Legal translations
Did you know that ...
... many Germans rarely comprehend that the large sums of money which some companies have been sentenced to pay in the USA are due to the lack of warning notices on their products? ... more
That is because there is no equivalent to punitive damages or exemplary damages in Germany. Successful plaintiffs may be granted compensation for damages (in property or in assets) and/or compensation for pain and suffering.
... translating the term "warranty" into "Gewährleistung" may be right, but might it also be wrong? ... more
Depending on the legal situation in the English-speaking country, a vendor or supplier may be subject to warranty by law. In such cases, the German legal concept "Gewährleistung", as laid down in the German Civil Code (BGB), is very similar and this German term may be used. However, in some legal systems, warranty may refer to a different type of warranty that is granted on a voluntary basis and stipulated in the contract but not laid down in the country's statutes. In this case, this would rather match the German notion of the "Garantie".
The different legal systems, the lack of equivalent terms and misleading 1-to-1 translations pose special challenges when translating legal texts. I am both a court-authorised, experienced legal translator and have obtained a Master’s degree in business law. Based upon my legal knowledge acquired at university and through participation in comparison of laws and legal translation classes both at university and during my further education, I have ensured the accurate translation of legal texts since 2007.
Examples of my previous translation projects on legal issues:
- Employment law
- Law of obligations and contract law in general
- Commercial and company law
- Insolvency and bankruptcy law
- Data protection law
- Family law
- Other areas of law and text types
Employment law
- Company agreements, Guidelines for International Assignments and Employment Agreements for an engineering company, German-English
- Employment agreements, employment termination agreements, letters relating to employment law and reference letters for a software provider, German-English and English-German
- Employment agreements and other related contracts for various lawyers and business customers, German-English and English-German
- Reference letters for various private and business customers, German-English and English-German
- Pleadings and statements for various German lawyers, German-English and English-German
- Agreement on employee participation for a pharmaceuticals company, German-English
Law of obligations and contract law in general
- Various contracts and General Terms and Conditions for a range of customers in different industries (transportation, hotel, software, cosmetics), English-German and German-English
- Property sales contracts, management agreement for a hotel group, German-English
- General Terms and Conditions and General Purchasing Terms and Conditions for various customers, English-German and German-English
- Sales agreement for an estate agency, German-English
- License agreement for various customers, English-German and German-English
- Tenancy and leasing agreements for various customers, German-English
- Franchise agreements for various customers, English-German
- Fee contracts for various customers, German-English
- Constitutions of various bodies and articles of incorporation of various companies, German-English
- Non-disclosure agreements for various companies, German-English
- Pleadings, statements and client correspondence for various German lawyers, German-English and English-German
- Various agreements for a computer game development company
- Trust Agreement for a pharmaceuticals company, German (Austrian)-English
- Excerpts from transport contracts for a public transport company, German-English
Commercial and company law
- Power of attorney regarding matters of the German commercial register, German-English
- Purchasing terms and conditions for various customers, English-German and German-English
- Excerpts from the commercial register for various customers, German-English
- Shareholder's agreement for a pharmaceuticals company, German (Austrian)-English
- Articles of Association for various customers, German-English
Data protection law
- Non-disclosure agreements, data privacy statements, policies and instructions for various customers, German-English and English-German
- Data privacy report by an external data protection officer, German-English
- Correspondence of a Land commissioner for data protection, German-English
Insolvency and bankruptcy law
- Correspondence for various insolvency practitioners, German-English
- Bankruptcy order by an English court for German authorities, English-German
- Pleadings, statements and client correspondence of various lawyers, English-German and German-English
Family law
- Prenuptial agreements for private customers, German-English
- Petitions for divorce and divorce decrees for private customers and lawyers, German-English and English-German
- Pleadings, orders, letters, judgments for various courts
- Certificates of birth, marriage, divorce, and death for private customers, German-English and English-German
Other areas of law and text types
- Pleadings and judgments regarding trademark law, industrial property law, pharmaceutical law, patent law (in cooperation with a translator focusing on engineering and technology), construction law, travel law, criminal law (also bills of indictment and pleas), compliance, public procurement, jurisprudential papers on social security law and international law, and various documents in diverse legal fields for various German courts