French Legal Translations in Glasgow
French legal translations provided by professional French translators based in Glasgow, UK
We are often asked for a French legal translation. This can mean a variety of things, depending on the final purpose of the legalised translation. Here we will discuss all the different types of French legal translation.
Two main categories:
1. French legal translation
- the translation of documents that are legal in nature, whereby the translation will be used for information purposes such as:
- French contract
- French insurance policy
- French legal letter
- French title deed
- French mortgage deed
These documents will often contain legal jargon and therefore a French translator specialised in law would be assigned to this type of translation project.
2. French official translation
– the official translation of documents, whereby the translation will be used to present to a legal entity. There are five subcategories for French official translation.
- French UK certified translation
- Certified translation for use in another country
- French sworn translation
- Notarised translation
- Apostilled translation
French UK certified translation
A UK certified translation is required for your French documents mainly when the translation is going to be used in the UK for official purposes. This involves the translation being signed and / or stamped as a true and accurate translation of the document provided to us. Most often, this would be for the Home Office, passport office, some consulates, or any other official entity in the UK. The majority of these French documents would be certificates (birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, diplomas, degrees etc.) but we can offer a UK certified translation of most French documents.
French Certified translation (for use in another country)
Many countries do not have a sworn translation system in place and in these cases, they will often accept a certified translation by our French legal translators. This involves the translation being signed and / or stamped as a true and accurate translation of the document provided to us.
Sworn translation
Some countries do have a governing body in place for sworn translators and in these cases we have French sworn translators working with us in the relevant countries. The process, cost and timescale differs for every language and country so please feel free to enquire about your particular needs.
Notarised translation
When an official translation is going to be used in another country, one which does not have a sworn translation system in place, they sometimes request a notarised translation. There are two steps to this process:
- French UK certified translation
- Notarisation by a UK notary public (we need to specify the country of use)
French Apostilled translation
An Apostille is an additional step, which sometimes needs to be added to the above (notarised translation). Therefore it involves:
- French UK certified translation
- Notarisation by a UK notary public (we need to specify the country of use)
- Apostille from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London
This entire process can take up to four weeks, although the FCO do offer an expedited service, which will speed up the delivery of the apostille to within one week.
Important information
For any French official translation, regardless of the type, it is extremely important that we are provided with high-quality scans of the original documents. It is also imperative that any markings or stamps on the documents are clear so that they can be translated accordingly, including any markings or stamps on the reverse of the French document.
Further details about our experienced French translators and their experience in handling legal translations can be found here: French Translators
Glasgow Translation Services provides many other types of translation services (not only legal translation services) from and into French. For a full list of these services offered, please see: French Translation Services
French Legal Translation Reviews
In the past year, Glasgow Translation Services has been providing quality French legal translation services and we have received 66 reviews for the French legal translator's work. As of the 1st of Jul, 2025, the overall rating for our French legal translation services was 4.6 out of 5 stars. If you have used our French legal translation and would like to leave a review for other would-be clients to see, please see: Review Glasgow Translation Services.
Additional French Translation Services
French Translator Jobs
If you are a French translator that has a university degree in translation and have not registered with us at Glasgow Translation Services, we would be delighted to hear from you. See the link for details on the roles available and how you can register yourself as a linguist (translator or interpreter) within our growing database.
Once complete, when your services are required, our HR department will be in touch with you directly. See English to French translation jobs