jury may discount or void the pieces of evidence that you will present despite their relevance to the case. There is a study by Shiri Lev-Ari and Boaz Keysar explaining the influence of accent on the credibility of the speaker which is also applicable in the litigation processes. Thus, it is important to have proper consideration when presenting foreign language documents and their English translations. Moreover, there are a lot of variables that could cause some issues in translating legal, financial, and political documents. A simple misunderstanding or unintentional mistake could wreak havoc in the court and cause the denial of the evidence. Thus, following the right process of legal translations and the proper way of presenting them to the jury. The process of presenting legal document translation The reason behind the requirements of federal court proceedings to have all documents translated to English is because the jurors and judges need to understand the evidence. This is why it is vital to find legal document translation agencies with experience and expertise in litigation processes. Moreover, the judicial proceedings are only allowing translations with affidavits of authenticity. Even after the translation, the legal agencies and law firms need to review the foreign language documents and their translations before the direct examinations to check if there are any errors. This helps in avoiding misunderstanding the document that the witnesses may claim to be lost in translation. Moreover, the court needs to identify the authenticity of the witness's claim that he or she is accustomed to using a foreign language for business interactions and communications. This is important to meet the exception to the hearsay rule of the foreign language and translated documents that they will present. After these, the court will now allow the presentation of the foreign language document with its English translation as evidence. However, it is critical to have it with an accompanying affidavit of authenticity to ensure that the translations are all correct and avoid the risk of reversal on appeal due to failure in offering the evidence in English. If the document is critical evidence for the case, it is important to advise the jury that it will be in a foreign language and you will present an authenticated translation along with it. You should also submit a proposed jury instruction to consider the certified translations and not discount them merely because they are not originally in English. How to translate foreign language documents There are several ways to translate foreign language documents that are needed for judicial proceedings. However, it is important to ensure the authentication of the legal document translation to avoid any issues when presenting it as evidence in court. You should also have a team that will handle the foreign disputes for your law firm or legal agency. Here are the things that you should consider: Project management International disputes that cover different languages can be difficult to manage. You need to understand your clients and the evidence that needs to be presented before the trial. In these cases, you will need to have a project manager with expertise in the specific legal system. This will make the processes smoother and more organized. Legal document translation services Even if the project manager is multilingual, it may still be difficult for him or her to translate the legal documents. Moreover, the federal court requires an affidavit of authenticity that only certified translators can provide for the legal team. It is important to find reliable legal document translation services that can provide language solutions that you may need. To minimize the expenses and avoid having unrelated documents translated, you can try using machine translation tools. It will help in categorizing the importance of documents and F E A T U R E S

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