Created in 2006 in Paris, HL TRAD offers a wide range of linguistic services, including translation and interpretation, exclusively dedicated to the law and finance industries. HL TRAD’s philosophy is to consistently ‘find solutions to any client request’.
With its extensive network of over 3,000 translators and interpreters specialised in law and finance, HL TRAD is able to offer translation and interpretation services in all languages, whilst meeting the requirements of its numerous and prestigious international clients (banks, law firms, consultants and the legal and financial departments of large corporations).
Its success is based on an exemplary level of service that can be described in four points: specialisation, responsiveness, reliability and deadline compliance.
Over a period of a few years only, HL TRAD has become a leading player on the European market by opening several foreign offices: Brussels in 2007, London in 2009, Geneva in 2013, Amsterdam in 2015 and Milan & Frankfurt in 2016.
Finance Monthly had the privilege of talking to Eric Le Poole – HL TRAD’s President, who introduces us to his role, accomplishments and goals for the future development of the company.
What motivates you most about your position and assisting clients from the financial and legal industries?
The needs of law and finance professionals in tailored translation services have not yet been fully addressed by competitors who do not provide a dedicated, specialised offer. Over the past 11 years, HL TRAD has distinguished itself from its competitors by positioning itself as a translation service specialist in the fields of Law and Finance, continuously aiming to simplify their procurement 7 days a week. The less time law and finance professionals spend on managing language services, the more time they will have for their clients. Such specialised offer is unique on the market of language services.
What goals did you arrive with as the President of HL TRAD?
From the beginning and up until now, I have had 2 major goals in mind for HL TRAD: 1) to be a “niche player” on the translation market with a specialised offer, and 2) to follow a globalised international strategy right from the start.
The opening of a new office in London in 2009, aimed to consolidate HL TRAD’s presence in the UK, while addressing the specific needs of UK Law & Finance specialists with a dedicated office in London.
What have been your biggest achievements so far and how have they impacted the company?
Clients in the legal sector have extremely high expectations when it comes to quality, competitive pricing, fast turnaround and availability. HL TRAD has taken such expectations into consideration to develop its biggest achievements on the following aspects:
- Quality: establishment of an in-house quality control department + increase of our network of translators specialised in their field of expertise (from 50 freelancers at the beginning to + 3,000 specialists today).
- Competitive pricing & Fast turnaround:
- implementation of a dedicated software to integrate all the different parts of a project’s “life cycle” (from the quote up to the invoice). This new software allows HL TRAD to increase its productivity by 10%, and thus offer very competitive prices to clients.
- use of the latest CAT technology (latest edition of SDL Trados Studio) which enables to recycle any content that has already been translated for a specific client, who will thus benefit from fast turnaround and savings from 10% to 75% on translation costs over time.
- 24/7 availability: availability by email or over the phone now seven days a week, and quote answer time reduced from 2 hours to 1 hour last year.
Thanks to these achievements, HL TRAD now ranks amongst the world's top 100 leading translation companies, according to the report published in July 2016 by Common Sense Advisory (CSA).
What potential for growth do you see for HL TRAD? Looking into 2017 and beyond, what do you anticipate for the company?
HL TRAD has had a 20%-30% growth per year over the past five years, and forecasts a turnaround of EUR 11m-12m this year.
In the coming year, HL TRAD plans to expand in the Nordic countries and Spain. In the long-term, it could enter the US and Asian markets, each organically.
