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Lawyer-Linguist virtual event

Dec 13, 2012



On-demand
presentation

German to English Legal Translation as a Model for Translating from Civil Law to Common Law Legal Systems

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Schedule:On-demand
Description:

Translating into English from civil law to common law legal systems goes beyond the normal problems of translation from one language to another. Often, there are no "matches." This is because the translator must use a legal structure that exists in one language and legal systems but not in the other. For example, trusts exist in Anglo-American but not in the German civil law system. Approaches will be explored for dealing with such translation challenges.

Language(s):English
Speakers:Thomas Irwin
I have over 20 years of experience translating legal documents from German to English. In addition to my US legal credentials (J.D., University of Kentucky, Kentucky Supreme Court Clerkship, licensed to practice law in Kentucky), I also hold a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Certificate in German Law. The DAAD program is a one-year survey of German law funded by the DAAD). It is conducted in German in Germany. I have taken part in the European Union Visitors Program (EUVP), which invites young, promising leaders from countries outside the European Union to visit Europe to gain a first-hand appreciation of the EU's goals, policies and peoples and to increase mutual understanding between professionals from non-EU countries and their EU counterparts. The focus of my visit was EU commercial law. I have taught law and given lectures on law (in German) at various German universities, including those in Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Leipzig, Dresden, Trier, Wismar, and Pforzheim. Working as the recipient of a fellowship from the Hamburg Max-Planck-Institut, (one of the world’s leading institutions for the study of comparative private law), I translated from German to English for the International Encyclopedia of Comparative Law (a publication of the Institut). I have worked as a journalist in Germany. My feature articles have been published in the American Bar Association Journal and the Legal Times (Washington D.C.'s legal weekly). My op-eds have appeared in the New York Times.

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