“At the Legal Service of the General Secretariat of the Council, I have the opportunity to collaborate closely with colleagues from all EU Member States, working in all EU languages, and contributing to the quality of EU legislation.

As a lawyer-linguist, I especially enjoy working as a quality advisor and ʻchef de fileʼ, overseeing a team of lawyers and other administrators within the Council and from other institutions to legally and linguistically finalise the base language (English) version of legislative files. In these roles, strong coordination and leadership qualities are essential to completing all tasks within tight deadlines.”

“Working for the Quality of Legislation (LEG) team at the Legal Service is to be part of a highly professional and inspiring team.

We constantly seek and find the best way to apply drafting rules to exciting aspects of Union life such as the Covid crisis, rules on chemicals, the environment, health and safety protection, and finance. There is a strong reliance on team discussions to achieve the best approach for new situations – and discussions are invariably collegial and fruitful: no colleague is alone, we find solutions together.

On a daily basis, I feel that my colleagues and I are playing a meaningful, useful and vital role in Union law, and in participating in the project of an ever-closer Union, for citizens and businesses, in all 24 languages.”

Working as a lawyer-linguist at the Directorate of Legislative Acts in the European Parliament allows me to use my languages and legal expertise to play a vital role in the democratic process of the Union.

One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is advising Members of the European Parliament on legal drafting, helping to shape the legislation that affects millions of Union citizens. I really feel that I am at the heart of European law making!

The collaborative, multilingual environment makes every day intellectually stimulating, and I take great pride in ensuring that Union law is accessible to all.

“I have been working as a lawyer-linguist in the Bulgarian section of the Directorate for Legislative Acts at the European Parliament for almost 10 years. This is my first job within the European institutions, and I continue to value the diverse range of tasks I am involved in.

The core of my work is to revise EU legislative acts that are to be adopted by the Parliament and the Council, ensuring both their legal and linguistic accuracy. My role is to guarantee the highest possible quality of legislative texts while making EU law accessible and understandable across all Member States. This job allows me to work in both English and my native language, which I greatly appreciate. In addition, as a lawyer-linguist, I can contribute to the clarity and precision of EU legislation by advising Members of the European Parliament on legal drafting. Being part of the European Union law making process is highly rewarding and fulfilling.

The variety of tasks and the collaborative environment make the lawyer-linguist job dynamic, interactive, and satisfying. Moreover, my colleagues are multicultural, pleasant and supportive.”

“I joined the English language unit of the General Secretariat of the Council in December 2011, after passing a translators’ competition. At that point, I was translating from French, German and Spanish, and I have since added Portuguese and Czech. I particularly appreciate the variety of work in the English unit. Whereas other units predominantly translate legislation from English into their mother tongue, the English unit translates all kinds of documents from all EU official languages and edits texts written by non-native speakers. Our unit is a very friendly and welcoming place in which to work, with many opportunities for career development and learning new languages.”

Cela fait 15 ans que je travaille pour le département de langue polonaise de la direction générale de la traduction (DGT), à Luxembourg.

J’ai suivi des études américaines et de philologie espagnole en Pologne, à l’université Jagellon. Avant de travailler à la DGT, j’étais fonctionnaire au consulat américain à Cracovie et je voulais poursuivre mon parcours professionnel dans un environnement international.

J’aime mon travail car:

• j’ai le sentiment de faire partie de la société européenne,
• je ne m’ennuie jamais,
• je peux poursuivre mon développement professionnel.

Travailler à la DGT me donne beaucoup de satisfaction. J’ai le sentiment de faire quelque chose qui compte vraiment. Être confrontée aux problèmes quotidiens et aux enjeux mondiaux me permet de voir et de comprendre ce que l’UE signifie pour nous tous. Le travail d’assistant linguistique m’offre de nombreuses possibilités, car il évolue, tout comme le monde. Lorsque j’ai commencé il y a 15 ans, le travail était totalement différent. Tout a évolué, les compétences, les logiciels, etc. J’ai eu l’occasion d’acquérir de nouvelles compétences informatiques, d’apprendre l’allemand et le français et de développer mes compétences sociales. J’ai également eu l’occasion de travailler pendant quelques mois au Parlement européen, une de mes expériences les plus passionnantes.

Le plus grand défi pour moi est de concilier vie professionnelle et vie privée. Je suis une mère célibataire de deux jeunes enfants. J’apprécie donc vraiment que la DGT me permette d’organiser mon temps de travail (en travaillant à temps partiel par ex.) et ma vie de la meilleure manière pour tous.

J’ai emménagé au Luxembourg en 2007, ce qui a été un grand changement pour moi, car j’ai quitté une grande ville de près d’un million d’habitants pour une capitale beaucoup plus petite. Le Luxembourg m’a accueilli avec la pluie, peu de trafic et une ambiance internationale. J’apprécie vraiment l’efficacité des transports publics, qui m’offrent de nombreuses options pour arriver au travail sans encombre et généralement à temps. Vivre au Luxembourg vous ouvre l’esprit. On peut entendre de nombreuses langues dans la rue, on peut se faire des amis venus des quatre coins de l’Europe et on a vraiment l’impression de faire partie du monde.

Assistante linguistique à l’unité de traduction polonaise de la Commission européenne (direction générale de la traduction)

My name is Tessa, I come from Spain and I work as a lawyer-linguist assistant in the Dutch team.

When I finished my master's degree in legal translation, I thought that my next step would be to work as a freelancer, but I am proud to say that the European institutions offer opportunities to motivated young people eager to be part of the European project.

Working at DQL – where we check the drafting quality of legal acts of the European Council and of the Council – is both challenging and rewarding, as you get to participate and gain an insight into the process of adopting legislation. It is most motivating to be part of a multicultural team with colleagues from different academic, professional and social backgrounds where you are constantly encouraged to continue growing personally and professionally, while benefiting from good working conditions, a wide range of training opportunities and the possibility to change jobs between services and institutions.

If you always wanted an international challenging and interesting career, I highly recommend working for the European institutions. Besides, life in Brussels is enriching and interesting with many activities and events to enjoy.

Lawyer-linguist assistant in the Dutch team in the Directorate Quality of Legislation (DQL) at the Council of the European Union

“I have been working for the Court since 2011, starting as a stagiaire (intern) in the English Translation Unit – now, I advise the Unit on Quality Management issues, in addition to translating from French, Italian, Polish and Romanian (the last two of which I had the opportunity to learn through the Court’s language classes) and correcting freelance and in-house colleagues’ translations from these languages.

My background is primarily in modern languages – my degree was in French and Italian – so it is a real joy to work in an institution and a country where I get to use them every day! Working as a lawyer linguist has also helped me to expand and consolidate my knowledge of EU law (I obtained the Graduate Diploma in Law and completed the Legal Practice Course before coming to Luxembourg) and to gain a deeper insight into the legal systems of the individual Member States.”

“I joined the English translation unit at the Court of Justice after completing a degree in French and Czech, followed by a law conversion course and then the LPC. I was keen to use my language skills and was interested in legal drafting, so the job appealed to me from the outset.

However, while legal writing skills are an important part of our work, the role of a lawyer-linguist involves much more than translation. We are called on to liaise with members of the Judges’ chambers on the precise meaning and nuances to be given to a finished translation and in my time here I have been involved in terminology work, mentoring and recruitment. I have followed a wide range of training courses, covering the latest information technology tools, European and comparative law and personal development. We are also encouraged to acquire additional languages, in my case Spanish and Polish.

In my view, a career as an EU lawyer-linguist is stimulating and rewarding for anyone who enjoys word-play and problem solving. It is also fascinating to work at the forefront of the latest developments in EU law.”

“I have been an official for the past year and a half, but I have been at the Court of Justice, first as a trainee then a temporary agent, since 2017 (with a break to continue my legal training). I trained as a translator, which I followed up with a law diploma – a requirement for lawyer linguists at the Court of Justice – before coming to Court as a trainee with the English language translation unit.

My working languages are French, German, Italian, Spanish and Greek – one of the aspects of working for the EU that I appreciate the most is how multilingualism is an integral part of everything we do, so my languages are put to practical use on a daily basis!”