Category: Business Spanish Courses Online – Legal Spanish Tips

Masculine noun. Board of directors of certain associations, parties, etc. The chairman of the board is called el/la presidente del directorio, and the CEO is el/la director/a ejecutivo/a, who is usually also a member of el directorio. E.g.: La designación del director ejecutivo se efectuará por un periodo limitado y renovable: The appointment of the CEO is made for a limited, renewable period. dc

Feminine plural noun. Essential expenses that must be paid during a judicial process. They include: 1. The fees of the lawyer, called honorarios in Spanish. 2.The fee of the expert (perito en Spanish), if necessary, and also called honorarios. 3. The fee of the procurator, when their intervention is required. 3. Court notifications, copies, documents, testimonies, etc. 4. Insertion of advertisements or edicts. 5. Duties such as the notary’s payment. 6. Compensation to witnesses. 7. Other expenses generated directly by the judicial process itself.
E.g.: La Directiva sobre asistencia jurídica que tenemos es tan limitada que no ayuda a cubrir las costas judiciales en estos casos: The Legal Aid Guidelines that we have is so minimal that it will not help with legal costs in these sorts of cases.
The verb with the same root but not used in the same context is costear and the adjective is costoso/a/s. dc

Feminine noun. Public sale of goods that is made to the highest bidder, and regularly by mandate and with the intervention of a judge or other authority. E.g.: Pujé por un famoso cuadro en la subasta: I bid for a famous painting at the auction. The verb is subastar.
An almost perfect synonym of subasta is remate, masculine noun. For example, Christie’s can be called casa de remates or casa de subastas. Paraphrasing Borges, shall I confess that I -moved by that most sincere of Argentinian passions- snobbery, personally would use remate when it is a private action and subasta when there is the intervention of a judge or an authority. So, casa de remates is my choice; but, nothing prevents you to use them interchangeably. The verb is rematar. dc

Sucursal. Feminine noun. Establishment located in a different place than the central one on which it depends that performs the same functions as this one. E.g.: Tarjeta Lider Bci lanza nuevo formato de sucursal: Tendrá kiosco de autoatención: Lider Bci card launches new branch format: It will have a self-service kiosk.
Flilial. Adjective, also used as a feminine noun. Company owned or controlled by another company called empresa matriz. E.g.: Así pues, la presión fiscal efectiva de una filial de una empresa matriz en un país depende esencialmente de dónde esté situada dicha filial: Thus, the effective tax burden of a subsidiary of a parent company in one country depends crucially on where that subsidiary is located.
Please note that the term rama (branch), usually followed by the adjective local, can also be used but not in a business context: Una rama local del llamado Estado Islámico se declaró culpable de los ataques: A local branch of the so-called Islamic State pleaded guilty to the attacks. dc

Adjective. Foreign, strange. From the Latin foraneus (external, from outside), and this one from foras (outside). With the same root we have the terms, fuera (adverb), afuera (adverb), afueras (feminine plural noun), forastero (adjective mainly used as a noun), etc. The latin term forum, from which we have foro, refers to an external public place. Remember that the term ‘foreing currency’ is usually translated into Spanish as divisa extranjera, although I think the adjective extranjera in this case is redundant, as the term divisa refers always to a foreign currency. That’s why we say mercado de divisas: forex market.
In legal and business Spanish, we will see this term in expressions such as ley foránea, juez foráneo, derecho foráneo, inversiones foráneas, etc.: E.g.: Creció inversión foránea 2.6% en primer semester: Foreign investment grew 2.6% in the first semester.
On another note, we have an interesting term with the same root: huraño: bearish, shy; but I cannot find the connection. dc

Feminine noun. Foreign currency referred to the unit of the country in question. Usually used in plural. E.g.: Dólar hoy: a cuánto abrió la divisa el martes 24 de agosto: Dollar today: how much the currency opened at on Tuesday, August 24.
We have the term mercado de divisas: forex market.
We also have the verb divisar, ’to spot, to perceive’, but it is not relatated to the noun divisa. By the way, the English verb ‘to devise’ is translated into Spanish as inventar, crear, planear. dc