The business of intellectual property law is complicated in a number of ways, but in situations when that property may be subject to duplication or distribution in a number of different countries one of the biggest stumbling blocks becomes the language barrier. Intellectual property litigation is increasingly becoming an international affair, and a rising tide of overseas interests are becoming parties to these proceedings.
This presents a great amount of opportunity for those who are prepared for these situations. Whether you are a global law firm or a private practice, there is a distinct advantage in having a multi-language website.
Important Reasons for IP Firms to Have a Multi-language Website
When you are dealing with intellectual property cases, you will inevitably need to deal with patent law. You will need to have the capacity to translate documents into the language of the country in which the patent is held in order to meet discovery requirements during litigation. If a client is approaching a case in which courts in multiple countries will be involved, they will be looking for a firm that clearly offers multi-lingual services. This is especially true in the case that English is not the first language of the client in question. A potential client whose first language is one of the common foreign languages in the Torrance area (including Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) is apt to skip a website altogether if it does not provide any information in their native language.
In addition, many overseas companies have registered patents here in the U.S., so they will need a law firm here that can translate all the relevant documents and file them in the U.S. in the English language. If a foreign company finds a firm with a multi-lingual website that includes their language, that could be their deciding factor in hiring them.
A Cost Effective Way To Reach More Clients
The legal profession has never been more competitive, and even if your firm has a great reputation for the practice of intellectual property law in legal circles, it is a distinct possibility that a client who finds themselves needing to defend their rights for the first time will have never heard of you and know very little about the field of law. You need a quick, easy, and affordable way to build a bridge to this new client base, and a multi-language website caters to their needs in a variety of ways. Not only does it demonstrate the international reach and scope of your legal practice, but it presents essential information that they need to understand beforehand in as clear a manner as possible given potential language barriers. Since it is often a simple translation of webpages that already exist, this is a very effective low-cost solution to the problem of bringing in new clients to your practice.
Which Firm Would You Choose?
Let’s look at an example of two different firms. The firm of Silver & Brewster is well-known in its field but it conducts all business only in English and is content to let their website reflect that. Their cross-town competitors at the law offices of Lee, Sanchez and Phillips are used to handling cases where intellectual property rights have needed to be defended in EU courts and in China. Therefore, they designed their site with a mind to making it easier for clients to see that they have the linguistic capacity to defend their rights overseas. With this advantage in the market the firm of Lee, Sanchez and Phillips outpace the caseload of Silver and Brewster by almost two to one.
Make Your IP Website Multilingual
Do you need help designing the perfect website for your intellectual property legal firm? Here at Umeworks we specialize in multilingual websites that can bring clients through your front door. In addition, our translation partner can provide translation services for essential legal documents for your practice.
