Contract negotiations of a transmission system operator – in 48 hours
Some time ago, we received a query from a client – one of the leading transmission system operators in Europe. At the time, the client was in the middle of contract negotiations and required a powerful partner for the translations of the contracts.
The negotiations were to come to an end within 48 hours, and the translations had to be done during that time period. They were to contain changes that had to be translated as quickly as possible, yet still had to be legally watertight.
The project started out simply with the translation of a contract from Dutch into English. The other party, the contractual partner of our client, then added comments regarding desired changes in the English contract. Our client then had us translate these into Dutch and make the changes to the Dutch contract. These, in turn, had to be translated in the English contract.
Legally watertight translations despite deadline pressure
This process went on for two days, with many changes being made to both the Dutch and English contracts. In between, we even received two conflicting versions of the document, which subsequently had to be consolidated into one correct document.
The project was complex mainly because the documents were being repeatedly changed, and the new changes were being made before the translation was even finished. On top of that, everything had to be done incredibly fast, yet in a professional manner.
The translations also had to be legally watertight. This required the concentrated attention of our two translators plus the project manager responsible.
A successful deal thanks to organizational talent
She had to constantly keep track of the changes and comments added to the contract. Whether it was morning or evening or changes had to be made within the hour, she had to maintain an overview of the process at all times. She coordinated the translators while remaining in constant contact with the client. In the end, she was able to successfully complete the project, thus helping the client to successfully complete the contract negotiations. The client even sent her a bouquet of flowers afterwards to thank her for her extraordinary effort!