How I won a translation award as an expert translator in legal proceedings

 

When an inconspicuous biscuit box arrived in my house in the middle of a global pandemic lockdown, I was disinterested. I suspected this was something my husband had ordered on the Internet. The mysterious box stood in our office floor unclaimed for 2 days before curiosity got the better of me. To my surprise inside was the ITI Award with my name on it! I was thrilled to have won the Best Performance on a Translation Assignment class in the Institute of Translation and Interpreting Awards 2020.
 In the past 2 years I have been working as an expert witness translator in various litigation proceedings. In the assignment in question, I was instructed as a single joint expert under a court order to provide translation of disclosure documents in legal proceedings. The disclosure consisted of several thousands of emails and various documents, which I translated in batches meeting the final, court-imposed deadline.
The assignment required excellent organisational and liaison skills due to the sheer volume of disclosure. Initially I was overwhelmed with the scale and complexity of the task. As it was impossible to estimate the amount of work that needed to be done, I felt that I had little control whether I could meet the deadline and was worried I would let the court down. Expert witness can be sued for negligence arising from performance of their duties, which added extra pressure. Hesitating to accept the instruction, I expressed my concerns to the clients via email. One of the solicitors promptly telephoned me, and a long discussion followed. We went through some example folders together. We concluded that the batch system would assist the parties and mitigate any difficulties if the deadline were not met for the final batch. Thus reassured, I accepted the instruction and proceeded to plan the assignment. Before I commenced the translation, I prepared a plan based on the Schedule of Documents received.
The translation presented a variety of challenges. Hastily drafted emails contained a lot of misspellings in often specialist content. The register was wide ranging from formal business language to informal and vernacular with occasional use of slang, idioms and colloquialisms. Scope of topics covered in the disclosure was also extensive covering sales, marketing, technical aspects of the business involved and graphic design. The assignment required a variety of linguistic skills, from research into technical topics to creative flair dealing with idioms and slang. I maintained the different styles and registers in the translation which was well received by the claimant and defendants, whose words and conversations I have been translating.  
Cases involving foreign language evidence are reliant on the accuracy of translation. The layout and original formats are also important and ensure that the translated files are easy to refer to in court bundles. Time is often a critical factor in legal proceedings, as disputes and claims can be resolved in mediation before the trial.
My translation has enabled this claim to proceed as quickly and efficiently as any another case with English language evidence. I have preserved the format of the source files and delivered them on a rolling basis in accordance with the schedule agreed prior to translation and met special short notice requests during the translation, which assisted mediation process. The high standard of logistical planning and deadline management, but also effective collaboration with the client have all contributed significantly to the evidence and information being accessible to the legal team as required and allowed the case to progress.
Without a doubt this assignment has been the most challenging in my 20 years as a translator and I am proud of what I have achieved.