CPR-Compliant Witness Statement Translation for Solicitors

Situation

A high-volume personal injury and road traffic accident law firm with offices across the UK identified a CPR compliance risk in its standard witness statement process. The firm’s fee earners were drafting witness statements in English first — based on notes taken through an informal telephone discussion with the client or witness — and then having the statement translated back into the client’s language for review and signature. The firm’s legal team concluded that this approach did not satisfy the requirements of CPR Part 32, under which a witness statement must reflect the witness’s own words and be verified by a statement of truth. Where the witness’s first language was not English, a statement drafted in English and retrospectively translated raised a genuine risk of challenge. The firm’s head of litigation, James, contacted LingvoHouse to design a compliant, repeatable workflow that could be applied consistently across its caseload.

Challenge

The firm handled a high volume of RTA and personal injury matters involving clients and witnesses whose first language was not English. Polish, Romanian, Lithuanian, Punjabi, Urdu, Arabic, Bengali, and Somali were among the languages most frequently encountered across the firm’s caseload — reflecting the linguistic diversity typical of personal injury litigation in major UK cities. Each matter required a witness statement that could withstand scrutiny under CPR Part 32, be certified for court submission, and be produced efficiently enough to fit within the commercial realities of personal injury work.

The challenge was not finding translators — the firm had existing translation suppliers. The challenge was designing a end-to-end process that collected the witness’s evidence directly in their own language, produced a certified English translation meeting court requirements, and could be instructed by a fee earner at the point of need without requiring a separate quote for every matter.

Approach

LingvoHouse proposed and implemented a structured witness statement translation workflow for the firm, covering the full process from evidence collection to certified translation for court submission.

The process worked as follows. The fee earner provided LingvoHouse with background information on the matter and a set of draft questions covering the key evidential points. A qualified linguist then conducted a call with the witness in their own language — Polish, Romanian, Urdu, Arabic, or whichever language the witness required — to collect the statement directly. The witness’s account was recorded in their own language, a draft statement prepared in the witness’s language, and the draft returned to the witness for review and approval before any translation took place.

Once the witness had approved the statement in their own language, LingvoHouse produced a certified English translation with a certificate of accuracy attached. Both the original language version and the certified English translation were retained, with the original available for service on the other party and the certified translation filed with the court. The same linguist was made available for continuity at trial stage where the matter proceeded to hearing.

All translation work was carried out under LingvoHouse’s ISO 17100-certified workflow, with independent review before the certified translation was issued. Secure file handling was maintained under ISO 27001-certified systems throughout. A framework agreement was established with the firm covering agreed rates for witness statement calls, statement preparation, certified translation, and court attendance — removing the need to obtain a separate quote for each matter and giving fee earners certainty at the point of instruction.

Outcome

The framework was implemented across the firm’s personal injury and RTA caseload. Fee earners could instruct a CPR-compliant witness statement translation at the point of need, with agreed rates, a defined workflow, and a single point of contact at LingvoHouse. Witness statements collected and translated under the framework were produced in the witness’s own language first, certified for court submission, and structured to withstand challenge under CPR Part 32. The firm confirmed that the framework removed the compliance uncertainty that had previously attached to its non-English witness statement process.

What This Demonstrates

• End-to-end CPR-compliant witness statement translation workflow for personal injury and RTA solicitors — from evidence collection by phone in the witness’s own language to certified English translation for court submission
• Witness statement translation from non-English speaking clients and witnesses across Polish, Romanian, Lithuanian, Punjabi, Urdu, Arabic, Bengali, Somali, and a wide range of other languages
• Certified translation of witness statements with certificate of accuracy, meeting CPR Part 32 requirements and accepted for court filing
• Translation of witness statements collected directly in the witness’s own language — removing the compliance risk of drafting in English first and translating retrospectively
• Framework agreement for personal injury and RTA solicitors covering witness statement calls, translation, certification, and court attendance at agreed rates
• ISO 17100-certified translation workflow with independent review, and ISO 27001-certified file handling throughout
• Same linguist available for continuity from statement collection through to trial — reducing the risk of inconsistency between the written statement and oral evidence at hearing

Work with LingvoHouse on a Similar Instruction

Personal injury solicitors, RTA specialists, and city-based law firms handling high volumes of non-English speaking clients are welcome to discuss a witness statement translation framework with LingvoHouse. A framework agreement — covering the full process from witness call to certified translation for court submission — removes the need to quote each matter individually and gives fee earners certainty at the point of instruction. Languages covered include Polish, Romanian, Lithuanian, Punjabi, Urdu, Arabic, Bengali, Somali, and more than 200 others. Submit an enquiry at lingvohouse.com or contact the team directly to discuss rates and workflow.

For a full overview of LingvoHouse’s legal translation services for solicitors, see the Urgent Legal Translation Services for Law Firms in the UK page. For certified translation pricing including framework rates, see the Legal Translation Pricing & Rate Guide for UK Law Firms page.

For rare and minority language coverage in care proceedings, see the Rare & Minority Language Translation for Care Proceedings page.

For certified translation of the full care bundle, see the Certified Translation for Care Proceedings Bundles page.