Guide for law firms
Is it safe to email client documents to a translator?
Email isn't forbidden, but a passport, birth certificate or police record sent as an attachment is about as sensitive as client information gets. Here's how the ABA's guidance applies, and what to ask whoever translates for your firm.
ABA Formal Opinion 477R says routine unencrypted email generally remains acceptable for lawyer-client communication, but that highly sensitive information may call for stronger measures, judged by the factors in Comment 18 to Model Rule 1.6. Identity and civil-status documents sent for translation are usually highly sensitive, and email leaves copies in places the firm doesn't control, so many firms use an encrypted portal or a vendor portal instead. The right measure for a matter is the firm's judgment.
What ABA Formal Opinion 477R says
Model Rule 1.6(c) asks lawyers to make reasonable efforts to prevent the inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure of client information. Formal Opinion 477R, issued in 2017, applies that duty to electronic communication. It does not ban email: it concludes that unencrypted routine email generally remains an acceptable way to communicate with clients.
It also says that some information is sensitive enough to need more, such as encryption, and that lawyers should decide case by case using the factors in Comment 18 to Rule 1.6:
- the sensitivity of the information;
- the likelihood of disclosure if more safeguards aren't used;
- the cost and difficulty of more safeguards;
- how much the safeguards would get in the way of representing the client.
Among its practical steps, the opinion points lawyers to due diligence on the vendors that carry client communications, labeling confidential information, and training the lawyers and staff who handle it. Your state's rules and ethics opinions may add to this.
Why translation files sit at the sensitive end
A request for translation rarely involves a routine message. It usually means sending scans of the very documents identity thieves look for, often for clients whose immigration status, asylum claim or family history is itself confidential. One file can hold a full name, date and place of birth, parents' names, an ID number and a photo.
Copies multiply
An emailed attachment lives in the sender's sent folder, the recipient's inbox, every device that syncs that inbox, and each system's backups.
It travels on
A freelancer may forward the file to a colleague for a language they don't cover or a deadline they can't meet, and the firm may never know.
Personal accounts
Individual translators often work from personal email accounts with whatever security their owner has set up.
No end date
Nothing deletes an attachment when the matter closes. It stays wherever it was sent until someone removes it by hand.
Options firms use instead
| Approach | What it improves | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Encrypted email | Protects the message in transit and at rest in some setups | Whether the translator can open it, and where the decrypted file then goes |
| Your case-management or client portal | Documents stay in a system the firm controls | Whether outside translators can be given access to only the files they need |
| A shared-drive link | No attachment in the email | Link expiry, who else can open it, and whether the translator downloads a copy anyway |
| A translation vendor's own portal | Upload, translation and delivery happen in one access-controlled system | Who at the vendor can see the files, how long they're kept, and which providers process them |
- Encrypted email
- What it improves
- Protects the message in transit and at rest in some setups
- What to check
- Whether the translator can open it, and where the decrypted file then goes
- Your case-management or client portal
- What it improves
- Documents stay in a system the firm controls
- What to check
- Whether outside translators can be given access to only the files they need
- A shared-drive link
- What it improves
- No attachment in the email
- What to check
- Link expiry, who else can open it, and whether the translator downloads a copy anyway
- A translation vendor's own portal
- What it improves
- Upload, translation and delivery happen in one access-controlled system
- What to check
- Who at the vendor can see the files, how long they're kept, and which providers process them
Questions to ask any translation vendor
- How do documents reach your translators, and do any of them ever go by email?
- Who can see our files, at your company and among your translators?
- Do you use AI tools, which providers, and do they train on our documents?
- Where are files stored, are they encrypted, and how long are they kept?
- Can we see who downloaded each file, and when?
- What happens to our files when a translator stops working with you?
- Who signs the certification, and does it name them?
Write the answers down. Due diligence you can show later is worth more than due diligence you remember doing.
How JukeLingo for Business answers those questions
Firm staff upload documents to a private workspace, the assigned translator works in our translator portal, and certified translations are downloaded from the workspace, so nothing is emailed in either direction. Access follows each person's role, every download is logged, and a retention schedule can delete files once matters close. Our trust center answers each question above in detail, and our law firm page shows how the workflow runs.
Common questions
Does ABA Formal Opinion 477R prohibit emailing client documents?
No. It concludes that unencrypted routine email generally remains acceptable, while noting that highly sensitive information may call for stronger measures such as encryption. Lawyers judge the level of protection using the factors in Comment 18 to Model Rule 1.6.
Are identity documents sent for translation highly sensitive?
Usually. Passports, birth certificates, national IDs and police records combine a client's full identity in one file, and in immigration matters the documents can also reveal status or a protection claim. Many firms treat them as needing more than routine email.
Is a password-protected PDF enough?
It helps, but the password is often sent by the same email, and once the translator opens the file it can be saved, forwarded or synced like any other. Ask where the file ends up after it is opened.
Do the ABA's rules on supervising assistants apply to outside translators?
Model Rule 5.3 covers lawyers' responsibilities for nonlawyer assistance, including assistants outside the firm, and ABA Formal Opinion 08-451 discusses outsourcing support services. How they apply to a given vendor is a question for your firm and your state's rules.
Is this legal advice?
No. This guide summarizes published ABA guidance for practical purposes. Your state's rules and ethics opinions, and your firm's own judgment about each matter, decide what is reasonable.
Sources
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Last reviewed 2026-10-27 by the JukeLingo for Business editorial team.
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