Lawyers frequently encounter terms from languages they do not speak. Being able to find out what a foreign language term means may help in identifying a legal problem, advising a client or planning a legal strategy.

LEARNING SYNOPSIS
This exercise introduces the use of search engines in understanding foreign language legal terms and explains how to find the relevant pages in English.

EXERCISE
You are assisting a litigation partner at your law firm in an international arbitration involving a breach of contract. Your firm's client is a Russian supplier of electronics equipment which is now in a dispute with one of its customers, a US manufacturer, regarding liability for payment of value added tax under a supply contract.

According to the arbitration clause in the contract, the place of arbitration will be the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce in Sweden. The arbitration clause also provides that there will be three arbitrators. Each party is allowed to pick one arbitrator, who must be a qualified judge, but the arbitration clause is silent about the appointment of the third.

Your client has already selected an arbitrator. The US manufacturer has also chosen an arbitrator, a retired Swedish judge. The former judge's English-language CV states that he formerly worked for the Skatteverket in Sweden, and was also a notarie.

The partner you are assisting will have a conference call with the Russian client later this afternoon. Before the call, she wants as much information as possible and asks you to do some quick research. Using the Internet, find the answers to the following questions:

1) What, if anything, do the rules of the Arbitration Institute say about choosing a third arbitrator?

2) Naturally, your client is interested to know the credentials of the Swedish arbitrator. What is the business of the Skatteverket?

3) What is a Swedish notarie?