By Carlos de Paula
I understand that Immigration law is one of the most competitive specialties in the USA, and getting and retaining clients can be difficult at times. As a result some offices try to keep everything in-house, including doing translations on behalf of clients, to ensure the client does not explore other alternatives. It is called marketing. That is the very reason why I block access to my LinkedIn contact list.
A well-meaning and bright paralegal may be very competent to translate simple documents like birth certificates but might have a difficult time turning out long documents and more complicated documents like divorce judgments and prenuptial agreements. The output often is not the best, but the document is filed anyhow.
I don’t need to tell you that assuming the USCIS officer will not read the document in its entirety because it is long is dangerous. I already mentioned in another post the case of a client who filed a divorce document with an improper date, which resulted in USCIS requiring her birth certificate four times, plus other documents. I have also seen cases being placed on hold because a filed translation was poorly done or inconsistent. This, of course, can cause delays, costly additional filing fees, and put a dent on a layer’s reputation.
Blame it on ambiguous and seemingly lax translation requirements from some agencies, economic considerations, or mistrust, the best thing to do is hiring a professional translator with track record to handle the translations for your office. Freeing the paralegal to do other things, like filling forms, follow-up and contacting clients, might not only be more productive but also influence the bottom line.
In 44 years in business, having dealt with hundreds of lawyers and law offices, I have always considered confidentiality the number 1 priority, protecting clients, both applicants and attorneys. Even if a client complains to me about the services provided by a law office or paralegal, I do not interfere in any way. That is how it should be, even though I know that some people have their own little business networks and unscrupulously divert business from one professional to another, seeking additional gain. Shame on them.
Carlos de Paula is one of the top Brazilian Portuguese translators in the USA since 1982. And now a top Portuguese AI Translation editor as well.
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