The prevailing-language clause nobody read
A bilingual contract that does not say which version governs is an argument waiting to happen. When it does say, the governing version is the one that deserves the review budget.
Industry
A record is only as good as the rendering that entered it.
In legal settings the interpreter is not summarising. Everything said is rendered, including the hesitation, the correction and the answer that does not help. That discipline is the difference between a usable record and a contested one.
Legal & Compliance
What we support
STIB translates legal documentation and interprets for meetings and proceedings involving Brazilian and international parties — contracts and corporate agreements, arbitration, compliance work and the negotiations around them.
Legal translation carries a constraint most other work does not: the reader may be adversarial. Someone will compare the two versions looking for a gap, and the version that survives that comparison is the one where nothing was tidied, condensed or improved in transit.
What we translate and interpret
- Contracts and corporate agreements — including the language clause that decides which version prevails
- Court orders and legal filings — where procedural vocabulary is fixed and cannot be paraphrased
- Arbitration submissions — memorials, exhibits and witness statements, often on a tribunal's timetable
- Compliance and anti-corruption documentation — policies, training material and investigation records
- Corporate bylaws — constitutional documents with terminology tied to Brazilian company law
- Employment agreements — where Brazilian labour concepts frequently have no clean one-word equivalent
Failure modes
Where language actually fails in this sector
Not theory — these are the recurring ways a language workstream costs a project time.
False friends in company law
Terms that look equivalent across jurisdictions and are not. Rendering them by appearance rather than by function is how obligations quietly change shape.
Summarised testimony
In a deposition or hearing, the interpreter renders everything — including repetition and self-correction. Anything less is editing the record.
Live settings
Where we interpret in this sector
Arbitration hearings
Simultaneous or consecutive depending on the tribunal's practice, with the memorials and exhibits studied beforehand.
Depositions and witness interviews
Consecutive interpreting, which roughly doubles the clock time but is what a defensible record requires.
Contract negotiations
Consecutive or whispered, with the draft and its defined terms known in advance.
Regulatory context
Bodies and frameworks in play
Legal work between Brazil and other jurisdictions regularly involves the following institutions and frameworks.
OAB
Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil, the Brazilian bar association.
Junta Comercial
The state commercial registry where Brazilian corporate acts are filed.
ICC
The International Chamber of Commerce, whose arbitration rules govern many cross-border contracts.
ICSID
The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, part of the World Bank Group.
Straight answers
Legal & Compliance: questions we are asked
Do you provide sworn translation (Tradução Juramentada) in Brazil?
No. STIB provides certified and professional translation, but it does not currently offer legally sworn translation, which in Brazil is a public office held by an individual appointed by a state commercial registry. If your document requires that specific certification, tell us and we will say so plainly rather than delivering something that will not be accepted.
What is the difference between certified and sworn translation?
A certified translation is accompanied by a statement of accuracy from the provider and is accepted for many corporate, commercial and internal purposes. A sworn translation in Brazil is an official act performed by a publicly appointed translator, and only it produces a document with public faith for certain legal uses.
How should a bilingual contract handle the two versions?
With an explicit prevailing-language clause naming which version governs in a dispute. The governing version should also be the one that receives the most careful review, because it is the one a tribunal will read.
Do you interpret depositions and arbitration hearings?
Yes. Depositions are normally consecutive, because the record requires complete renderings rather than summaries. Hearings may be simultaneous depending on the tribunal, in which case two interpreters per language are used for sessions beyond about an hour.
Are interpreters bound by confidentiality in legal matters?
Yes, contractually under an NDA and professionally under the duty of secrecy that covers everything heard in the room. STIB signs the client's own confidentiality agreement when required.
Other sectors
We also work in
Tell us what is on the table.
The documents, the meeting, the dates and the languages. You get a scoped proposal from the team that will run the assignment.