Catherine Gilsenan Mar 1, 2011:

I just meant to emphasise, as has been already stated, the order in which steps are taken, i.e. expert advice first, then arbitration.

AllegroTrans Feb 28, 2011:

Why do we need to look at legal system Catherine? If there is (perhaps) one thing that might help us a titchy bit (although I doubt it) it would be the sentences before and after the one in the question.

Catherine Gilsenan Feb 27, 2011:

As has previously been stated in the discussion Expert (advice) is a first step towards resolving any dispute relating to the Contract, prior to arbitration.
We need to look at the legal system.

Cristina Talavera Feb 26, 2011:

True Allegro, and the source text is in Spanish so...but I think we are also interpreting the phrase differently (which is the reason of my discussion, not the vocabulary); the presen tense works fine for previous too, they're just explaining that The Expert is the process = instancia preceding = previa the arbitrage process. (of course the party/s could decide not to go through arbitrage after hearing what the expert has to say, but -in my interpretation- that's irrelevant); anyhow...it's late here,...enjoy the rest of your evening

AllegroTrans Feb 26, 2011:

The issue seems to be (unless I am mistaken) Mediamatrix and myself are approaching this as native English speakers and Cristina is approaching it as a native Spanish speaker.
All the discussion about the mechanism and Black's law dict (which is nothing more than a resource) does not alter the way English should be used. Translating the asker's text into natural English demands "first step" (or, conceivably action/procedure/etc.) and we would not speak of "previous" unless we were speaking "historically" which this text is NOT, since it uses the present tense ("El Experto es una instancia previa...").

Cristina Talavera Feb 26, 2011:

the term "instancia" can accommodate several meanings and/or concepts. Here I understand instancia (instance, see Black's law dict USA) as the actions / proceedings (as per The Contract); so: The Expert is an action / process / procedure / step required to have gone through (instancia previa as opposed to primera instancia) before entering the arbitrage process / procedure. Of course, there is also another interpretation: first see if the expert can resolve, if not go to arbitrage; but in general the expert is someone that gives their expert opnion on something, not someone who resolves anything...much like kudoz: the askers submit their conflicts to us "experts", then make their decision; before they resolve they go to the experts...the experts opinion might or might not be useful, but for the asker it was a necessary step (prerequiste) to resolving

Cristina Talavera Feb 26, 2011:

but there is a subsquent step, or rather to take the step of arbitrage you first -but in the sense of 'before going to arbitrage' must have done the expert thing; no? wish we had more context...

mediamatrix (X) Feb 26, 2011:

Source of confusion? Some colleagues here seem to be confusing 'previous' with 'prior'. 'Previous' is incorrect here, for reasons given elsewhere on this page. 'Prior' might be a valid option, given very careful wording, although 'prior' necessitates the existence (at least, the strong likelihood of) a subsequent step (in much the same way as 'previous' doesn't work without a 'next').

Also, I really don't see how "El Experto es una instancia previa para ..." can be read as a 'prerequisite', especially in a contract where there are various standard formulations available to Spanish lawyers that express the concept of 'prerequisite' in a much more straightforward fashion.

Cristina Talavera Feb 26, 2011:

as I see it: submitting to (or whatever) The Expert is a PRErequisite for, as opposed to "the first step in case of conflict", which could be construed as meaning first try to solve via expert, then go to arbitrage...

Cristina Talavera Feb 26, 2011:

of course, but each country has its own legal (esp legal) expressions; (it is how I handle my translations) and although initially I thought María Eugenia's answer not correct (didn't see beyond obvious def for previous), I now think that it is: "...the previous step TO arbitrage is...", as I also think is her translation -and wording. The phrase says exactly that: "...The Expert is the previous (and as per my understanding a condition) step to / before arbitrage" obviously my sentence is a literal translation for explanatory. It is the first thing to do previous to the recourse of arbitrage -specifically; maybe other procedures / processes are not conditioned to submit to expert consult / determ, whatever they mean ...;

AllegroTrans Feb 26, 2011:

@ Talavera I don't think target country is anything to do with this; the target language is English and we (all of us, Brits, Americans, Aussies, the lot) would say "first step". Mediamatrix explained it perfectly in his "disagree" to "previous step".

Cristina Talavera Feb 26, 2011:

El concepto es, tal y como explica Allegro, el primer paso (entiendo obligatorio) antes de; pero la traducción realmente depende del contexto y del país target; parece un condicionamiento de proceso a seguir en caso de conflicto, pero no sabemos si es expert submission, consulting, et al

SanchoP (asker) Feb 26, 2011:

No That's how it is written (copy/paste). It just means that the parties must first submit their dispute to an expert before proceeding to arbitration. I'm just working on the phrasing: "The Expert is the initial instance for resolving any controversy arising from the Contract prior to commencing arbitration"?

David Hollywood Feb 26, 2011:

you

David Hollywood Feb 26, 2011:

why do put the "experto" with a capital (is it a program?)