Law Firms' Guide to Secure and Compliant Legal Translations

It's not just a best practice, but also a legal necessity to keep information confidential during translation. As a law firm, you regularly handle sensitive client information, from contracts to court filings. How do you ensure that your lawyer's confidentiality agreement and data security protocols extend to the translation process?

This guide will walk you through the essential steps and considerations to ensure your firm stays compliant, secure, and protected when handling legal translations.

Understanding confidentiality in legal translations for law firms

As a legal professional, handling translated legal documents involves more than just converting text from one language to another. You're tasked with ensuring that sensitive client information—such as confidential contracts, court filings, and intellectual property—remains protected throughout the translation process. This is where confidentiality agreements play a critical role. These legally binding documents ensure that everyone involved in the translation, including translators and agencies, upholds the confidentiality of the material.

For example, imagine overseeing the translation of legal contracts for a major corporate merger involving multiple international stakeholders. Without the right security measures in place, sensitive information like financial data or terms of agreement could be compromised, leading to potential legal and financial fallout. By ensuring robust data protection and enforcing confidentiality agreements, you can safeguard your firm's reputation and client trust.

Legal and ethical responsibility of law firms

As a law firm, you are already familiar with lawyer confidentiality agreements in your daily operations. However, when translating legal documents, these agreements must be extended to cover the translation providers. Every translator working on a project must sign a confidentiality agreement to ensure they are legally bound to protect the information they handle​.

Translations often contain highly sensitive information, such as client identification, financial data, or privileged communication. Under laws like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union, you are legally obligated to protect this data. Violating these obligations can result in hefty fines or legal penalties.

For example, a law firm working on a high-profile intellectual property dispute required translations of patent documents. By ensuring that translators signed confidentiality contracts and the firm adhered to confidentiality agreement law, they safeguarded sensitive client data and prevented leaks that could have compromised their case.

Best practices for securing legal translations

To ensure that confidentiality is maintained throughout the translation process, law firms need to adopt comprehensive data security measures. This involves both technological safeguards and contractual obligations.

1. Encryption and secure file transfers

When handling sensitive legal documents, the first line of defense is encryption. This ensures that documents are encoded in such a way that only authorized personnel with the decryption key can access them. Using secure file transfer systems with end-to-end encryption minimizes the risk of a man-in-the-middle attack, where hackers intercept the file​.

For example, if you’re translating a complex litigation agreement, encryption both at rest and in transit can prevent unauthorized access or alterations. To further safeguard sensitive information, you can use an AI data anonymization tool, which can strip personal details from documents before translation. This additional layer of security ensures that private information is protected while maintaining the integrity of the legal content during the translation process.

2. Using a secure translation management system (TMS)

Many law firms rely on a Translation Management System (TMS) to streamline their translation projects. A secure TMS not only improves efficiency but ensures that only authorized personnel—such as translators and project managers—can access the documents. Look for a TMS with features like user authentication, audit trails, and role-based access controls.

For example, when translating a large volume of contracts for a multinational merger, using a TMS ensures that only those working on the project can access the files, and every action taken on the document is logged for accountability.

Read more: Save Your Legal Arguments with Consistent Terminology

3. Signing confidentiality agreements with translators

Before beginning any translation project, every translator and agency should sign a confidentiality agreement. This legal step binds them to protect sensitive information and prevents them from sharing, using, or disclosing it beyond the scope of the project​.

For instance, in translating legal contracts related to a lawsuit, a signed agreement of confidentiality would ensure that the translator is legally obligated to maintain confidentiality, further protecting your firm and your client from potential breaches​.

Cybersecurity threats in legal translations

Cyber threats are increasingly putting the confidentiality of legal translations at risk, making strong data protection more important than ever. Here are a few key examples of cyber threats that can compromise your legal translations:

1. Phishing attacks and data breaches

Phishing attacks, where hackers attempt to gain access to sensitive files through deceptive emails or links, are a common threat. These attacks can compromise translation workflows by stealing login credentials or infecting systems with malware​.

To protect your firm, ensure that all translators undergo cybersecurity training, enabling them to recognize phishing attempts. Additionally, using multi-factor authentication (MFA) adds an extra layer of protection, so even if a password is compromised, unauthorized users can’t access your files.

2. Man-in-the-middle attacks

A man-in-the-middle attack occurs when a hacker intercepts communications between two parties. For example, if your firm emails unencrypted legal documents to a translator, a hacker could intercept and read those files.

Using secure file transfer protocols and ensuring all documents are encrypted significantly reduces the risk of such attacks.

Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and legal translations

A lawyer confidentiality agreement is vital for maintaining trust with your clients. Similarly, when working with translation providers, non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) are essential. These legally enforceable contracts ensure that all parties involved in the translation process are bound to maintain confidentiality.

For example, a law firm translating documents for an international arbitration required all translators to sign NDAs before accessing any case files. This added layer of protection ensured that sensitive legal strategies remained confidential and protected the firm from potential legal repercussions.

Choosing a secure translation provider

When selecting a translation provider, it’s crucial to assess their security protocols. A reliable translation provider will comply with industry standards like ISO 9001 and ISO 17100, which govern data protection and confidentiality in translations​. Additionally, ensure they offer secure file storage and transfer options, such as encrypted cloud services or on-premise solutions.

Before beginning a project, always sign a confidentiality agreement with the translation provider, ensuring that both parties are legally obligated to protect sensitive information.

Use of AI in legal translations

AI-driven translation tools are increasingly used for legal document translations due to their speed and efficiency. However, it’s important to recognize the risks associated with these tools, especially regarding data retention. Some AI tools store translation data to improve algorithms, which could expose sensitive information to unauthorized parties.

To mitigate these risks, choose AI tools that offer on-premise solutions or have strict data retention policies to ensure that translated data isn’t stored after the project is complete​.

Read more: Reimagining Human Expertise in Legal AI Translation

Handling data breaches in legal translations

Even with the best security measures, data breaches can occur. If a breach happens, it’s crucial to have a response plan in place. Immediately contain the breach by isolating affected systems and assessing the extent of the damage. Notify affected clients and regulatory bodies, especially if you’re handling data protected by laws like GDPR, which require breaches to be reported within 72 hours.

After addressing the breach, review your security protocols to prevent future incidents and ensure that all translators and staff are trained on how to respond to similar threats.

Conclusion

Confidentiality isn’t optional—it’s a legal and ethical requirement. By ensuring that all translators sign confidentiality agreements, using secure technologies like encryption and a TMS, and staying aware of cybersecurity threats, you can protect your client’s sensitive information and uphold the integrity of your legal practice. Secure legal translations aren’t just about accuracy; they’re about trust, security, and compliance with confidentiality agreement law.

To stay updated on the latest AI tools we're launching, visit the Tomedes Business Center. Explore how these innovations, like AI-powered translation and data anonymization, can enhance security and streamline your legal translation processes.

Protect your legal documents with Tomedes, a trusted provider offering secure translations with advanced encryption and confidentiality measures. Our expert legal translators ensure your sensitive information stays safe and compliant with industry standards. Get in touch with Tomedes today for accurate, secure, and reliable legal translations.