Hidden Meanings in Legal French with Tom West

Hidden Meanings in Legal French with Tom West

Date: Friday, 6 November 2026

Time: 5.30 p.m. to 8.00 p.m. Please aim to arrive by 5.15 p.m. so that we can start promptly. The venue is a nice pub, so feel free to grab a drink while waiting! There will be a 15-minute break half way through the event.

Where: The Devereux Pub, 20 Devereux Court, Temple, London WC2R 3JJ. The pub is situated in an easy-to-miss alleyway off the Strand.

Nearest tube: Temple (3 mins), Chancery Lane (10 mins), Holborn (12 mins).

Cost: LRG/LIFT members: £20.00; non-LRG/LIFT: £25.00; students: £10.00; livestream only: £15.00. The LRG will accept cancellations up to three days before the event and will refund the ticket price minus the Eventbrite fee.

CPD: 2 hrs

The LRG and LIFT have joined forces to bring you decades of legal translation experience condensed into one practical session! Veteran translator and educator Tom West will take us through the most deceptive, easily confused, and regionally specific terms in legal French. Highlights include:

· legal terms whose meaning is different to their apparent meaning (e.g. droit subjectif)

· expressions that are easily confused (e.g. faire droit à versus faire droit sur)

· expressions whose meaning in legal French is different to their meaning in everyday French (e.g. en tout état de cause)

· expressions that are hard to translate without an understanding of French law (e.g. distraction des dépens à l’avocat)

· important distinctions that arise frequently in court documents (e.g. avocat plaidant versus avocat postulant)

· terms that may be unfamiliar even to French native speakers (e.g. frais répétibles and frais irrépétibles)

· expressions that are no longer used in French law (e.g. huissier de justice)

· terms used in Belgium but not in France (e.g. précompte)

· terms whose meaning in Belgian law is different to their meaning in French law (e.g. infraction collective)

· terms used in Switzerland but not in France (e.g. office des poursuites)

· terms whose meaning in Swiss law is different to their meaning in French law (e.g. procédure simplifiée)

· numerous false friends (e.g. droit commun).

The presentation will wrap up with a discussion of the French court system as it stands in 2026 and the proposed future changes to be made. You’ll walk away with a richer understanding of the nuances of legal French and a clear view of today's legal environment in France.

For those who attended Tom’s presentations given to the ATA in June and the financial translation conference in Spiez, please note that this LRG / LIFT event covers completely new material.

Two days before the event, you'll receive an email from Eventbrite with a link to a dedicated WhatsApp group you can use to contact us in case you get lost on the day and/or connect with fellow attendees ahead of time.

About the instructor:

Tom West studied languages at university (B.A. in French, M.A. in German) and discovered his passion for legal translation during law school while assisting a professor with translating East German legislation. Working alongside a mentor with such deep knowledge of legal English provided the ideal foundation for his career. After earning his Juris Doctor and being admitted to the State Bar of Georgia, Tom practiced law for five years. However, his love for languages ultimately prevailed, leading him to launch a specialised legal translation firm.

Over the course of his career, Tom earned ATA certifications for translation into English from French, Spanish, German, and Dutch, and has served as an adjunct professor teaching French legal translation at three U.S. universities. A lifelong lexicographer, he has compiled and published three legal dictionaries—covering Spanish to English, Swedish to English, and Swiss law from French and German to English—and served as a consultant on numerous bilingual reference works. A former president of the American Translators Association (2001–2003) and a sought-after speaker, he regularly lectures internationally, with recent engagements in Switzerland, France, and Luxembourg.