Legal translation in Madrid

Contracts and corporate records

We can assess distribution agreements, purchasing terms, confidentiality agreements, powers of attorney, articles of association and company minutes. They should not all be treated alike. A negotiating draft may be updated several times; a document for a registry may have to correspond to a fixed signed version and meet separate formal requirements. Please include annexes and tell us whether any schedule is outside the requested scope.

Defined terms can appear throughout an agreement and its appendices. A change in one of them may alter the way many clauses are read. The translation should preserve those links, along with exceptions, time limits and cross-references. A familiar word may represent a particular legal concept in one jurisdiction without having a precise equivalent in another. The aim is to convey the source faithfully, not to imply that two different legal institutions are identical.

If your lawyers have approved certain English or Spanish terms, provide them with the file. We can check their use across the document. Where a choice is ambiguous, it is better to raise it during the work than let a plausible term silently change the function of a provision.

Specialist wording and formal certification

Legal translation concerns the subject and the linguistic expertise needed. Sworn translation for use in Spain concerns a professional certification under the applicable Spanish rules. A commercial agreement used between the parties may need careful legal translation but no sworn certification. A deed submitted to an authority may need a particular formal presentation. The receiving body's instructions settle the question.

For foreign documents filed in Spain, please give us the authority, the language direction and its requirements for originals, copies and delivery. An apostille or legalisation, if required, is a separate procedure. We cannot decide that every notarised document needs the same sequence merely from its title.

Versions and related material

Contracts often pass through tracked revisions. Identify the reference version and whether we are translating the whole document or only changes. A clean consolidated copy can help verify clauses, numbering and defined terms, even where a marked-up file is also necessary. If amendments arrive after work has started, we need to assess their effect on translated provisions and on the timetable.

Financial schedules or annual accounts attached to an agreement may call for financial translation and checks on figures and reporting periods. The spoken part of a negotiation is a separate interpreting requirement. Written translation can prepare the documents that participants will discuss; it cannot take the place of an interpreter during the meeting.

Reviewing a legal translation

If a target text already exists, bilingual translation review compares it with the source for omissions, changes in conditions, inconsistent defined terms and inappropriate register. A monolingual polish cannot tell whether an exception disappeared or a time limit was reversed. For new work, we establish the reader and the necessary checks when quoting. Our quality approach explains why the source version and agreed terminology matter.

If the material is confidential, tell us about any agreement or file-sharing requirement before transmission. Send the documents needed to assess the work and identify annexes that will follow. An incomplete contract can hide both substantial volume and terminology that must be consistent with the main text.

Languages, files and quotation

Our languages pages can help you identify a possible language pair, but availability for the particular direction and legal subject must be confirmed. Tell us whether you need an editable file, a bilingual document or a layout suitable for further review. If tables or forms are involved, the original editable version is useful for estimating and preserving their structure.

Send the document, source and target languages, intended use and deadline. If further drafts are expected, provide an indicative schedule and identify who will consolidate legal feedback. Use the quote form to enquire or browse the wider translation services for related material.