Our recent Law Division webinar was a member-only event focused on one goal: helping our Law Division Members to submit strong legal session proposals for the ATA67 Conference in San Francisco.
You can read the Recap of the first edition of this session here.
If you’re a LawD member and registered for the webinar, you should already have received the slides and supporting materials. If not, please check your inbox—or reach out to us at atalawdivision@gmail.com.
ATA67: What You Need to Know
The American Translators Association is now accepting session proposals for ATA67.
ATA is seeking:
- Advanced
- Specialized
- Relevant
- Original content
The goal? Sessions that:
- Give attendees a competitive edge
- Help them stand out in the market
- Provide an advantage over AI
📍 ATA67 will be a fully in-person conference in San Francisco from October 28-31.
📅 Submission deadline: March 6, 2026
🔗 Submit your proposal here: https://www.atanet.org/ata67
Questions? Contact Cat Kenol, Senior Professional Development and Events Coordinator, at ataspeakers@atanet.org.
Important reminders:
- Submission is open to everyone (you do not have to be an ATA member to submit).
- Proposals go through a competitive peer-review process.
- Reviewers assess relevance, engagement potential, and subject-matter strength.
- Reviewers provide input, but final decisions are made by conference planners.
- Submitting a proposal means that you need to provide the title, description, and bio. The content and materials are not asked at this stage
- The final decision on acceptance will be communicated during the week of June 5, 2026.
Proposal vs. Session Content
Important: Submitting a proposal requires only the title, description, and bio (plus other personal and business information). You do not need to have all your slides or materials ready at this stage.
If your proposal is selected, you will be notified in June, which is when you start preparing your session content and materials. From our experience at past ATA Conferences, the final session content sometimes does not fully match the original title and description. This usually happens because of the time gap between submission and preparation.
We strongly advise you to stick as closely as possible to the proposal you submitted. While minor adjustments are allowed, your session needs to reflect what you initially proposed. No major changes can be made after selection.
What This Webinar Covered
During the session, we explained:
- How the ATA proposal process works (the same process for all divisions and subject areas)
- How the review process works
- What makes a strong legal session proposal
- Common pitfalls to avoid
- How to use AI carefully and strategically
Then, we went deeper.
While the submission process is the same for everyone, we shared specific strategies for submitting a legal session proposal, based on experience reviewing proposals and understanding what works well in legal topics.
Why Submit a Legal Session?
Speaking at ATA’s Annual Conference is both challenging and rewarding.
If selected, speakers:
- Gain recognition as a legal professional
- Build their résumé and professional visibility
- Expand their professional network
- Appear on the conference website and app
- Receive a speaker ribbon at the event
The Primary Speaker of a 60-minute session (Thursday–Saturday) receives $100 off the 3-day registration rate. This is the maximum benefit, no matter how many speakers are in one session or how many sessions you submit.
The Importance of a Strong Title
A clear, specific title is the first thing reviewers and potential attendees notice. In the webinar, we emphasized:
- Your title must match your description and bio.
- SEO matters: consider terms attendees are likely to search for.
- Specificity is key—just like in your description and bio, a specific title shows expertise and relevance.
This step is simple but important: a well-crafted title sets the tone for the entire proposal and draws the right audience.
What Works Well in Legal Session Proposals
One of the strongest messages from the webinar was this:
Specificity wins.
Strong legal proposals clearly define:
1️⃣ The Area of Law
Be precise. Not “legal,” but:
- Family law
- Civil procedure
- Corporate law
- International arbitration
2️⃣ The Language Pair + Jurisdiction
Avoid general labels like “Spanish” or “Latin America.”
Instead, specify the legal systems involved, for example:
- English (U.S.) and English (England & Wales)
- Spanish (Mexico)
- Spanish (Spain)
In our profession, we are not working with language alone, we are working with legal systems.
Even when the language is the same, legal terminology can vary significantly from one jurisdiction to another. Countries that share a language often have different legal definitions, procedures, and terminology.
That’s why specifying the jurisdiction is just as important as specifying the language.
3️⃣ The Target Audience
Avoid broad descriptions like:
- “For legal translators”
- “For legal interpreters”
Be specific about the professional niche and context, for example:
- Legal translators specialized in corporate law working with law firms
- Legal interpreters specialized in family law working in state courts
This level of clarity signals expertise and makes your proposal stronger.
A Strong Example
We referenced a previous session by Thomas West that clearly identified:
Legal session description:
- “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.”
Language pair and jurisdiction: English, United States and England & Wales
Area of law: Civil procedure
Audience: U.S.-based legal translators asked to produce translations for UK clients
That is the level of focus reviewers appreciate, value, and prioritize when providing feedback to ATA Conference planners.
Writing a Strong Session Description
During the webinar we emphasized that your session description is the core of your proposal.
Keep in mind: the description you submit will be published exactly as submitted on the ATA67 conference website.
Key requirements:
- Maximum 100 words
- Paragraph form only (no bullet points or outlines)
- English required
- Spell out acronyms
- Carefully proofread for grammar, punctuation, and style
Most importantly, your description must:
- Provide a clear summary of what the session covers
- Clearly explain the value for attendees
- Be designed for a specific experience level
- Show why the topic is relevant for legal professionals
In short: be clear, specific, audience-focused, and polished.
Writing an Effective Speaker Bio
Make sure your bio supports your session description. Being specific is key here too.
Don’t write your entire curriculum vitae. Instead, focus on demonstrating why you are the right person to speak on the legal topic you chose. Highlight the aspects of your education and work experience that are directly relevant to your session.
Here’s an example: Rebecca Jowers’ description and bio from last year clearly emphasize her expertise and background in the topic she presented.
“(58.0) “Propiedad intelectual e industrial”: Fundamentals of Intellectual Property for Legal T&Is
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.
Rebecca Jowers is a 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.”
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
We discussed several frequent issues:
- Submitting overly broad or generic topics
- Failing to specify jurisdiction
- Targeting beginners instead of advanced professionals
- Misalignment between title, description, and bio
- Using AI to generate a proposal without properly reviewing or refining it
Using AI Smartly (and Carefully)
AI can help you brainstorm or refine structure.
However:
- Do not submit generic, AI-sounding descriptions.
- Do not rely on AI without adding your real expertise.
- Everyone can tell when something is written solely using AI.
AI should support your expertise—not replace it.
Balancing Advanced Content with Broad Appeal
One challenge we discussed is finding the balance between:
- Highly specialized content
- Broad relevance
The sweet spot: advanced, niche content that still solves a problem many legal professionals face.
It is also important to remember that most conference attendees are experienced professionals who often prefer advanced sessions within their specialization when deciding which presentations to attend.
Katja shared that when choosing sessions herself, she prefers to attend advanced presentations even outside her immediate specialization because of the depth of learning they offer. For example, she attended a Law Division Distinguished Speaker session on U.S. bankruptcy law that included examples in Brazilian Portuguese. Although Portuguese is not her second language, the advanced level of the presentation gave her valuable tools she could later apply in her own language pair.
She had a similar experience last year with Rebecca’s session on intellectual property. While that is not her legal specialization, the advanced discussion, materials, and glossaries provided a strong foundation that would allow her to confidently explore that field if she chose to do so.
Monique reminded us that it’s a good idea to check our Division’s most recent survey (here), where you can see which topics members rated as most interesting.
We’re Here to Help
As shared during the webinar:
If you’re preparing a legal session proposal and would like feedback on your:
- Title
- Description
- Speaker bio
Please reach out to Law Division leadership before submitting at atalawdivision@gmail.com.
We’re happy to guide you.
Final Reminder
📅 Deadline: March 6, 2026
🔗 Submit your proposal: https://www.atanet.org/ata67/call-for-speakers/
If you’ve been thinking about presenting, this is your sign.
Our legal community benefits when professionals like you step forward and share their knowledge.
We hope this recap serves as both encouragement and a practical guide—and we look forward to seeing many strong legal proposals submitted for ATA67.
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