Legal Translation Dublin for Courts, Contracts and Arbitration
Legal translation for Irish courts, contracts and arbitration
We translate legal documents for Irish courts, contracts and arbitration. We build every translation to the acceptance rules of the authority that will receive it.
Irish courts and state authorities accept certified translations. Ireland has no state sworn-translator register, so the receiving authority's acceptance rules set the standard for every document.
Court filings typically need the translation verified by an affidavit of translation. The affidavit is sworn before a Commissioner for Oaths.
Cross-border work adds two layers. An apostille authenticates signatures and seals, not contents. The DFA is the Irish Competent Authority, and it refuses legalisation of badly completed jurats. Authorities including the CRO apply the same acceptance rules.
Certified personal documents share the same certification process and apostille handling.
Where legal translation goes wrong
Legal concepts rarely map one to one across jurisdictions. Defined terms carry precise legal effect. A mistranslated liability clause shifts the deal or narrows your protection.
Privilege is the second risk. Consumer-grade tools may retain or train on uploaded documents. That exposure is unacceptable for privileged material.
Deadlines arrive in waves. Court filings and urgent motions run on 24-48 hour timelines, and discovery volume lands in deadline-shaped batches.
Arbitration adds a fourth pressure. The ICC Arbitration Rules set the language of arbitration by agreement or tribunal. Opposing parties can challenge translated evidence, and serious errors can draw adverse inferences.
Patent claims need the same legal precision and certification discipline.
Our approach to legal translation
We confirm the regime before work starts. Sworn versus certified, apostille versus legalisation: the receiving authority's rules decide each matter.
Certified legal translation is human translation under a certified process. We run an ISO 17100-shaped process with legal linguists. Machine translation with post-editing sits outside ISO 17100 and ISO 20771 scope, so we never sell it as certified legal translation.
Terminology stays steady across your matters. We maintain per-client legal glossaries and translation memory for every contract and case.
Verification is built into the workflow. Where the court expects it, the filing includes the affidavit of translation.
The certified process is documented on our how we work page. File handling is covered on how we handle files. Our data protection page covers privilege and GDPR handling.
Credentials that hold up in front of a tribunal
We have held ISO 9001, ISO 17100 and ISO 18587 certification since 2021. These are company credentials.
Legal linguists work to the IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence, and translations are marked as such. Every delivery runs 6-eyes at minimum: in-house preparation, translation, and in-house proofreading.
We cover the Irish-language legal niche. Our linguists use téarma.ie and the Coiste and Rannóg terminology landscape.
We supply the linguistic layer in e-discovery translation workflows, including platforms such as Relativity. We add human review over automated translation at a predictable cost.
Process and turnaround
One contact per matter and a defined handoff at every step, so urgent work does not slip between desks.
Express lanes match 24-48 hour court filing norms, and compressed schedules are the norm in arbitration. The LCIA targets a final award within about three months of the last submission.
Discovery-scale volumes move in batches, and translation memory keeps terminology consistent across the whole set. Machine translation assists triage of large review sets only, and it is never sold as certified legal translation.
For documents going abroad, we tell you whether an apostille is needed and point you to the DFA or the relevant embassy. For a fee, we handle the step.
Claims and dispute documents in financial matters follow the same lanes.
Common questions
Will your certified translation be accepted by the Irish courts?
Irish courts and authorities accept certified translations with a signed statement of accuracy. Where the court requires it, we prepare the affidavit of translation for swearing before a Commissioner for Oaths.
Sworn vs certified translation in Ireland: which do I need?
Ireland has no sworn-translator register. Certified translation with a signed statement of accuracy is the operative standard. We confirm the regime for your receiving authority before work starts.
Will an Irish certified translation be accepted in France, Spain or Germany?
Those countries require their own sworn translators. We liaise with a sworn partner network so the translation is valid where it is used.
What is an apostille and when do I need one?
An apostille authenticates signatures and seals, not contents. It applies under the Hague Convention, and the DFA is the Irish Competent Authority. We tell you whether an apostille is needed and point you to the DFA or the relevant embassy. For a fee, we handle the step.
How much does a certified legal translation cost?
We quote per document or per matter, priced per page with complexity factors. Urgent lanes are available. No surprise line items.
Can machine translation be certified for legal documents?
No. Machine translation output, even post-edited, is outside the scope of ISO 20771. A certified legal translation requires review by a qualified legal linguist.
Request a quote for your legal translation
Tell us the receiving authority and the deadline. We confirm the regime before work starts, so you know what the court or destination accepts.
Urgent work is accepted with one point of contact. Privileged material is handled without consumer-tool shortcuts.
Request a quote or speak with our legal-domain linguists.