Legal Translation Case Studies for Ecuador

Challenge: The fund needed Spanish-English translations of a general power of attorney, three board resolutions approving a follow-on investment, and the related shareholder minutes, in time for signing at two notaría appointments in Quito. Several documents contained defined terms from the prior share purchase agreement, and the powers of attorney referenced corporate authorities that had to be cross-checked against the registry.

Approach: We reviewed the prior share purchase agreement and the company's existing estatutos to confirm the parties, the corporate authorities, and the defined terminology. The board resolutions and minutes were translated by the same translator to keep the defined terms consistent across the package. The powers of attorney were cross-checked against the registry entries to confirm the scope of authority being granted.

Outcome: All five instruments were delivered electronically four days before the first notaría appointment. The notaría accepted the documents without correction, the closing proceeded as scheduled, and the same translator has since handled the fund's follow-on filings for the second portfolio company.

Challenge: The client needed a Spanish certified translation of the U.S. divorce decree for an Ecuador residency filing, plus an English certified translation of the Ecuadorian marriage certificate for a U.S. social-security update. The Ecuadorian document was a scanned PDF with stamps and a wet signature; the U.S. document was a court-issued decree with a raised seal.

Approach: The U.S. divorce decree was reviewed to confirm the court of issuance, the case number, and the operative language of the dissolution. The translation was prepared for direct submission to the Cancillería. The Ecuadorian marriage certificate was reviewed to confirm the registry, the parties' names, and the date format used in the Registro Civil. The English translation was prepared to match the format expected by the U.S. filing.

Outcome: Both certified translations were delivered in three business days, ahead of the residency appointment. The Cancillería accepted the Spanish translation of the decree without correction, and the U.S. filing was completed using the English translation of the certificate.

Challenge: The buyer needed a Spanish translation of the share purchase agreement and disclosure schedules for review by the seller's Ecuadorian counsel, the company's board, and the Superintendencia de Compañías. The translation had to match the buyer's prior English version so that every defined term, schedule reference, and operative clause in the Spanish version could be traced back to the source. The share transfer involved the buyer's first Ecuadorian acquisition, so the first-pass review by counsel was decisive.

Approach: We built a defined-term glossary from the prior letter of intent and the buyer's prior Spanish filings, then assigned a corporate-translator with prior Ecuadorian M&A experience. The agreement and the schedules were split across two translators to meet the deadline, with a third reviewer running a defined-term consistency check across the full package. The Spanish version was delivered in tracked changes for counsel's review.

Outcome: The Spanish agreement was delivered in 14 business days, with the schedules following 6 days later. The seller's counsel accepted the translation with only minor stylistic edits, the closing proceeded on schedule, and the Superintendencia de Compañías admitted the registration filing on the first review. The defined-term glossary has been used for the buyer's two subsequent Ecuadorian acquisitions.