From Contract to Courtroom: How Legal Translation Actually Works
Legal translation follows a fairly consistent process regardless of the document type (contract, court judgment, power of attorney, corporate record): the document is first assessed for length, subject matter, and the destination authority's requirements; it is then assigned to a translator with legal-translation experience in that specific area (corporate, family, litigation, etc.); the translation goes through a second-linguist review; a certification statement is attached; and, where required, the document is notarized and/or legalized through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or apostilled.
The part most people do not see is the terminology consistency work behind the scenes — legal translators maintain glossaries so that the same term (a specific type of contract clause, a specific court's name, a specific legal status) is translated the same way every time within a document and, for repeat clients, across multiple documents over time.