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What is Certified Legal Document Translation?
Can AI Provide Certified Legal Document Translation?
How to Get Certified Legal Document Translation with AI
Using AI to translate legal documents is no longer theoretical. In some practice areas, it’s crucial to use AI legal translation to keep clients happy and stay competitive with other law firms. What are the benefits of using AI for legal document translation?
- Reduce turnaround times by up to 50%
- Handle large volumes of discovery more efficiently and cost-effectively
- Meet tight court and regulatory deadlines
- Cut language services costs for clients by up to 50%
- Impress customers who request AI usage
Given these advantages, many law firms are asking if certified legal document translation is also possible with AI. Read our blog to find out how to reap the benefits of AI and obtain certified legal translation.
What is Certified Legal Document Translation?
To answer this question, it’s helpful to define certified legal document translation. Certified legal translation services achieve a few objectives. Most critically, courts require certified legal translations to help ensure fair proceedings. All parties must have access to the same information, regardless of the languages they speak or read.
A certified legal translation in a multilingual matter must meet some combination of these criteria (as determined by the court, institution, or agency requesting the certification):
- Accuracy and fidelity to the original document
- Trustworthiness and credibility of the certified legal translator and the certified translation
- Compliance with applicable legal requirements
- Accountability of the translator or language services provider for the document’s quality and accuracy
Can AI Provide Certified Legal Document Translation?
The last criterion covered above is crucial to this question about AI and certified legal document translation. Currently, AI cannot be held accountable. AI’s responsibility may change one day, but for now, courts require a human translator or language services company to formally certify the work.
At Lionbridge Legal, our process could involve one of three approaches, depending on the applicable court or agency requirements.
Certification Approaches
Translator-Signed Certification
A qualified linguist signs a certification, formally attesting to the accuracy and completeness of the translation and accepting accountability for its contents.Notarized Affidavit
A qualified linguist signs an affidavit affirming the translation’s accuracy. The affidavit is then notarized, providing an additional layer of formality. Again, the individual translator assumes accountability for the translation’s accuracy.Company Certification
A member of the Lionbridge Legal QA team electronically signs a certification stating that Lionbridge Legal, as a language solutions integrator, accepts responsibility for the translation’s accuracy.
A document produced through a fully AI-driven legal translation workflow (without professional human involvement) cannot be certified for legal proceedings. This exclusion applies to scenarios in which a law firm uses its own LLM to translate documents without professional human intervention. Certification requires involvement from a qualified human translator and/or language services provider capable of assuming formal accountability.
How Can You Obtain Certified Legal Document Translation and Reap the Benefits of AI?
Law firms and their clients can still enjoy the benefits of AI-powered legal translation services and obtain certification. Lionbridge Legal offers flexible approaches tailored to specific matter, jurisdiction, and court requirements.
Approach 1: AI translation with human review: We deploy our proprietary LLM to generate a high-quality AI-powered draft translation. We can prep for this translation by feeding the LLM client-specific glossaries and style guides, particularly if a court requires adherence to specific formatting or stylistic conventions for certified submissions. We can also tell the LLM to preserve designated terms (e.g., names of parties, locations, products, or other defined terminology). The LLM will complete the translation faster and more cost-effectively without sacrificing quality. This is especially true for high-volume matters, widely used language pairs, or projects with robust reference materials.
The second step is for a (human) professional translator to review the LLM’s translation output. We always pick the translator with the best background for the job, whether it’s legal or subject-matter specific. (Of course, they are also expert translators in the target and source languages.)
Lastly, depending on the applicable requirements, the certified translation is formalized through one of the following:
- Translator-signed certification
- Notarized affidavit
- Company certification executed by a member of the Lionbridge Legal QA team
Approach 2: AI translation and review, followed by human review: Lionbridge Legal uses our LLM, as detailed above, to perform the initial translation. We can incorporate background materials to refine and customize the prompt engineering for this translation workflow.
To further enhance quality, we use a second LLM to conduct AI-assisted review and post-editing of the draft translation. Again, we can customize this review using client-specific terminology and stylistic requirements. The second step helps ensure a high standard of quality and accuracy, while still maintaining lower costs and turnaround time. Lastly, a human expert with the optimal background and education reviews the translation and provides a signed certification or a notarized affidavit.
This second approach can save even more translation costs than the first, while still ensuring a high-quality, certifiable translation.
Sometimes You Need a Human-Only Workflow for Certified Legal Document Translation
The approaches outlined above may work for many matters, but AI translation isn’t suitable for every certified legal document translation scenario. There are various reasons why law firms may choose human-only approaches. The main ones are that source material is:
- Highly technical
- Exceptionally complex
- Written in rare or indigenous languages
- Illegible due to handwriting, poor scanning, damage, or blurring
For these scenarios, Lionbridge Legal’s solely human translation, review, and certification process is optimal. Considering the stakes involved in legal proceedings, there are instances in which the benefits of AI translation don’t outweigh the extreme scrutiny, expertise, and nuance that a human translator and reviewer can offer.
Get in touch
Interested in exploring certified AI-enabled translations versus traditional methods? Curious about the cost comparison of AI and human legal document translation? We can help you determine the most advantageous solution for your legal matters, whether AI-powered, human-focused, or a strategic combination of the two. Let’s get in touch.
