Contract Law
Strictly speaking, the law of contract is not a self-contained field of law, of course. Rather, contracts are a fundamental instrument for all types of business relationship and play a key role in all areas of business law – in both the Anglo-Saxon and German legal systems. Accordingly, contract law does not constitute a special practice area for business lawyers, but instead provides a basis without which it would be impossible to give legal advice, draft contracts, or conduct cases.
A competent translator, on the other hand, may well be able to produce a fairly good translation of a contract without possessing in-depth legal knowledge. After all, a significant part of each contract depends on the subject matter or the sector, and not on legal matters. To guarantee the reliability of translation quality and the legal certainty of the contract, however, it is advisable to give the translation to a specialist translator.
Historically rooted, normative differences between common law and the law of Continental Europe pose a particular challenge for translators of contracts. Matching specialist terms used in one legal system with the corresponding specialist terms used in the other legal system is one of the simpler tasks they face. Much more challenging is the translation of concepts and terms that simply do not exist in the other legal system. And the greatest risk of error is posed by terms, the meanings of which overlap each other, or partially overlap each other, or the literal translation of which has a completely different meaning in the other legal system.
Erichsen & Partner’s team of translators includes both trained translators and legal experts for both languages. What is more, we continue to broaden our knowledge by taking part in relevant seminars and lectures at the Humboldt University (e.g. drafting of contracts in German and English, conflict of laws).
We regularly translate all types of contracts and agreements from all industries and sectors for our clients.