Two different requirements, often confused
When a foreign creditor starts assembling a file, two separate document requirements tend to get lumped together as one worry: translation and legalisation (of which an apostille is one form). They answer different questions, they apply to different kinds of documents, and — for most B2B unpaid-invoice cases — only one of them ends up mattering at all.
- Translation asks: can the reader understand the language this document is written in?
- Legalisation / apostille asks: can the reader trust that a foreign public authority's signature or seal on this document is genuine?
Your contract, invoices and correspondence are private commercial documents, not public acts — they are never subject to legalisation or an apostille, whatever language they are in. Legalisation only becomes relevant for a narrow category of official documents, and mainly in procedures this firm's standard debt files rarely need. Translation is the item worth planning for, and it applies selectively, not to your entire file.
Translation: what needs it, and when
As explained in does not speaking French stop you suing a French debtor, French proceedings run in French. That does not mean every document in your file has to arrive in French from day one.
Usable as-is, at the outset
Contracts, invoices, purchase orders and correspondence in English are generally readable and usable by the firm from the start — for assessing the case, drafting a formal notice, and early strategy. No translation is needed simply to get the file moving.
Translated if and when a procedure requires it
If the case reaches a stage where a document has to be formally filed with a court as evidence, a certified translation into French may be required for that specific document. Which documents, and at what stage, depends on the procedure chosen — this is handled as part of case management, not decided by you in advance.
A certified translation in this context means one produced by a traducteur assermenté — a translator sworn in before a French Court of Appeal, whose translations are accepted by French courts and administrations without further formality. It is a distinct, regulated profession from ordinary translation work, and the firm arranges it when it is actually needed rather than asking you to source it yourself.
Commissioning a certified translation of your entire document set before a case even starts wastes time and money on documents that may never need to be filed — a formal notice or an early negotiation, for instance, requires none of it. The efficient sequence is: send documents as they are, let the firm identify which one specifically needs a certified translation, and only then commission it.
Legalisation and the apostille: a much narrower question
An apostille is a certificate, recognised between the states party to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961, confirming that a signature, seal or stamp on a public document was validly issued by the authority it claims to come from. It replaces a longer chain of consular legalisation between the countries that have adopted it.
It applies to public documents: things like a certificate issued by a company registry, a court record, or a notarised deed. It has no bearing on ordinary commercial paperwork — a contract signed between two businesses, an invoice, a delivery note or an email is a private document, apostille or no apostille, wherever it was signed.
Rarely relevant to this firm's files
Because your French attorney needs no power of attorney to represent you — see instructing a French lawyer without travelling to France — the one document that most often triggers apostille questions in other contexts simply does not exist in this process.
Where it can still come up
Occasionally a foreign public-registry extract confirming your own company's existence and good standing is useful evidence. If a document like that needs to be produced formally, the firm will tell you specifically what is required — it is the exception in a standard file, not the rule.
A practical checklist for what to send, as-is
For the overwhelming majority of files, this is the complete list — scans, in whatever language they exist in, with nothing pre-translated and nothing pre-legalised:
- The signed contract, framework agreement or purchase order
- All unpaid invoices
- Proof of delivery or completion — signed acceptance, delivery notes, confirmation emails
- Correspondence in which the debtor acknowledged the debt, promised payment, or raised an objection
- Your company's exact registered name and address
This mirrors the document set described in instructing a French lawyer from abroad. Anything beyond it — a certified translation, a specific certificate — is requested individually, only if and when the case actually needs it.
Frequently asked questions
No. Send them as they are. Invoices in English or another language are readable by the firm from the outset; translation, if it becomes necessary for a specific filing, is arranged later.
No. A commercial contract is a private document, not a public act, so apostille and legalisation rules do not apply to it regardless of where or in what language it was signed.
It is arranged and billed as a disbursement when a specific document actually requires it — the firm flags it in advance rather than commissioning it without notice. See timelines and costs for how disbursements fit into the overall cost picture.
Not at the outset. Send them as they are; the firm will identify whether and when a certified French translation of a specific document becomes necessary, whatever the source language.
For representation in a French court, yes — no power of attorney is required at all, apostilled or otherwise, because a French attorney is exempt by law from proving a mandate. That common assumption comes from practice in other jurisdictions, not from French procedure.
Scans are sufficient to start and run the overwhelming majority of files. If an original is ever needed at a later stage, the firm will tell you specifically which document and why.
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