Certified document translation
Contracts, judgments, witness statements, affidavits and expert reports translated by legal specialists and certified for court and official use.
Sector: Legal
Legal translation and interpreting that stands up in court
SILA Linguists® provides certified translation and impartial interpreting for solicitors, barristers, courts and in-house legal teams, where every word may be examined later.
Legal work turns on exact wording. A witness statement prepared in the wrong language, a contract clause rendered loosely or an interpreter who summarises instead of interpreting can all become grounds for challenge. In civil proceedings in England and Wales, a witness statement is normally drafted in the witness's own language, with a translation filed alongside it and certified by the translator. Similar expectations apply in Scotland, in US immigration courts, in Canadian immigration and refugee proceedings and in the courts of Australia and New Zealand, where judges and tribunals look closely at how foreign-language evidence was produced.
SILA Linguists supports the full life of a matter: first client conferences, disclosure review, statements and affidavits, hearings and appeals. Our legal linguists are certified and carefully vetted, work to strict confidentiality and NDAs, and understand that an interpreter's role in a legal setting is to convey everything said, accurately and without comment.
Because legal teams often work across borders, we also handle comparative terminology between legal systems, for example where a civil-law concept has no exact equivalent in English law. Where that happens our translators flag the issue rather than force a misleading match.
What this sector needs
Language challenges in legal
Witness evidence in the witness's own language
Statements must reflect what the witness actually said, in their own language, with a certified translation that the other side and the court can rely on.
Impartial interpreting in hearings
Court and tribunal interpreters must interpret everything, including hesitations and corrections, without advising, filtering or advocating for either party.
Certified translations for filing
Documents submitted to courts, tribunals and official bodies need a signed statement of accuracy and a clear audit trail.
High volumes under disclosure deadlines
Foreign-language emails, messages and records often surface late in disclosure and need quick review before a decision on full translation.
Legally privileged and sensitive material
Client instructions, settlement terms and personal data must stay confidential, with linguists bound by NDAs and GDPR-compliant handling.
Terms with no direct equivalent
Concepts such as trusts, notarial deeds or specific court orders need careful rendering and translator notes, not a guessed equivalent.
How we help
Services for legal
Face-to-face court interpreting
Interpreters for Crown, Magistrates', Sheriff and county courts, employment and immigration tribunals, depositions and arbitration hearings, with whispered interpreting and portable equipment for court hearings.
Remote interpreting for client conferences
Secure telephone and video interpreting for solicitor-client calls, prison legal visits by video and short-notice advice sessions.
Transcription and translation of recordings
Verbatim transcripts of recorded interviews, calls and voice notes, with translation into English for evidence bundles.
Conference and simultaneous interpreting
Interpreting for international arbitration, multi-party mediations and cross-border legal conferences.
SILA Linguists®
Every SILA Linguists® service for legal work
Our vetted, trained and qualified legal interpreters and translators can support solicitors, barristers, courts and in-house legal teams across the whole life of a case. Face-to-face interpreters attend client conferences, witness interviews, mediations and hearings in criminal, family, employment and civil courts and tribunals, working consecutively or whispering simultaneously to a defendant. Video remote interpreting connects lawyers with clients in prison, in detention or abroad, and telephone interpreting is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for urgent instructions and out-of-hours police station calls. For arbitrations and international hearings we provide simultaneous and conference interpreting with equipment.
Our legal translators handle contracts, witness statements, affidavits, judgments, court orders, powers of attorney, probate papers and disclosure, including message logs and social media exports. Certified translation comes with a signed statement of accuracy accepted by UK courts and authorities, and we prepare documents for other jurisdictions too: with a translator's certificate of accuracy for the United States, by a translator certified by a provincial association where a Canadian authority requires one, and through NAATI-certified translators where Australian authorities require NAATI-certified translation. Large disclosure sets can be triaged with human-powered AI translation before key documents are translated in full, and audio or video evidence goes to evidential transcription with time stamps and translation.
Asylum and immigration practitioners can also call on language analysis for the determination of origin and nationality assessment, working closely with our immigration and police and justice teams. Frequently requested legal languages include Arabic, Romanian, Albanian, Polish, Vietnamese and Kurdish Sorani, among the 350+ languages and dialects SILA Linguists® covers for law firms in the UK, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and beyond. Every linguist is vetted, impartial and bound by confidentiality agreements, and personal data is handled under UK GDPR, so privilege and client trust are protected throughout.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Can you certify translations for court proceedings?
Yes. Our certified translations come with a signed statement of accuracy and are accepted by UK authorities, educational institutions and international bodies. If a court or overseas authority requires notarisation, we arrange it with our notary partner: we translate and certify, and the partner notarises. Tell us about any further requirement, such as an apostille, when you book.
Should a witness statement be written in English and then translated back?
For civil proceedings in England and Wales, the statement should be drafted in the witness's own language and then translated, with the translator certifying the English version. We can provide an interpreter for the drafting session and a translator for the certified translation.
Can the same interpreter attend the client conference and the hearing?
It is often possible, and continuity can help the client. Some courts and practitioners prefer a different interpreter at the hearing to avoid any suggestion of partiality, so let us know your preference when booking.
Do you support legal aid work?
Yes. Our interpreters and translators can work on legally aided matters for solicitors in Scotland and in England and Wales. Our legal aid pages explain how legal aid language work is arranged in each jurisdiction.
Get in touch
Tell us the language, the format and the date
Our bookings team will confirm the details with you and arrange the right linguist. Have the language (and dialect, if you know it), the type of assignment and the date ready.