Tomedes Translates Wildlife Crime Report with Legal Accuracy

The client

Company name: Nature Legal Protection (Pseudonym)
What does the company do? 

It is a global nonprofit fighting wildlife trafficking through legal and investigative action.
Deadline set by the client: 10 days
What do they need? 

Translation of a detailed English report into Portuguese (EU), including footnotes and infographics, while preserving the design layout and ensuring their brand name remains untranslated.

The challenges

Despite having nearly two decades of experience translating complex technical and legal documents, the Tomedes team approached this project with the same diligence and care as always. Even with their extensive expertise, the nature of the content and the project’s design requirements presented unique challenges.

Firstly, the report centered on complex issues such as illegal ivory and pangolin scale trafficking, involving legal terminology, investigative language, and sensitive subject matter. According to UNESCO, environmental crime—including wildlife trafficking—is the fourth largest criminal enterprise in the world, valued at up to $258 billion annually, highlighting the importance of precise and responsible communication on the topic.

Ensuring that the Portuguese (EU) translation maintained both the precision of the original text and its emotional resonance required expert linguists with a strong background in legal and environmental contexts. Moreover, the translation had to remain culturally appropriate for Portuguese-speaking audiences in Europe, reflecting regional nuances without diluting the report’s investigative impact.

Secondly, the source document was a highly formatted report with over 100 footnotes, embedded infographics, and multi-column layouts, all of which were essential for maintaining the report’s authority and clarity. Replicating this design in the Portuguese version posed a challenge, especially given that translated Portuguese text can be 15–30% longer than its English counterpart.

This required precision formatting and expert coordination between translators and desktop publishing (DTP) specialists to ensure the translated content fit seamlessly into the design without compromising readability or visual hierarchy.

Lastly, as a nonprofit organization, the Nature Legal Protection  operates within strict financial parameters, with over 60% of nonprofit organizations globally reporting budget constraints as a top operational challenge (according to the Nonprofit Finance Fund).

The client requested a second quotation excluding footnotes to explore cost-saving alternatives. Tomedes responded with scalable solutions—such as certified machine translation post-editing (MTPE), which can reduce costs by up to 20–30% compared to full human translation—while ensuring that professional standards and content integrity were fully preserved.

Why Tomedes?

As a translation company specializing in legal document translation, Tomedes brings nearly two decades of expertise to high-stakes projects like the Nature Legal Protection’s investigative report.

With extensive experience translating from English to Portuguese (European), particularly for nonprofit and legal sectors, Tomedes understands the nuances of legal terminology, cultural context, and the regulatory sensitivities involved.

This deep subject-matter knowledge ensures that every translated clause, footnote, and section maintains its legal precision and advocacy impact—an essential requirement for reports aimed at influencing international policy and enforcement.

Beyond linguistic expertise, Tomedes offered full design file integration, ensuring that the Portuguese translation preserved the report’s original visual structure and layout. This is particularly important for legally formatted reports, where layout consistency supports both readability and credibility.

For added flexibility, Tomedes also proposed its certified post-edited machine translation (MTPE) service—an efficient and cost-effective alternative that combines AI-generated translations with expert human editing. This hybrid model can reduce costs by up to 30% while maintaining the professional accuracy required for legal publications.

The solution

To ensure the project’s success from both a financial and operational standpoint, Tomedes developed a tailored solution that addressed the client’s priorities. By combining flexible pricing, technical precision, and AI-enhanced preparation, the team delivered a strategy that balanced cost-efficiency with professional quality.

Firstly, Tomedes responded to the Nature Legal Protection’s financial constraints by offering two flexible pricing options: one for the complete translation of the report—including all footnotes—and a more economical alternative excluding the footnotes.

This client-centric approach aligns with nonprofit sector trends, where 71% of NGOs cite cost transparency as a key factor when choosing service providers (Global NGO Technology Report). By providing tailored solutions, Tomedes ensured the client could make an informed decision without compromising the report’s core message or quality.

Secondly, given the report’s complex visual layout—including footnotes, infographics, and custom formatting—Tomedes guaranteed that the translated Portuguese text would be embedded directly into the original design file. This not only preserved brand consistency but also eliminated the need for additional formatting work by the client.

Studies show that over 40% of multilingual content projects now require desktop publishing (DTP) services, particularly when visual fidelity and professional presentation are non-negotiable. Tomedes’ ability to seamlessly manage this technical requirement significantly streamlined the client's workflow.

Lastly, to ensure the translation was both accurate and efficient, Tomedes recommended its AI-powered Pre-Translation Toolkit—a comprehensive suite of tools that identifies key terms, flags grammatical inconsistencies, and assesses content complexity before translation begins.

This proactive preparation is known to reduce revisions and rework with Tomedes' internal data indicating that clients using the toolkit reduce translation-related quality issues by up to 30%. For a high-profile legal report like this, setting a solid foundation was essential for delivering a polished and publication-ready Portuguese version.

The result

The collaboration between Tomedes and the Wildlife Justice Commission resulted in a clearly defined, cost-effective translation strategy tailored to the client's needs.

By offering options that balanced budget and quality—such as excluding footnotes or utilizing MTPE—Tomedes ensured that the Portuguese version of the report would meet professional standards without exceeding financial limitations. The project demonstrated how flexible pricing and expert consultation can open the door for mission-driven organizations to achieve their global communication goals.

Throughout the scoping process, Tomedes maintained transparent and responsive communication, providing timely updates and clarifications to support the client’s decision-making.

With both the translation and design integration fully scoped, the Tomedes team—including expert linguists and desktop publishing professionals—was prepared to deliver the Portuguese version of the report within 10 business days. This readiness reflects Tomedes' ability to manage complex multilingual projects efficiently, even under tight timelines.

Conclusion

Tomedes’ partnership with Nature Legal Protection highlights the company’s deep expertise in translating legal content with both linguistic accuracy and design precision.

By combining human expertise, AI-powered tools, and a flexible, client-first approach, Tomedes delivered a tailored solution that met the nonprofit’s multilingual communication goals.

This project reinforces Tomedes’ position as a trusted language service provider for global organizations navigating high-stakes legal, investigative, and advocacy-focused documentation.

If you're a nonprofit organization looking to amplify your global impact through clear, culturally accurate, and professionally formatted translations, Tomedes is your trusted partner.

With nearly two decades of experience in legal and advocacy-focused translation, we offer flexible solutions tailored to your mission and budget. Contact Tomedes today to see how our expert linguists and AI-powered tools can help you reach audiences worldwide—efficiently and effectively.