Legal teams are turning AI translation into a competitive advantage

Disclaimer: This story is based on insights from multiple DeepL customers in the legal sector. Names, job titles, and identifying details have been changed or anonymized to protect their work and compliance requirements.

The challenge: how can legal teams work smarter and safer across languages?

In legal work, the margin for error is razor-thin. A mistranslated clause, inconsistent terminology, or delayed filing can jeopardize client outcomes and increase risk. For global firms handling sensitive, high-stakes cases across jurisdictions, accurate translation isn’t just important—it’s the cornerstone of legal operations worldwide. Imagine a lawyer preparing urgent immigration paperwork for multiple jurisdictions, but forced to wait hours, or even days, for a translation to come back from an external vendor. Or an operations lead managing a major cross-border acquisition, needing to translate hundreds of documents in a secure, standardized way. These aren’t rare scenarios, they’re a daily reality.

Legal teams need a faster way to translate without sacrificing accuracy or compliance. Yet many still rely on outdated processes, from free online tools that can’t be trusted with confidential data, to slow agency workflows that create unnecessary delays.

“AI isn’t a threat to human creativity—it’s a springboard. By handling the groundwork, AI allows professionals to engage more deeply with high-value, creative tasks.”

Senior Associate at a global law firm

Translation under pressure

The volume of content continues to grow, from immigration paperwork and litigation bundles to client emails and internal updates. Legal teams handle thousands of documents each month, and the pressure keeps mounting.

Clients expect fast turnaround times. Partners want to scale cross-border work without soaring costs. Meanwhile, compliance and security teams flag risks with unsecured tools, forcing many legal professionals to choose between speed, quality, and safety. And that’s a problem.

In fact, many firms still lack a consistent translation strategy. As one legal operations lead at a multinational firm shared, translation often happens in silos—some teams use public tools on the fly, while others rely on homemade glossaries with no central oversight. Few have proper insight into what's being translated, how secure it is, or whether it meets strict internal standards.

The solution: turning translation from a blocker into a business tool

Instead of asking lawyers to adapt to clunky workflows, legal teams choose DeepL because it fits seamlessly into how they already work. With a simple desktop app, intuitive shortcut keys, secure web access, and even Microsoft integration, DeepL slots effortlessly into day-to-day legal work. Whether someone is translating a contract clause, reviewing filings, or replying to a client, only one single tool is required to make these translations work easily.

This ease of use is critical, because legal professionals are busy. They don’t want tutorials or complex systems, just a tool that works instantly and reliably. And that’s where DeepL stands out: it’s adopted quickly, with usage growing naturally across teams.

Built for speed, security and scale

DeepL meets the strict security and compliance requirements legal teams demand. Every translation is encrypted end-to-end by default, and glossary support gives firms control over terminology. API access makes it possible to plug translation into internal systems, while enterprise rollout options give IT teams full visibility and control.

For firms managing multilingual work across jurisdictions, this combination is a game-changer. A legal product manager described implementation as taking “no more than two days”, with most non-critical client documentation already flowing through DeepL. Teams can move faster without sacrificing security or oversight, and consistent translations help reduce legal risks across the board.

“A trusted colleague can give you a first draft and suddenly you’re 80% of the way there—freeing you up to focus on the real creative value. That’s exactly how generative AI and AI translation tools work: they fast-track the process while giving professionals space to innovate.”

Senior Associate at a global law firm

Designed for the realities of legal work

From lawsuits to company registrations and internal communication, DeepL supports the full spectrum of legal use cases:

• Translate legal arguments and briefs with full control over tone and terminology
• Simplify communication with clients in their native language
• Enable support staff to handle multilingual admin work without outsourcing
• Empower innovation and operations teams to automate routine translation tasks

Whether it’s one lawyer working on a cross-border case or an entire department modernizing its workflows, DeepL flexes to fit the firm’s needs, without adding friction.

The results: better outcomes for clients, teams, and the business 

With DeepL, legal teams can slash translation timelines from days or weeks to mere minutes, without sacrificing quality. No more waiting on external vendors for contracts, filings, or client communications. Teams can take control and handle it all themselves, on the spot.

Those time savings add up fast, too. Whether it’s onboarding a new client, responding to a regulator or finalizing a multilingual agreement, DeepL eliminates the delays that once held everything back.

“Rather than replacing people, AI enhances their skillset. With generative AI (whether for content or translation) you get to 80–90% completion faster, and the human touch then elevates it. It’s not about automation alone; it’s about enabling people to go further.”

Senior Associate at a global law firm

Control without compromise

By bringing translation in-house, firms gain more than just speed. They also gain control. With DeepL, teams can define, apply and enforce key terms consistently, staying compliant with internal standards at every step. This helps reduce the risk of miscommunication and ensures content always feels professional and aligned, in any language. And with enterprise-grade security built in, firms never have to choose between productivity and protection.

Perhaps most importantly, legal teams no longer see translation as a blocker. It enables business, helping them win more cross-border work, support international clients, and move faster in a competitive market.

From associates and paralegals to operations leads and CIOs, this shift is transforming how legal work gets done. Teams spend more time on high-value legal thinking and less on logistics, while clients enjoy faster response times, clearer communication in their native language, and smoother cross-border collaboration.