Legal translation transfers concepts between legal systems, and legal concepts derive their meaning from the orders that produce them. This system-bound character makes incongruity, not equivalence, the normal condition of legal translation, particularly between the civil law and the common law. Artificial intelligence systems optimised for fluent output resolve this incongruity in one direction, rendering a concept through the categories dominant in their training data, often through English as a pivot language. The result is a systematic conceptual realignment that the fluency of the output makes difficult to detect. The panel names this algorithmic legal hegemony: the gradual ascendancy of one legal and linguistic order over others through the routine operation of the systems that now mediate legal language.
These systems are already widely used across Europe, from public administration to the courtroom, and their adoption has outpaced both empirical scrutiny and regulation. The stakes are high. Terminology must hold across systems, register carries legal weight, and a single error can misstate a charge, distort testimony, or compromise the right to a fair trial. Under Directive 2010/64/EU the right to translation and interpreting in criminal proceedings is itself a condition of access to justice, which places machine error within the domain of fundamental rights rather than technical performance.
The argument is grounded in emerging empirical research. A corpus-based comparison of how current machine translation and large language model systems render specialised legal terminology into Greek shows that these distortions are systematic, recurring across systems and language pairs. Doctrinal distinctions are flattened, the formal markers of legal force are levelled, and one tradition's categories replace another's. Because the output remains fluent, a non-specialist reader is the least likely to notice them.
When mediation moves from the page to the courtroom, further pressures appear. Witnesses rarely speak the prestige varieties on which speech recognition and translation systems are trained. Testimony given in dialects degrades their performance, so that a second, sociolinguistic hegemony forms beside the conceptual one, favouring standard varieties and marginalising the very speakers whose testimony is judged. The language of the court compounds the problem. The formulaic speech of judges and lawyers already departs from the everyday language these systems model, and in Greece the persistence of neo-katharevousa and archaising register, more marked among younger jurists, widens the gap. Procedural time runs differently in the urgency of flagrante proceedings and the slower hearings before the Court of Cassation, while real-time systems impose one rhythm on both. Open doors, ambient noise, and poorly insulated rooms degrade recognition further.
These shifts do not stay on the page. They enter contracts, judgments, and asylum interviews, and they raise unresolved questions of liability that an emerging European framework, including the AI Act, has yet to settle. The aim is therefore constructive. Moving from naming algorithmic hegemony to contesting it, the panel develops an evidence-based typology of risk and recommendations for practice, training, and policy, so that efficiency serves rather than erodes the integrity of justice.
Stavroula Paraskevi Vraila is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages, Translation and Interpreting at the Ionian University, specializing in Economic, Legal and Political Translation (Greek–German). She holds a PhD from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and a Master’s in Translation Studies from the Ionian University. Her research focuses on the translation of political and legal texts, and the applications of AI in translation, exploring issues of political ethics and digital bias. She has published widely in Greek and international journals and presented at global conferences. At the university, she teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses and actively participates in departmental committees (Erasmus, Evaluation, Outreach). Since 2007, she has also worked as a professional translator with publishing houses and digital companies, specializing in institutional and communicative texts with an emphasis on accuracy and functional effectiveness.
Sotiris Livas is a Professor of International Relations at the Ionian University. He currently serves as a member of the Governing Council of the Ionian University and directs the Language and Politics Laboratory. Previously, Professor Livas held several significant administrative positions within the Department of Foreign Languages, Translation and Interpreting, including Department Chair, Director of the Master’s Program in Politics, Language and Intercultural Communication, and coordinator of the department's internship program from 2010 to 2022. He holds a degree in Law from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, completed postgraduate studies at Panteion University, and earned his PhD in International Relations from the Ionian University in 2004. His academic output is substantial, comprising six monographs, fifty scientific articles, forty book reviews, fifty op-eds, and six chapters in collective volumes. Furthermore, he has translated seven books and scientifically edited five others. His research profile includes participation in six scientific projects, serving as principal investigator for two. He frequently participates in international conferences focusing on human rights, Turkey, and the Middle East, and has served as an expert advisor for the Council of Europe regarding the countering of hate crimes. His core research interests encompass human rights, minority rights, Islamic extremism, and the geopolitical position of Turkey within the Middle East.
Katerina Lambraki is a professional translator with over twenty years of experience in the field, working with English, French, Italian, and Romanian. She holds a degree in Translation and has been a member of the Panhellenic Association of Professional Translators Graduates of the Ionian University (PEEMPIP) since her registration as member number 98. Her translation expertise is broad, encompassing fields such as law, administration, politics, the humanities, social sciences, and culture. She actively contributes to the professional community as a member of PEEMPIP's mentoring program coordination team. In addition to her professional practice, she is a postgraduate student in the "Politics, Language and Intercultural Communication" (Polico) Master’s Program at the Ionian University, bridging her extensive practical experience with advanced academic research in political and cultural discourse analysis.
Spyros Balesias is a legal language professional and Chairperson of the Panhellenic Association of Professional Translators Graduates of the Ionian University (PEEMPIP). He holds a degree and an MA in Translation Science from the Ionian University and an MSc in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from Athens Metropolitan College in collaboration with Oxford Brookes University. He specialises in legal, financial and business translation and is a member of ELOT’s Technical Committee TE21 “Terminology – Language Resources”. His professional interests include promoting professional translation in Greece, particularly in the context of AI, and advocating for plain language in legal drafting and translation.
