Suggestions for Optimizing the Agency of Freelance Legal Translators

Abstract

Through an interdisciplinary lens of corporate agency theory, this paper explores the production of translated written legal discourse by freelance workers, and how the latter’s agency could be optimized within that environment, suggesting some good practices.

The supply chain from originator to end-user will be outlined, to set the freelance legal translator in a context of information flows, and high-light potential weaknesses in the communication process, using the legal translation brief as a case in point.

Four key layers of agency “negotiated” by the legal translator will then be unpacked, consisting of: textual level; source and target legal systems; source and target generic sublanguages; and functional purpose(s) of source and target texts.

Keywords: Legal Translation, Translators' Agency, Functionalism, Translation Briefs, Legal Genres, Legal Discourse, Agency Theory