Precision in Legal Translation: Delivering Under Tight Deadlines

How Divergent Ensured Accuracy and Timeliness for High-Stakes Legal Cases

Introduction

Precision in legal translation is essential, as accuracy and timeliness can determine the outcome of critical cases. When a multinational conglomerate’s legal teams faced a pressing deadline, Divergent stepped in to provide certified translations of over 165,000 words, ensuring high-quality results and meeting tight deadlines. This case study demonstrates how Divergent’s meticulous project management and expert team delivered success where others had fallen short.

Background

Two top 30 law firms, serving as outside counsel to one of the largest multinational conglomerate technology companies operating in electronics, chemical, and telecommunications, found themselves at a critical juncture in a high-stakes case. Their previous experiences with various language providers yielded inconsistent results, prompting them to seek referrals from a reliable company that consistently delivers high-quality work. As the firms faced an imminent filing deadline, any further mistakes were unacceptable. Divergent was recommended multiple times for our responsiveness and dependable quality.

Challenge

The primary challenge was to provide certified translations of over 165,000 words of legal and technical material from Korean into English within a few weeks. The translations needed to be delivered on a rolling and accelerated timeline to accommodate their pressing deadline. The documents included internal correspondence such as emails and chat logs, presentations, and risk assessments. Given the high stakes involved, ensuring accuracy, consistency, and timely delivery was paramount. Additionally, each firm assigned a large team to manage the project, given the multiple aspects of work needed. Thus, the firms relied heavily on our efficient management of many Bates-numbered files, facilitating streamlined work delivery and allowing easy retrieval upon request.

Solution

Understanding the critical nature of the task, we assembled a team of expert translators, each with over 15 years of experience in legal translation. Critical to success was that these individuals already had a proven track record of delivering high-caliber work with Divergent. Having existing long-standing relationships with our company, we were—as we are with every project—able to rely on our team members, ensure deadlines were met, and maximize output. Our approach included:

• Expert Team Assembly—We selected translators with extensive experience in legal matters involving technical material, ensuring they were well-versed in the specific terminologies and nuances required for the project. Moreover, a project glossary was created, which both firms gladly collaborated with Divergent to expand. Surprisingly, the existing vendors had not yet created such a thing.
• Project Management—Our project management team, steeped in expertise in managing pressure-packed legal matters, meticulously planned the workflow, identifying and eliminating duplicated files submitted by the firms. This step streamlined the process, prevented unnecessary work, and thus kept costs down. We also implemented an efficient tracking system for the Bates-numbered files, allowing us to quickly retrieve and provide any document requested by counsel or court.

Results

Over a month, our team successfully returned neatly packaged certified bundles to the clients, meeting the tight deadline without compromising quality. The law firms reported significant time savings on their end, attributing this to the superior quality of our translations. Our work was so well-received that we were subsequently requested to serve as a check translation team for translations provided by the opposing counsel, reviewing and providing feedback as necessary. We also provided onsite deposition interpretation services, demonstrating our comprehensive support capabilities.

Conclusion

This case study highlights our company’s ability to deliver exceptional legal translation services under tight deadlines. Our emphasis on quality, thorough project management, and experienced team members ensured the success of our client’s case. The law firms’ continued reliance on our services underscores our reputation as a trusted partner in high-stakes legal matters.

This case also demonstrates the value of having translators with deep subject matter knowledge, which can sometimes be compromised when vendors prioritize aggressive pricing. It showcases how a more boutique vendor like Divergent provides a personalized, hands-on approach essential for navigating complex projects successfully. Our clients benefit from direct access to our dedicated team members at any time, underscoring the importance of essential tools such as a project glossary in ensuring accuracy and consistency throughout the project.