AI translates a contract in 3 days, but the court requires a certified copy

Practical guide written from an implementation contractor perspective. Describes typical solutions, does not resolve individual cases. We describe an implementation based on two similar projects at manufacturing companies: one from Greater Poland with 120 people, another from Lower Silesia with 85 people. Both faced the same challenge: correspondence with partners in Germany, the Czech Republic, and France involved 40–50 contracts per year, while each page from an external agency cost 70–120 PLN net and took 5–8 business days. The project started when signing a distribution agreement with a client from Lyon stalled for two weeks because the translator was revising delivery term definitions after a third legal review. This was not an isolated incident, which is why we present it as a composite case.

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Jak to poskładali

We started with a 10-document pilot in DeepL Pro, as the company needed to retain PDF and DOCX formatting and use an industry terminology glossary. We chose a plan hosted on EEA servers, which does not use client data for model training according to the DeepL Privacy Policy. In week one, the head of administration compiled 15 contract templates, an external lawyer prepared a 120-term glossary, and IT configured user accounts. In week two, we introduced the first parallel workflow: an assistant generated draft translations, while the lawyer reviewed only penalty and liability clauses. In week three, we added a rule: scanned documents must pass OCR at 300 dpi before processing. Total internal time was 8 hours of administration, 6 hours of legal, and 4 hours of IT.

Rachunek

Initial rollout totaled 8,900 PLN net: a one-year DeepL Pro Advanced license for 3 users cost approx. 5,400 PLN, 6 hours of legal review at 350 PLN totaled 2,100 PLN, and email integration and setup cost 1,400 PLN. Maintenance costs 450 PLN per month for licenses. Savings come from volume: at 40 pages per month averaging 95 PLN per page, the external agency cost 3,800 PLN, compared to the current 450 PLN monthly fee. This yields approx. 41,000 PLN in annual savings, assuming at least 30 pages per month. Break-even was achieved after three months, as the workflow ran in parallel with the agency for the first two weeks.

Co poszło nie tak

The first issue involved the glossary: the term "force majeure" was initially translated as "wyższa siła" until the lawyer corrected it to "siła wyższa" during review. This proved contracts should never reach a counterparty without legal verification. The second issue involved confidentiality: one user pasted contract excerpts into a free translator because the licensed seat was assigned to another workstation. We blocked free accounts and enabled corporate single sign-on. The third fix involved scans: at 150 dpi, the model confused "§ 5" with "§ 8", so we established a minimum of 300 dpi and added an OCR preview prior to translation.

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Co zrobilibyśmy inaczej

First, instead of buying licenses immediately, we would run a pilot on 15 documents from the prior two quarters to measure how many pages require legal edits. Second, we would enforce corporate single sign-on from day one so no one accesses free accounts. Third, we would divide the workflow into three tiers: draft documents translated by AI, contracts for signing reviewed by legal counsel, and documents for courts, authorities, or notaries handled by a sworn translator. This division reflects operational practice rather than a statutory rule: the final assessment rests with the reader's legal counsel.

This scenario fits companies sending at least 15–20 document pages per month to international partners with a consistent industry glossary. It does not fit teams signing a single contract in German once a quarter: fixed fees will eliminate all savings. It is also unsuitable for documents submitted directly to courts, notaries, or administrative bodies, which require a sworn translation because AI lacks sworn translator status and cannot certify authenticity. Under the AI Act, translating preliminary documents can qualify as a preparatory task, but human oversight remains mandatory. In routine B2B contracting, a draft translation paired with legal review is usually sufficient.