Welcome to the ATA66 Conference to all Law Division Members! 🎉
We’re excited to share all the legal-focused sessions happening at this year’s ATA Conference in Boston. This guide will help you plan your schedule and make the most of the legal track, whether you’re looking to learn something new, connect with colleagues, or get practical tips you can use in your work.
We’re also thrilled to have Toni Jaeger-Fine as our Law Division Distinguished Speaker this year. You can read more about Toni and our announcement here.
⚖️ Want to plan your schedule ahead? Download and print the complete Legal Sessions Agenda here: ATA66 Conference Legal Sessions Agenda
Thursday, October 23, 2025
1:30 – 2:30 p.m.
(001) Understanding Contract Processes and Terms [DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER]
⭐ Toni Jaeger-Fine — Toni is principal of Jaeger-Fine Consulting, which provides services to law firms and other organizations relating to a range of issues, including talent management and development, DEI, leadership, and communication skills. She has special expertise with respect to the development of the Professional Persona, a set of attitudes and behaviors that lead to success and flourishing. Toni also is Senior Counselor at Fordham Law School where she served an Assistant Dean for more than 15 years. Toni teaches and lectures widely throughout the U.S. and around the world. Toni is the author of several books, including The U.S. Legal System: The Basics, American Legal Systems: A Resource and Reference Guide, and Becoming a Lawyer: Discovering and Defining Your Professional Persona. Her current work in progress.
📖 In this session, we’ll explore the contract management lifecycle and a range of contract terminology, from formation through implementation, breach, and damages. Following this session, attendees will be better equipped to understand the contracting process and more effectively engage with contract terminology.
🌐 English ⚖️ Legal Translation 📍 Grand Ballroom – Concourse Level
(002) “Court Interpreter Ethics for 200!”: The Game of Professional Responsibility
👤 Yasmin Alkashef — ATA-certified Arabic-to-English translator, a conference interpreter, and a certified court interpreter. She has an MA in translation studies and PhD in interpreting studies from Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, where she taught translation and interpreting. She currently teaches interpreting for New York University’s Online MS in Translation and Interpreting Program as well as for the UMass Amherst Online Certificate in Professional Translation and Interpreting. She serves on ATA’s Board of Directors and chairs ATA’s Education and Pedagogy Committee.
📖 This interactive session will engage attendees in a unique and exciting game of Jeopardy to explore the ethical challenges faced by court interpreters. Attendees will test their knowledge of ethical guidelines, dilemmas, and best practices in real-world scenarios while competing in a friendly yet informative format. The session will cover key topics such as confidentiality, impartiality, accuracy, and professional conduct–core principles every court interpreter must navigate in their daily work. Whether you’re an experienced interpreter or new to the field, this session will offer an engaging opportunity to sharpen your ethical awareness and have fun while doing it.
🌐 English ⚖️ Legal Interpretation 📍 Alcott Meeting Room – Mezzanine Level
(008) Power-It-Up!
👤 Graciela (Grace) Isaía y Ruiz — ATA-certified translator who is also certified in Argentina, has 30+ years of experience in the international translation and academic markets. She has a PhD in modern languages and a higher education professor degree. She has been a chair professor at the Argentine Catholic University (UCA) since 1994, where she teaches business, legal translation, and comparative law at the graduate and postgraduate levels. She is head of the Postgraduate Program in Business Translation (UCA) and the editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed scholarly journal Bridging Cultures. She runs Excelsus, a boutique translation agency. She serves on the Leadership Councils of several ATA divisions.
📖 Navigating the intricacies of Spanish powers-of-attorney from civil-law countries can be a translation minefield. This session aims to dissect commonly used terminology by delving into the decision-making process that yields a high-quality English translation. Expect a fast-paced, hands-on experience designed to maximize our time together exploring the “why” behind the “what” of each translation choice. Join this engaging session to unveil selected keys to unlocking the nuances of core terminology found in Spanish powers-of-attorney and walk away with a sense of empowerment in your legal translation expertise.
🌐 Spanish ⚖️ Legal Translation 📍 Otis Meeting Room – Lobby Level
(014) Post-Pandemic Sworn Translations in Italy: Challenges and Best Practices
👤 Silvia Prendin — Italian linguist from the Milan area, has been an ATA member since 2005. She has two master’s degrees in translation (English-to-Italian) and a deep love for language nuances. With over 20 years in the industry, she’s done it all: from working as a lexicographer to serving as the lead translator on major accounts to managing projects and teaching. Now, to mark two decades with ATA, she’s finally sharing insights, offering strategies to tackle challenges, and helping colleagues gain clarity in today’s global marketplace for translations into Italian.
📖 With the pandemic behind us, Italian court offices face significant challenges and are now mainly open with controlled access, fundamentally changing how sworn translations are handled. In this session, the speaker will share how to adapt to this new reality, manage workflows, and collaborate with clients in Italy or abroad who require sworn translations for Italy. Attendees will gain a clear understanding of the current landscape, practical strategies for navigating the process, and valuable insights to ensure compliance in this evolving environment.
🌐 Italian ⚖️ Legal Translation 📍 Paine Meeting Room – Lobby Level
2:40 – 3:40 p.m.
(015) Understanding the Modern Law Firm [DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER]
⭐ Toni Jaeger-Fine
📖 This session will explore the fundamentals and challenges of modern law firms, from solo practices to Big Law. Topics will include issues that law firms deal with on an everyday basis: structure, governance, compensation, talent recruitment and development, pricing, business development, technology, and legal and ethical issues. We’ll also discuss processes that interpreters and translators can use to get work from law firms.
🌐 English ⚖️ Legal Translation 📍 Grand Ballroom – Concourse Level
(019) Vocabulary Building through Visual Context
👤 Carola Lehmacher — Multilingual freelance translator and interpreter with over 15 years of experience working with government and industry at the executive and operational levels. She is a federally certified court interpreter and a master licensed court interpreter in Georgia. She works as a conference interpreter for various local and international clients and is one of the voices of a major news network. She is also a licensed trainer of The Community Interpreter® International and dedicates many hours volunteering as chair of the AAITE Ethics and Standards Committee, as an advisory member to the Georgia Commission on Court Interpreters, and as president of AAIT, the Georgia chapter of ATA.
📖 As the saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” In this session, we’ll put this expression to the test by using a single image of a car accident as the foundation for exploring accident-related terminology. Attendees will engage in a collaborative brainstorming session, identifying key vocabulary and expressions linked to the scenario. Through guided discussion, we’ll explore effective strategies for researching, categorizing, and activating new vocabulary.
🌐 English ⚖️ Legal Interpretation 📍 Alcott Meeting Room – Mezzanine Level
(026) Beyond the Grave: Decoding French Inheritance Law
👤 Grace Shalhoub — Court-certified translator in France, specializing in legal and technical translation since 2014. She lives and works in Paris and has over 10 years of experience teaching English-to-French translation at both undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as English for specific purposes. In addition to grading translation exams, she takes great interest in revision tasks and has eagle eyes for spotting common and uncommon language-use errors or translation mistakes.
📖 We will explore the various foundational legal principles governing French inheritance law (testamentary freedom vs. forced heirship), as well as cross-border estate disputes. We will examine recent case law and reforms and analyze their various implications on family dynamics and estate planning. Participants will leave with valuable insights to navigate the complexities of French inheritance laws when translating wills and estate-related legal texts.
🌐 English ⚖️ Legal Translation 📍 Paine Meeting Room – Lobby Level
4:15 – 5:15 p.m.
(032) Legal Translation: Technique and Formulaic Language for Gender Identification
👤 Karen Borgenheimer — Director of the Translation and Interpreting Program at Florida International University, Miami, has been a professor for 26 years. She is a classically trained, certified interpreter and translator regarded as a skilled, insightful, and versatile professional. She has an MFA in translation studies from the University of Arkansas—Fayetteville. She completed doctoral coursework in Spanish language and linguistics at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. For nearly a decade, she lived in Madrid, Spain, where she taught at the Real Centro Universitario “Maria Cristina” and attended the Sampere Escuela de Traductores e Intérpretes.
📖 This session consists of an introduction to the use of gender-inclusive language that does not discriminate against a particular sex, social gender, or gender identity. The speaker will discuss the characteristics of formulaic legal language and its use for gender inclusivity in translating legal texts from Spanish to English. This knowledge will be applied while translating several excerpts from legal Spanish-language texts into English. Attendees will then discuss and revise their translations to comply with standard legal translation into English and gender inclusivity.
🌐 Spanish ⚖️ Legal Translation 📍 Webster Meeting Room – Lobby Level
(035) Differences between Legal English in the U.S. and England
👤 Thomas West — Lawyer-linguist and an ATA-certified translator from French, German, Spanish, and Dutch into English. He has worked as a legal translator for the past 30 years. He graduated from the University of Virginia Law School with a juris doctor degree and then practiced law for five years before dedicating his career to legal translation. He is the author of several popular bilingual legal dictionaries and has taught legal translation at several universities. From 2001 to 2003, he served as ATA president.
📖 U.S.-based legal translators are sometimes asked to translate documents into British English for clients in the United Kingdom or Europe. Although it’s easy enough to change the spellcheck to English (U.K.) and use familiar terms such as “lift” instead of “elevator,” the challenge is to employ the legal terminology of England and Wales (E&W), which often differs significantly from the terms used by American lawyers. The terminology of civil procedure in particular was completely overhauled in E&W in 1999. More importantly, there are terms with completely different meanings on each side of the Atlantic.
🌐 English ⚖️ Legal Translation 📍 Lewis Meeting Room – Harbor Level
Friday, October 24, 2025
1:30 – 2:30 p.m.
(045) Why Is Plain Language So Useful in the Legal Field?
👤 Diana Rivas — Certified English-to-Spanish legal translator (Argentine Catholic University-UCA), international Spanish proofreader and copy editor (Litterae-Fundéu], and has diplomas in higher education (Merchant Navy University-UdeMM) and environmental management (National Technological University-UTN). She has been a translator for 35 years, working for national/international companies. She has taught online courses on legal, environmental, Spanish, and topics related to translation at New York University, face-to-face/online courses at the Association of Public Translators of the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and at other institutions. She is a university professor of legal and technical English at UdeMM. She is a member of the technical committee of the Plain Language Network in Argentina.
📖 This session intends to provide an overview on plain language and how to implement it in the legal and administrative fields. Undoubtedly, all those who work with communication play a major role in this interdisciplinary and joint work with lawyers, judges, translators and interpreters, proofreaders, public administration employees, journalists, and related persons. Although the legal sciences are characterized by certain terminology and phraseology, the language should always be clear and simple.
🌐 Spanish ⚖️ Legal Translation 📍 Hancock Meeting Room – Lobby Level
2:40 – 3:40 p.m.
(058) “Propiedad intelectual e industrial”: Fundamentals of Intellectual Property for Legal T&Is
👤 Rebecca Jowers — Spanish-to-English freelance legal translator based in Madrid who taught legal English in an LL.M. program (Máster en Asesoría Jurídica de Empresas) at the Universidad Carlos III in Madrid for 20 years. She previously worked as an in-house legal translator in the Elzaburu intellectual property law firm. She is the author of two reference works for translators and interpreters: Léxico temático de terminología jurídica español-inglés and Diccionario de términos y conceptos jurídicos español-ingles, as well as a 300-entry blog on Spanish-to-English legal terminology. She has a doctorate from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, a PhD from Michigan State University, and an MA from New York University.
📖 Distinguishing “propiedad intelectual” and “propiedad industrial,” this session will focus on how intellectual property is defined and protected in the U.S. and Spanish-speaking jurisdictions. The speaker will provide a concise summary of how copyrights, patents, trademarks, and other intellectual property rights may be acquired, defended, transferred, and (possibly) lost in both systems, detailing the application-to-grant process in each case. Key terminology will be reviewed in both English and Spanish, and attendees will receive bilingual glossaries of the terms discussed.
🌐 Spanish ⚖️ Legal Translation 📍 Paine Meeting Room – Lobby Level
(063) Navigating Jury Instructions: Essential Skills for Arabic Interpreters
👤 Amine EL Fajri — Chief executive officer of Utah International Services LLC, is an Arabic court-certified interpreter, certified medical Arabic-to-French interpreter, translator, and instructor. With over 20 years of experience, he specializes in legal and medical interpreting and translation. A dedicated professional, he is a voting member of ATA and a board member of the Utah Translators and Interpreters Association. In addition, he is a member of the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators, contributing his expertise to advance the interpreting and translation industries.
📖 This session will cover the fundamentals of jury instructions, with a focus on the essential skills Arabic interpreters need to convey these directions accurately. We’ll explore the structure, purpose, and challenges of interpreting jury instructions while maintaining clarity, conciseness, and cultural sensitivity. Attendees will learn practical strategies to overcome common pitfalls and improve their courtroom interpreting skills. Interactive Q&A and group discussions will allow attendees to exchange experiences and share techniques for enhancing performance. This session aims to enhance skills and confidence in interpreting jury instructions in legal settings.
🌐 Arabic ⚖️ Legal Interpretation 📍 Revere Meeting Room – Lobby Level
Saturday, October 25, 2025
8:30 – 9:30 a.m.
(092) Lost in Legal Translation? Mastering Terminological Differences in the (Many) Spanish-Speaking Jurisdictions
👤 Nancy Verastegui — Certified legal translator and attorney with over 11 years of experience specializing in Spanish to/from English legal and certified translations. She is an expert translator appointed by the Superior Court of Justice of Nuevo León, Mexico. She has led legal departments for multinational companies, including Airbnb and Hotmart, which has refined her expertise in comparative law and legal terminology across jurisdictions. She is the co-founder and lead translator at Lawtin Translations, where she works with law firms, corporations, and government entities on complex legal documents. Her deep understanding of jurisdiction-specific terminology ensures her translations align with the legal frameworks and language accepted in each country.
📖 Legal translators working with Spanish face a common challenge: the same term can mean very different things depending on the country. A procurador in Spain is a court representative, while in Latin America it often refers to a state prosecutor or legal agent. Likewise, a sociedad anónima may follow distinct legal frameworks in Mexico, Spain, or Argentina, each with unique requirements and implications. This session will explore these variations in legal terminology, offering practical strategies to ensure accuracy, avoid mistranslations, and create jurisdiction-specific glossaries for contracts, court documents, and corporate materials.
🌐 Spanish ⚖️ Legal Translation 📍 Otis Meeting Room – Lobby Level
1:30 – 2:30 p.m.
(125) Arabic Interpreters in PFA Hearings
👤 Eliane Sfeir-Markus — Court-certified English-to-Arabic interpreter in Pennsylvania and Delaware. She is a certified healthcare interpreter, adjunct professor at Widener University Delaware Law School, and instructor at the De La Mora Institute of Interpretation. She is also a licensed community interpreter trainer. She joined the board of directors of the Delaware Valley Translators Association (DVTA) in 2017 and served as DVTA president from 2020 until January 2024. She is a certified coach and speaker with the John Maxwell Team. Her public speaking skills have earned her the recognition to train new and advanced interpreters and lead many presentations and training sessions.
📖 This session will equip Arabic interpreters with the skills to effectively interpret in protection from abuse hearings. Attendees will explore legal terminology, courtroom protocols, and ethical considerations while applying the Demand-Control Schema developed by Robyn Dean and Robert Pollard for managing environmental, interpersonal, and intrapersonal challenges. Attendees will gain strategies to maintain impartiality, handle emotional situations, and ensure accurate interpreting. Resources include the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators Code of Ethics and the Pennsylvania Court Interpreter Certification Guidelines. The session will include case studies, role-play exercises, and sample scripts to reinforce learning.
🌐 Arabic ⚖️ Legal Interpretation 📍 Paine Meeting Room – Lobby Level
✨ We hope to see many of our Law Division members at these sessions! This is a wonderful opportunity to learn, connect, and share experiences with colleagues who work in legal translation and interpreting. Don’t miss the chance to strengthen your skills and expand your professional network.
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