The Cost of Error: Real Consequences of Inaccurate Translation
In 2019, a Russian company lost an ICC arbitration case for $340,000 due to an inaccurate translation of a force majeure clause. The English text read "shall use best endeavours," while the Russian version said "will take reasonable efforts." The difference between "best" and "reasonable" efforts proved decisive.
Such situations are not uncommon. The terms "warranty" and "guarantee," "indemnity" and "liability," "condition" and "warranty" (in English contract law) carry fundamentally different legal consequences. A translator without legal specialization may not distinguish these nuances.
Typical Errors in Legal Translation
1. False friends. "Actual" does not mean "current" but "factual." "Adequate" does not mean "adequate" but "sufficient, proper." "Execution" of a contract is not "performance" but "signing." These substitutions distort the document's meaning.
2. Mixing legal systems. "Solicitor" is not just "lawyer" but a specific type of legal professional in England and Wales. "Consideration" in contract law is not "review" but "counter-performance" (a mandatory element of a common law contract). Direct translation without regard for the legal system creates a legally meaningless text.
3. Ambiguity of modal verbs. "Shall" in legal English denotes obligation, "may" — a right, "will" — intention. In everyday language, all three can indicate future tense. Incorrect translation of a modal verb turns an obligation into a right or vice versa.
4. Omission of qualifiers. "Subject to" (conditional upon), "notwithstanding" (despite), "without prejudice to" (without affecting) — each qualifier changes the scope of obligations. They cannot be omitted or simplified.
How We Ensure Accuracy
At Translation Agency "Universal," legal translation is performed by translators with a legal education or 5+ years of experience at law firms. These are not linguists who learned terminology from a dictionary, but specialists who understand the logic of legal constructions.
Quality control process:
- Translation — a specialized translator with legal expertise
- Editing — a second translator checks terminology and completeness
- Legal proofreading — for projects over 20 pages, we involve a practicing lawyer
- QA check in CAT tool — automated verification of numerical data, dates, proper names
A glossary with approved terms is created for each legal project. If the client provides their own terminology — we use it as a basis. If not — we compile and approve it before translation begins.
Glossary as Error Insurance
Our legal translation terminology database contains over 8,500 entries across 14 language pairs. Examples from the English-Russian glossary:
- "Representations and warranties" → proper legal equivalent (not literal translation)
- "Liquidated damages" → pre-assessed damages (not "liquidated damages")
- "Severability clause" → severability provision
- "Governing law" → applicable law (not "governing law")
When working on contract translation, the glossary is loaded into the CAT system, and the translator sees the approved variant at every term occurrence.
Translation Specifics by Legal Area
Corporate law: articles of association, meeting minutes, shareholder resolutions. The key is accurate rendering of management structure and authority. "Director" in English law is not always "director" in the Russian sense.
Contract law: contracts, supplementary agreements, protocols of disagreements. Modal constructions, deadlines, and termination conditions are critical here.
Intellectual property: license agreements, patents, trademarks. Requires parallel knowledge of technical terminology and legal norms.
Immigration law: powers of attorney, certificates, personal documents. Format requirements are strictly regulated by embassies and immigration authorities.
Cost and Terms
Legal translation cost — from 750 ₽ per page (1,800 characters with spaces of translated text). Volume is counted by translated text, not the original. Timeline — from 3 business days for a standard contract (15–30 pages).
We work under contract and sign NDAs upon client request. The agency uses simplified taxation — no VAT. We provide closing documents for accounting: completion act, invoice, contract. Office in Moscow, working remotely across all of Russia.
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