When a Greek court delivers a judgment, the parties involved naturally want to know what the court has decided and what happens next. For international clients who do not speak Greek, obtaining a clear and accurate English translation is often essential to understanding the outcome of the proceedings and discussing the implications with their Greek lawyers. The same applies to lawyers practising outside Greece who advise clients involved in Greek litigation. They may need to examine the judgment to understand the court’s reasoning, identify the issues decided and discuss the available options with the Greek legal team.
However, translating a Greek court judgment presents some distinctive challenges. Greek judicial decisions frequently contain lengthy and complex legal reasoning expressed in highly formal language. Procedural concepts may have no straightforward English equivalents, while apparently familiar terms can conceal important differences between legal systems. These problems become particularly significant when the judgment may be challenged on appeal or when the parties need to understand its consequences.
And with artificial intelligence now making it possible to generate an English translation or summary of a lengthy judgment in seconds, there is a further question: how much confidence can international clients and their lawyers place in the resulting text?
Understanding the structure of a Greek court judgment
Greek court judgments follow established drafting conventions which reflect the structure of Greek judicial reasoning and the procedural rules governing the proceedings. Depending on the court and type of proceedings, the judgment will ordinarily identify the court and parties, record relevant procedural information and set out the court’s reasoning before stating its decision. Two sections are especially important when translating a Greek judgment. The first is the σκεπτικό, the court’s reasoning, often introduced by the formula ΣΚΕΦΘΗΚΕ ΣΥΜΦΩΝΑ ΜΕ ΤΟ ΝΟΜΟ (having considered the matter in accordance with the law). This part of the judgment explains the legal basis on which the court has reached its conclusions. It may contain lengthy discussions of statutory provisions, references to case law and an examination of the parties’ arguments. The second is the διατακτικό, the operative part, commonly introduced by the expression ΓΙΑ ΤΟΥΣ ΛΟΓΟΥΣ ΑΥΤΟΥΣ (for these reasons). The operative part records the court’s decisions on the matters before it, including the disposition of claims and any orders made.
For a foreign reader, the relationship between these sections is fundamental to understanding what the judgment actually says.
The linguistic complexity of Greek judicial decisions
The language of Greek judgments presents difficulties that extend beyond specialised legal terminology. Greek judicial writing frequently employs long sentences containing multiple subordinate clauses. The syntax can be intricate, with qualifications and exceptions embedded within the same sentence as the principal legal proposition. In addition, some judicial formulations retain features of the older formal language associated with καθαρεύουσα, particularly in established expressions and conventional legal phraseology.
For translators working from Greek into English, these characteristics demand close attention to the grammatical and logical relationships within the text. The translator must establish precisely which proposition is being qualified, what a particular pronoun or participle refers to and whether a statement reflects the court’s conclusion or the position of one of the parties. These distinctions can become difficult to follow when a sentence extends over much of a paragraph. English legal writing generally permits a different approach to sentence construction. A lengthy Greek sentence may therefore need to be divided or restructured in English to make the reasoning intelligible. However, restructuring must preserve the original logical relationships. Careless division of a sentence can detach a qualification from the proposition to which it relates or alter the relationship between the court’s findings and its conclusions. This is where the ability to think and write like a lawyer becomes particularly valuable. Understanding the legal argument allows the translator to reconstruct it in clear English while preserving its precise meaning. The objective is an English text that a lawyer can read naturally and follow without losing any of the legal substance contained in the Greek original.
When is a Greek court judgment final?
One of the most revealing examples of the difficulties involved in translating Greek judgments concerns the terminology used to describe their procedural status. Consider the expression τελεσίδικη απόφαση. A reader encountering the English expression “final judgment” might reasonably assume that the judgment can no longer be challenged. Greek procedural law, however, recognises distinctions that make this apparently straightforward translation potentially misleading. In our paper Translating Greece’s Procedural Codes, presented at the 2023 conference of the Hellenic Society for Terminology, Daniel Webber and I examined the treatment of procedural terminology in existing Greek-English legal dictionaries. We found that all four dictionaries examined rendered τελεσίδικη απόφαση using variants of “final judgment” or “final decision”, without adequately reflecting the procedural distinctions recognised by Greek law. An οριστική απόφαση may be final in the sense that it disposes of the matter before the court, while remaining open to ordinary legal remedies. A τελεσίδικη απόφαση has reached a different procedural position, generally because the relevant ordinary legal remedies have been exhausted or the periods for exercising them have expired. Greek procedural law also recognises the category of ανέκκλητη απόφαση, concerning judgments which by their nature are not amenable to the relevant remedies, as well as αμετάκλητη απόφαση, which involves the exhaustion of available legal remedies, including the relevant avenues of recourse to higher courts.
For international clients, these distinctions can be important to understanding the procedural history of their case. They also illustrate the difficulties faced by foreign lawyers who may be familiar with the English word “final” but unfamiliar with the different categories recognised under Greek law. The translation needs to communicate the source terminology accurately without creating a misleading impression about the status of the decision. Determining whether a particular judgment can still be challenged, or what consequences follow from its procedural status, is a matter for the lawyers responsible for the proceedings.
Errors in the original Greek judgment: an overlooked translation problem
There is another difficulty which frequently arises in legal translation and which is easily overlooked by the end user: the original Greek document may itself contain errors. At JurTrans, our experience of translating Greek legal documents has made us particularly conscious of this problem. In an article published in January 2025, I reported that during 2024 we translated 946 Greek legal documents into English and found that approximately 95% contained at least one error of some kind. These figures relate to JurTrans’s own workload, which included various categories of legal documents. They should not be interpreted as a representative statistical study of the quality of Greek court judgments. Nevertheless, they illustrate how frequently source-text problems arise in our translation work. Some errors are relatively straightforward, while others require considerably more research to identify and understand. A judgment may refer to an incorrect article of legislation or contain an ambiguous statutory citation. There may also be inconsistencies in how a particular legal term is used. The translator must determine whether the apparent inconsistency has a reasonable explanation or whether there is a genuine problem in the Greek text.
In The legal translator as detective, I described an example from our translation work involving a reference to an article of the Greek Code of Civil Procedure. The provision cited in the document appeared to have no connection with the procedural steps being described. After checking the surrounding provisions and searching the Code, I eventually discovered that the reference related to an earlier version of the legislation. The source document had failed to make that historical context clear. Having identified the issue, I suggested that the instructing lawyer clarify the Greek wording. He agreed. The incident is a good illustration of the research that may be necessary to understand a legal text correctly. Given the successive amendments made to Greek legislation, consulting the current version of a statutory provision may sometimes be insufficient to establish the meaning of a historical reference.
Where a judgment contains an apparent error, the translator must preserve the integrity of the source text while drawing the issue to the attention of the instructing lawyer where appropriate. A careful translation process can therefore reveal problems which might otherwise remain unnoticed, particularly by clients who cannot consult the Greek original.
Why relying on AI-generated summaries of Greek judgments is risky
The ability to obtain an instant summary of a lengthy court judgment is understandably attractive. International clients may want an immediate answer to whether the proceedings have been successful, while foreign lawyers may need to understand the broad significance of a decision before speaking to their Greek counterparts. Generative AI systems appear to offer a convenient solution. A document can be uploaded and a short English summary requested in a matter of seconds. The difficulty lies in the reliability of that summary. Court judgments often depend on distinctions which can be lost when a lengthy text is compressed into a short narrative. A statutory exception may substantially qualify a legal proposition. The court may accept part of a party’s argument while rejecting another part. An apparently straightforward conclusion may depend on a particular interpretation of the facts or the application of a specific procedural rule. If a summary overlooks one of these qualifications, the reader may be left with an inaccurate understanding of the decision. There is also the risk that an automated system will fail to distinguish correctly between the parties’ submissions and the findings of the court. Greek judgments may reproduce the arguments advanced by litigants before explaining whether those arguments have been accepted. An AI-generated summary which attributes a rejected submission to the court would fundamentally misrepresent that part of the judgment.
These concerns are consistent with findings in the growing academic literature on automatic legal-document summarisation. In a 2024 study of large language models and generative systems for summarising court judgments, Aniket Deroy, Kripabandhu Ghosh and Saptarshi Ghosh examined systems using judgments from the supreme courts of the United Kingdom and India. Although generative systems performed relatively well according to conventional automatic evaluation metrics, closer examination identified inconsistencies in their summaries. The researchers concluded that further improvements were needed before such systems could be considered sufficiently reliable without detailed human checking. More recently, a 2026 review of legal-document summarisation research highlighted the difficulty of preserving the argumentative structure of judgments and the limitations of evaluation methods which primarily measure similarities in wording rather than legal accuracy.
Neither study, though, specifically evaluates Greek court judgments, but both identify problems relevant to the task of summarising complex judicial reasoning. The challenge is compounded when a Greek judgment is summarised directly into English. The system is then required to interpret the Greek legal text and produce a compressed account in another language, potentially concealing errors from readers who cannot independently verify the original.
For lawyers considering the implications of a judgment, a summary cannot provide the level of detail available in an accurate translation of the full text. The actual wording of the court’s reasoning may be central to understanding the decision and discussing possible further steps with Greek counsel.
What does research tell us about AI translation from Greek into English?
The limitations of automated translation in the Greek-English legal context have also been the subject of empirical research. In September 2026, Vilelmini Sosoni and I published a chapter in Springer’s International Handbook of Legal Language and Communication entitled Translating Normative Legal Texts: A Comparative Evaluation of Neural Machine Translation and Generative Artificial Intelligence Models in the Greek-English Language Pair. The study compared a neural machine translation system trained on legal-domain material with three generative AI models. We evaluated translations of two Greek property law texts, comprising planning legislation and a property sale agreement, using automatic translation-quality metrics alongside detailed human error analysis. Our findings were revealing. Accuracy errors predominated across the systems examined, and most were classified as major in severity. Although the generated English generally displayed adequate fluency, the generative AI models did not systematically outperform the specialist neural machine translation system.
These findings concern normative legal texts rather than court judgments. Their significance for the present discussion lies in the difficulties the systems encountered when translating specialised Greek legal concepts into English. The results reinforce the need to distinguish between an English text that reads fluently and one that faithfully communicates the legal meaning of its Greek source. A system may produce entirely natural English while selecting an inappropriate equivalent for a Greek procedural concept or failing to preserve an important qualification. Recognising such problems requires detailed knowledge of the source legal system and the ability to evaluate the translation against the original. Technology certainly has useful applications in legal translation, particularly in supporting research and maintaining terminological resources. However, the limitations identified in empirical studies call for considerable caution when using AI or machine translation to communicate the substance of court judgments.
At JurTrans, our approach to documents of this nature is based on establishing the meaning of the Greek text through specialist legal-linguistic analysis and producing an English translation whose accuracy can be carefully verified against the source.
Preparing Greek judgments and appeal documents for international readers
The usefulness of a Greek-English legal translation also depends on understanding the circumstances in which it will be read. For a Greek lawyer representing an international client, the primary objective may be to enable that client to understand the court’s decision and participate meaningfully in discussions about the case. Lawyers practising outside Greece may require more detailed access to the reasoning, particularly where the litigation has implications for their client’s commercial activities or wider legal affairs. In either situation, the translator benefits from understanding the purpose of the assignment. Where a judgment refers extensively to previous decisions or procedural documents, access to those materials may assist with the interpretation of terminology and the maintenance of consistency across the translations. The English text should also enable the reader to locate the corresponding material in the Greek original. This requires attention to the document’s structure, the identification of the parties and the reproduction of references to legislation and earlier decisions. Where only selected passages are translated, the extent of the translation should be clearly identified so that the reader is aware of the material covered. However, where the purpose is to understand the judgment as a whole, a complete translation is generally more useful than an abbreviated account which may omit context essential to the court’s reasoning. The appropriate scope should be agreed with the instructing lawyer, who remains responsible for determining how the translated document will be used in connection with the proceedings.
The value of specialist Greek-English legal translation expertise
At JurTrans, we have specialised in Greek-English legal and financial translation for three decades. Our work involves examining legal documents within their procedural and substantive context, with particular attention to terminology whose meaning depends on the structure of the Greek legal system. That experience is supported by formal legal education, university-level teaching experience and sustained involvement in academic research into legal translation.
Through our work on the Lex Graeca project, including the translation of major Greek codes (both substantive and procedural) into English, we have also developed extensive experience in researching Greek legal terminology and establishing consistent English renderings of concepts which are often inadequately covered by existing reference works.
We have translated many millions of words over those decades and have countless satisfied clients. These figures reflect the depth of experience accumulated across a broad range of legal assignments.
Our approach to translating Greek court judgments is informed by detailed familiarity with the intricacies of Greek law and an appreciation of how the English translation will be understood by lawyers accustomed to different legal systems.
We approach each text with the analytical mindset of a lawyer, examining the reasoning and procedural context before settling on the most appropriate English terminology. Equally important is close attention to detail. Statutory references are checked where necessary, potential inconsistencies are investigated and questions arising from the Greek original are raised with the instructing lawyer when clarification is required. This is supported by specialist legal reference resources, access to current legal databases and a commitment to the confidentiality of clients’ documents.
For international clients and their legal advisers, the objective is to provide an English translation which communicates the substance of the Greek judgment faithfully and allows the legal issues to be discussed on an informed basis.
Frequently asked questions about translating Greek court judgments
Does a Greek court judgment need to be translated in full?
The appropriate scope depends on why the translation is required. Where an international client or foreign lawyer needs to understand the complete reasoning and outcome of the proceedings, a full translation is generally the most useful option. Translations of selected passages may also be appropriate, provided their scope is clearly identified and agreed with the instructing lawyer.
Can AI summarise a Greek judgment accurately?
AI-generated summaries may provide preliminary orientation, but their reliability should not be assumed. Research into automated judgment summarisation has identified factual inconsistencies, while studies of Greek-English legal translation have found substantial accuracy errors in automated outputs. Where a judgment’s meaning is important, the original text and an accurate professional translation provide a more dependable basis for legal discussion.
What should be provided when commissioning a Greek court judgment translation?
Providing the complete Greek document and, where relevant, earlier decisions or existing translations can help the translator understand the procedural context and maintain consistent terminology. It is also useful to explain who will read the translation and whether particular cross-references or presentation requirements need to be preserved.
Greek court judgment and appeal translation services at JurTrans
Greek court judgments and appeals can be demanding documents to translate. Their legal meaning depends on the procedural context, the structure of judicial reasoning and the specialised terminology of Greek law.
For international clients and the lawyers advising them, an accurate English translation provides the basis for understanding what the Greek court has decided and discussing its significance with the Greek legal team.
JurTrans provides specialist Greek-English translation of court judgments, appeal documents and related litigation materials, drawing on decades of practical experience and academic research into legal language.
If you require an English translation of a Greek court judgment or documents relating to an appeal, please contact JurTrans or email info@jurtrans.com.
JurTrans is a specialist legal translation company and does not provide legal advice. This article addresses legal translation and communication issues for general information. Questions concerning legal rights, procedural remedies and the consequences of court decisions should be addressed to the lawyers responsible for the proceedings.
