Browse Freelancers

James Nolan

Professional/Personal Overview

James Nolan received his Juris Doctor degree with distinction (Woodrow Wilson Award for Proficiency in Constitutional Law) from New York Law School and is a graduate of the School of Translation and Interpretation of the University of Geneva (Peter Price Translation Award). Dr. Nolan is admitted to the New York Bar and has practiced law in New York City. He has worked as a linguist for several major New York firms, including Davis Polk & Wardwell and The Garden City Group, (the leading U.S. class action administration firm), as Head of Linguistic Services of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, as UN Senior Interpreter, as Deputy Director of the UN Interpretation, Meetings and Publications Division, and as Chief of the UN Verbatim Reporting Service.

Dr. Nolan has taught in the United Nations interpreter training program and has given lectures, courses and seminars on interpretation at New York University, the University of Ottawa, Glendon College, Marymount Manhattan College, the Monterey Institute of International Studies, Howard University and the Universidad de Belgrano. He is a Court Interpreter Examiner for the Consortium for State Court Interpreter Certification and a consultant to the Canadian Forces Language School and the Canadian Language Industries Association (AILIA). Dr. Nolan's textbook Interpretation Techniques and Exercises (PDF) is used for interpreter training at European and American universities and by the European Parliament and the OECD Mission in Kosovo, and is cited as a study reference for the United Nations Interpreters' Examination. His English-Spanish/Spanish-English Pocket Legal Dictionary, part of a series of bilingual legal dictionaries for which Dr. Nolan serves as consultant, was published by Hippocrene Publishers, New York, in 2008.

Work Samples

Editing of translation of decision of appellate court of Geneva of 13 September 2002 for Pace Law School Institute of International Commercial Law (French > English)

Translation of article, "The first decisions applying the Hamburg Rules," by David Morán Bovio, Professor of Commercial Law, University of Cádiz, Spain (Former Chairman of UNCITRAL working group on contract practices), for Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly (Part 3, August 1997, pp. 351-358) (Spanish > English)

Translation of article "Population Policy in Mexico," by former President Miguel de la Madrid, for Population and Development Review, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Jun., 1982) (Spanish > English)

Development of a course in basic interpreting skills for military escort interpreters accompanying Canadian peacekeeping contingents, 2007: see course outline at: http://www.dlielc.org/bilc/ConferenceNote/2007/Canada_2.ppt (PowerPoint)

Development of advanced course in interpretation for language staff of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo

Translation (English > Spanish) of film script of UNICEF promotional film "Wake Up, World!"

Interpretation of Lecture & Discussion by Mirabal Sisters, Middlebury College, Vermont (English<>Spanish)