Reimagining Human Expertise in Legal AI Translation

The demand for precise translations of legal documents has soared, affecting global commerce, international law, and multinational cooperation. If you're involved in any aspect of these fields, you'll want to keep a close eye on the ongoing evolution of legal translations. This is particularly true with the integration of AI and human expertise.

Translating legal documents is notoriously complex, often involving sensitive content that requires the utmost accuracy. Misunderstandings or errors in translating legal documents can lead to severe consequences, including financial losses and damaged reputations. 

To gain a deeper understanding of the future direction of legal document translation and AI's critical role, we interviewed Rachelle Garcia, Tomedes' Head of AI. She recently created a cutting-edge tool for Tomedes' legal division, using AI and machine translation technology to deliver fast and highly accurate translations.

How AI solutions elevate legal translation

Recent advancements in AI technology have been a game-changer for legal document translations. AI translation tools, powered by machine learning and natural language processing (NLP), are now capable of handling intricate document translations with greater speed than ever before. 

In our conversation with Garcia, she explained that these tools are trained on vast datasets of legal documents to understand context, jargon, and syntax. Recognizing the potential to enhance their services, Tomedes adopted AI to improve their translation solutions for legal documents and expand their services.

As the Head of AI, Garcia played a pivotal role in developing LegalTranslations.com, one of several AI-powered platforms Tomedes launched this year. This platform aggregates various machine translation engines to analyze, compare, and select the best one for producing highly accurate translations of legal documents. It is now widely used by legal professionals around the world, streamlining their translation and communication processes.

I asked Garcia about the major challenges they faced while integrating AI into Tomedes' translation solutions. According to her, one of the big challenges they have faced is deciding which features to develop first.

“We have several new features that we want to add to our AI translation tools, but it's tough to prioritize which ones will be most valuable to our clients and our overall service. To tackle this, we use a combination of client feedback, market research, and internal discussions to evaluate the potential impact of each feature,” Garcia explained.

From there, she and her team were able to prioritize the development of AI-powered translation tools, like LegalTranslations.com, based on which features would bring the most value to our clients and improve the overall quality of our translations.

Another challenge they faced in developing an AI legal translation platform was ensuring the delivery of high-quality translations.

“Training the AI to understand and accurately translate complex sentences, idioms, and legal terms requires a lot of work between our data scientists and human translators. To solve this, we’ve put in place a strong quality assurance process where human translators review and improve the AI’s work. This ongoing process allows us to keep fine-tuning our AI models, which leads to better translation quality over time,” Garcia said. 

She explained that by prioritizing these strategies, they can consistently refine their AI tools and services, ensuring that legal terminologies in the client’s documents are accurately preserved during translation.

Enhancing legal AI translation with human expertise

Despite these technological advancements, the role of human expertise remains indispensable. Human expertise in the translation process ensures that nuances and subtleties of the legal language, which AI might overlook, are correctly interpreted and applied. 

Experienced legal translators offer a depth of understanding that AI currently cannot match, especially with idiomatic expressions or complex legal arguments. This expertise is crucial when navigating intricate legal terminology.

When I asked Garcia about how Tomedes effectively incorporates human expertise into their legal AI translation process, she detailed the role of translators. They train the AI by providing feedback on translation accuracy, cultural nuances, and specific terminology. This feedback helps the AI learn and get better over time.

“We combine AI and human work. The AI does the first pass of the translation quickly, and then skilled human translators refine and polish it. This approach ensures that the translations are not just fast but also accurate and appropriate for the context,” Garcia explained.

She continued,  “By continuously involving human expertise, we maintain and even improve the high-quality standards that Tomedes is known for.” 

Read more: Developing a Glossary for Legal Translation

Hybrid model approach toward legal document translation

The hybrid model approach toward legal document translation represents a balanced integration of technology and human expertise. Garcia emphasized that in the current landscape, this model is particularly effective. 

It capitalizes on the strengths of both AI and human translators to achieve the best possible outcomes. In practice, legal translation AI systems first generate a preliminary draft of the translation. This draft captures the basic structure and content but may lack nuance.

She explained that human experts then step in to review the draft. They focus on enhancing its accuracy, cultural relevance, and the subtleties of legal terminology. This collaborative process ensures that the final translation is both precise and legally sound.

Three key considerations for ensuring accuracy with AI translation in legal documents

In our discussion on AI translation within the legal sector, we identified several crucial points to ensure accuracy and reliability. Here are the key considerations:

1. AI Bias: It's vital to mitigate biases in AI algorithms to maintain accurate translation results. Training AI models on diverse datasets and consistently refining them helps prevent biases that could lead to incorrect translations. This rigorous oversight is essential for ensuring the precision and dependability of legal documents.

2. Transparency:  Transparency in AI systems used for legal industries is fundamental. Detailed documentation of AI processes and decision-making methodologies allows users to understand how translations are generated. This transparency is vital for building trust and accountability and helps ensure compliance with industry standards and regulatory requirements.

3. Regulatory Compliance: AI-driven translation tools must comply with stringent international and local laws related to data protection, privacy, and legal translations. Ensuring compliance is crucial to meet the specific regulatory standards of international courts and legal systems. This adherence not only ensures that the translations are legally sound but also prevents any legal breaches that could affect the integrity and trustworthiness of these processes.

Read more: How Accurate Translations Helped Law Firms Win Major Litigation Cases

Tomedes' strategic vision for AI-driven legal text translation

Emerging trends in translations for the legal industry are increasingly shaped by AI innovations, which promise to enhance the accuracy and speed of translating complex legal documents. As AI evolves, it offers the potential to automate traditional, error-prone parts of the translation process. 

When I asked Garcia about Tomedes' strategic long-term goals for using AI legal translations, she outlined their objectives. They aim to enhance AI's speed and accessibility for legal professionals globally while ensuring accuracy and confidentiality remain paramount.

Simply, put they plan to achieve this by:

1. Developing Specialized AI Models

2. Integrating Human-AI Collaboration

3. Investing in Research and Development

Right now, Garcia stated that they are working on training AI models that are designed specifically for legal terms and document formats. These models will be better equipped to handle the complex language used in legal documents.

By improving their systems where AI handles repetitive tasks, human translators can better focus on making sure the translation is legally sound and contextually accurate.

When I asked what part was taking more time, she explained Research and Development. AI is rapidly evolving, and keeping up with these advancements motivates them to continuously improve the current AI-powered translation platform for legal professionals. This progress also drives them to innovate and integrate new technologies.

"We are putting resources into Research and Development to maintain with the latest advancements in AI. This includes studying new machine learning techniques, natural language processing (NLP), and making sure our AI is used ethically," Garcia explained. 

Since we are at the frontier of the AI revolution, she emphasized the need for increased dialogue on the ethical use of AI to establish a framework that ensures transparency, fairness, and accountability. Such discussions are vital for steering the development of AI technologies in a manner that respects user privacy and continuously improves their accuracy and precision.

Conclusion

The convergence of AI and human expertise in translating legal documents is not just enhancing the field; it's reshaping how global law operates. For professionals like you, keeping up with these changes is crucial—not just to stay competitive, but to ensure that your work continues to meet the highest standards of accuracy, efficiency, and ethical responsibility.

Partner with Tomedes to unlock the fastest and most accurate legal translation solutions available today. By leveraging our advanced AI technologies combined with expert human oversight, we ensure your legal documents are precisely translated with the utmost confidentiality. Contact us now to elevate your global legal operations with Tomedes' trusted services.