Our History
Providing Legal English products and services for over 20 years
Founded in Stockholm, Sweden in 1989, TransLegal has grown to become the world leader in Legal English. TransLegal’s in-house staff of lawyer-linguists is the largest in the world, providing a wide range of products and services to the international legal community, including Legal English testing, online Legal English courses and resources, live seminars and training, translation of legal documents, and the publication of Legal English materials.
TransLegal’s Legal English products and services are used by lawyers and law students in over 100 countries, helping tens of thousands of lawyers around the world every year improve their Legal English.
[dropcap]1989[/dropcap]TransLegal is founded in Stockholm, Sweden in November 1989 by Michael Lindner. The company provides live Legal English courses to the leading commercial law firms, banks, companies and government agencies in Sweden.
[dropcap]1991[/dropcap]Paris office opened, Staffed originally by an Australian solicitor and a New Zealand solicitor, TransLegal’s office in Paris, France opened in 1991 providing Legal English courses and translations to the Paris legal community. TransLegal Paris’ Will Yeago, an American lawyer from California, is an Adjunct Professor of Foreign Law and Languages at the University of Paris II (Panthéon-Assas), the University of Paris I (Sorbonne) and the Head Lecturer and Bar Examiner at the Paris Bar Association Legal Training Centre (EFB). TransLegal’s online courses are recognised by the Paris Bar Association for continuing legal education credits.
[dropcap]1993[/dropcap]Frankfurt and Madrid offices opened. TransLegal opens offices in Frankfurt, Germany and Madrid, Spain. The Frankfurt office is opened and headed by Thomas Mann, now vice-president of TransLegal.
[dropcap]2001[/dropcap]Oslo Representative joins. Gunnar Talen, a Norwegian lawyer and authorised translator, joins TransLegal in 2001 as a representative of TransLegal in Norway.
[dropcap]2005[/dropcap]TransLegal & Cambridge ESOL in cooperation. In February of 2005, TransLegal signs a cooperation agreement with Cambridge ESOL, a division of the University of Cambridge, to produce and market the world’s first internationally recognised test of Legal English. The Cambridge International Legal English Certificate (ILEC) is now sold in over 50 countries around the world and is the benchmark for Legal English used by more law firms, universities, bar associations and language schools than any other test of Legal English.
[dropcap]2006[/dropcap]ILE Coursebook Published. In June of 2006, TransLegal’s book, International Legal English, is published by Cambridge University Press, the oldest publishing house in the world and the leading publisher of English language teaching materials. International Legal English quickly becomes the bestselling coursebook for Legal English in the world and is now sold in over 100 countries.
[dropcap]2007[/dropcap]E-Learning launched. TransLegal launches its first e-learning courses in Legal English in 2007. The first online courses are Company Law and the Legal English 500.
[dropcap]2008[/dropcap]Boston University and Cambridge University Press Cooperation. In 2008, TransLegal enters into a unique cooperation with the Boston University School of Law, the Boston University Center for English Language and Orientation Programs, and Cambridge University Press to produce an online blended learning Legal English program for lawyers and law students. The result is PLEAD – the Program for Legal English Academic Development.
PLEAD combines the skills of experts in English Language Training, law professors, lawyers and lawyer-linguists from across the globe working closely together.
[dropcap]2008[/dropcap]Introduction to International Legal English published. Following the tremendous success of International Legal English, in November 2008 TransLegal’s Introduction to International Legal English is published. This coursebook is already second only in sales to TransLegal’s International Legal English. The coursebook provides an intermediate level course which takes learners up to the point where they can start using International Legal English and begin preparation for the Cambridge ILEC exam.
[dropcap]2009[/dropcap]Legal English Dictionary Published. In October 2009, TransLegal publishes the world’s first Learner’s Dictionary of Law. Published online, the Learner’s Dictionary of Law is the product of thousands of hours of ongoing research carried out by an expert team of lawyer-linguists.
Every term included in the TransLegal Learner’s Dictionary of Law has been thoroughly researched to ensure the definitions reflect current usage. This research was carried out with the aid of numerous corpora (collections of texts) and legal documents from a wide range of sources. Each definition has been written on a level so that it can be understood by learners with a Council of Europe CEFR B1-B2 level of English. Where more complex language has been unavoidable in the definitions, this language has been defined in parentheses.
The dictionary is constantly being updated, with more words being added every day. We are currently working on a further 2,500 words to add to our initial 2,500, and plan to release the next full update in early 2010.
Our research methods ensure that not only is this the world’s first learner’s Legal English dictionary, but it is also the only dictionary of law that is based entirely on corpora to define and illustrate contemporary International Legal English in use.
[dropcap]2009[/dropcap]Paris and Swedish Bar Associations recognise TransLegal’s online courses. In April of 2009, the Paris Bar Association certified TransLegal’s online courses for credits for Paris lawyers seeking to fulfill their continuing legal education requirements.
Also in the spring of 2009, the Swedish Bar Association purchased TransLegal’s online training for all Swedish lawyers enrolled in the Swedish Bar Association’s training course to become advokat.
[dropcap]2010[/dropcap]OnLine Testing Launched. On 18 January 2010, TransLegal launches its new website. With over 5,000 pages, www.translegal.com is the largest website on the Internet devoted solely to teaching Legal English. For the first time, the site includes online diagnostic testing of Legal English. The online tests provide instant results and allow the test-takers to determine their level of Legal English in order to plan a course of study.