Welcome to the Judicial Council of California Court Interpreters Program Ethics Refresher Training Module Five, Professionalism and Duty to the Profession. In this module, we will review how to demonstrate and maintain professionalism and grow your skills as an interpreter through continuing education. We will also discuss your duty to report impediments to your performance as an interpreter, as well as your duty to report ethical violations. Let's start with professionalism. Professionalism can be defined in many ways. It is the conduct and qualities that characterize a particular profession. It is the competence or skill expected of a professional. And it is the good judgment and polite behavior that is expected of a person who is trained to do a job well. As you know from experience, you interact with many individuals in your work. This includes judges and bench officers, court reporters, interpreter coordinators, court clerks and judicial assistants, bailiffs, attorneys, jury members, court users, members of the public, fellow interpreters, and many others. While it is not a matter of ethics per se, the professionalism and demeanor you show these individuals will go a long way in communicating and garnering respect for the work you do as a court interpreter, as well as a representative of the court system. It will also demonstrate your commitment and dedication to the profession and enhance the image of court interpreters as a whole. One way to demonstrate professionalism is by honoring your commitments. This means if you accept an interpreting assignment, you should plan to fulfill it. Not showing up or canceling at the last minute negatively impacts court operations. It may also impact the disposition and timely processing of cases by causing delays. Additionally, it reflects on your reputation as an interpreter. Before accepting an assignment, remember to ask yourself, can I commit to performing this interpretation? Am I the right interpreter for this assignment? Does my schedule allow for it? If the answer to any of these questions is no, politely decline as soon as possible so that the court can secure another interpreter. Keep in mind that you don't have to accept every assignment that comes along. When you were a new interpreter, you might have felt like you needed to accept all assignment requests. But as you know, interpreting is very challenging work. Exercise caution when accepting assignments that are close together. While booking as many assignments as you can may be attractive from an economic perspective, your interpreting ability may suffer for it. Instead, you may need to block off time to help you recover from the mental fatigue of one assignment and prepare for the next. This is particularly true for remote assignments, where logistics don't impede your ability to get to another physical location, but the assignment itself will still take a toll. Another way to demonstrate professionalism is by being on time. When you accept an assignment, be sure to find out the exact name of the courthouse where you will be interpreting, who to contact in case of any issues, including their title, phone number, and email address, and the name of the specific location or department in the courthouse where you are assigned. Also ask what time you are expected to arrive at the assignment. Be sure to leave sufficient time for travel, going through security screening, and getting to your location. You may even want to arrive early to give yourself additional time to get prepared. If you've never been to a particular courthouse before, you may want to plan to arrive even earlier than you would otherwise. Keep these issues in mind too if called to interpret at an attorney's office, doctor's office for a qualified medical examination, or other location. You can also show professionalism by being prepared. One way to do this is by having any equipment or supplies with you that you may need. This includes any note-taking and reference materials. If you will be interpreting remotely, you may need additional information or equipment. This may be true if you will be remote, meaning interpreting from another location inside the courthouse or from home, or if you will be interpreting on-site, but another party is appearing remotely. Be sure to watch the modules on video remote interpretation for information on how to prepare for these situations. Another thing you can do to be prepared is find out as much about the case beforehand as possible. Using any extra time you have available before your assignment, ask the court clerk or judicial officer to allow you to review the case files. If you're interpreting for an out-of-court assignment, ask the attorney hiring you to provide you with relevant information, such as important pleadings in the case. This will help you prepare for any names, dates, or general scenario of events that may come up in the case. General or subject-specific terminology. Common details, like names of towns or streets or makes and models of cars. Instructions that will be read to the jury for jury trials, and documents that you may have to site translate. Even with a court assignment, you may also request this information from attorneys if there is counsel on the case. This will help you in your ability to provide, to the best of your ability, a smooth, complete, and accurate interpretation. If possible, you may also request of the attorney a pre-appearance interview with the client, as discussed in module one. When finding out details about your assignment, you should also ask whether you will be working with any other interpreters. For example, you might be paired with another interpreter in your language for a lengthy or complex hearing. If you will be part of an interpreting team, ask for the other interpreter's contact information so that you can meet with each other in advance. During this meeting, you'll want to identify certain things, like when to switch off as the active interpreter, such as after 20 or 30 minutes, how to initiate switches, such as through a hand gesture, sitting down, or after once the prescribed time interval is reached, how you and your colleague would like to be fed terminology while in the active interpreting role, how to handle breaks, and how to handle errors and corrections. Keep in mind that when not in the active interpreter role, you should be fully focused on your teammate's interpretation, supporting them as necessary. You can also use this opportunity to become familiar with each other and understand each other's experience level with team interpreting, familiarity with any specialized terminology, and comfort level with any technology. This can give you the opportunity to support your teammate as well as to receive any support you might need. When interacting with fellow interpreters, it is important to demonstrate an attitude of cooperation and mutual respect. This means supporting each other and fostering a community of goodwill, not criticizing or bad-mouthing each other to others. If you have concerns about a particular colleague's interpretation skills or other problematic behavior, discuss them with the interpreter coordinator, or if available, start with a supervising or more senior interpreter on your team. Remember that you are all in the same profession with the same goal of helping LEP and deaf and hard of hearing individuals have meaningful access to the court. You are also officers of the court representing the court system as a whole. Collaborating and cooperating to make each other stronger interpreters benefits all. Sharing knowledge and creating a community of support also help shape and advance the field of court interpreting. Of course, as we've just mentioned, supporting your fellow interpreters does not mean you shouldn't address any serious concerns or issues within the context of interpreting. For example, while team interpreting, you may note a substantive error in the interpretation. If you do notice a colleague's error, always handle it with professionalism. First, consider the gravity of the error. If it affects the purpose of the statement in English or the other language, you will want to intervene. To do this, it would be ideal to ask the court for a moment to confer with your colleague. For example, you might say, your honor, may the interpreter have a moment to confer with their colleague? Then talk with your colleague, and if your colleague agrees, allow them to correct the record. If they disagree, the interpretation stands. Conference with your colleague should be, if possible, at the time the error was made, so that it can be corrected before testimony continues if necessary. If not possible, it can be after the fact, and then the court should correct the record. Interpreters should follow professional protocol for correcting their colleague. Ideally, this should be discussed ahead of time in a pre-meeting to identify how corrections should be made. Note that in extreme cases, such as if the error is material and your colleague disagrees with your correction, you may want to indicate to the judge that there's a disagreement as to a material term between the two of you, so that the judge may address it in whichever way he or she deems appropriate. Or you may want to discreetly raise the issue with the attorney when appropriate. In addition to conducting themselves in a professional and ethical manner, court interpreters are also required to complete continuing education requirements. California Rules of Court Rule 2.890-G memorializes the importance of continuing education. It states, an interpreter must, through continuing education, maintain and improve his or her interpreting skills and knowledge of procedures used by courts, and, A, an interpreter should seek to elevate the standards of performance of the interpreting profession. One area to continue developing your skills is language knowledge. It is impossible to predict what may come up in a hearing. That is why you must consistently strive to expand your knowledge of general and specialized vocabulary. Language also evolves, and so you must stay abreast of modern colloquialisms, slang, and other ways of speaking. Additionally, immigration and resettlement trends can shift, and you might encounter different regionalisms and dialects more frequently. It is critical to be aware of these developments and consistently grow in your language knowledge and skills. It is also important to maintain and upgrade your interpreting skills. This means continually working to improve your abilities in retention, concentration, and delivery. And if you notice you lack confidence in a certain skill area, such as note-taking, perform exercises that help you practice that skill. For example, you may want to take classes that focus on note-taking best practices. If you are less versed in one mode of interpretation, such as consecutive, practice that mode and the underlying skills, and focus on continuing education classes that will help you perfect those tools. It is also necessary to grow your understanding of different case types. This includes what types of cases may be heard, how they flow through the court system, and what terminology may be associated with each. This is particularly true in civil court, where you may be called on to interpret for many different types of legal matters. These can cover a wide range of proceedings, from depositions regarding financial solvency to trials involving disputes over home or auto repair. With this comes the need to understand not only how these cases flow through court, but also specialized terminology on a diverse range of subjects. For interpreters who have primarily worked in criminal matters, civil cases may present many new challenges in terminology, procedure, and the type of parties to interpret for, like self-represented litigants who are very rare in criminal court. One possible resource you may consult, if available, is your court's self-help center. Staff there can assist you with learning about the different case types and the steps involved with each. They can also help familiarize you with terms that are associated with different case types and how the parties are referred to, such as petitioner versus movant or respondent. In addition, they can help you locate existing online resources to explain civil terminology and procedure, as well as glossaries, including in other languages. They will also be familiar with which court processes are likely to involve interpreters, what common pleadings are filed for those particular proceedings, and help you locate judicial counsel forms you can familiarize yourself with ahead of time to be prepared for these proceedings. Many court forms have also been translated into Spanish and other languages. Your court's self-help center can easily help you access those. Please review further civil court modules and resources for more information on this topic. Court interpreters must also take it upon themselves to learn and stay abreast of changes in technology and their use in interpretation. For example, courts are increasingly using new technologies to support court operations. This may include allowing for remote appearances. Should you provide interpretation remotely, you will need to learn to use new technologies, but also educate yourself on certain ethical dilemmas that are unique to remote environments. Be sure to watch the modules on video remote interpreting to give yourself a robust understanding of ethical dilemmas related to remote interpreting. Of course, while you should be adequately prepared for any assignment you are given, there may be situations that preclude you from providing a proper interpretation. For instance, you may lack familiarity with the vocabulary, regionalism, or dialect, or you have life experiences that affect your ability to remain neutral. As discussed in module two, it is your ethical responsibility and duty to report any impediments to your ability to interpret, even if it means assigning another interpreter to the event. Remember, it is always better to step down from your duties than be disqualified because you have taken on an assignment that is beyond your abilities. We have provided examples throughout other modules of how to identify and report an impediment to your performance. So make sure you remain aware during any assignment you're performing and report in a timely manner, whether your interpretation is being compromised in any manner. You must also maintain awareness of personal impediments to your performance. For instance, hearing loss of any kind, issues with memory, or declines in your interpreting skills should be recognized and handled appropriately. Court interpreters also have the duty to report ethical violations. Under California rule of court, rule 2.890, you must report to proper authority any effort to induce or encourage you to violate any statute, rule, regulation, or policy that governs court interpreting. For example, if you hear an interpreter colleague engage with a party outside a courtroom and provide legal advice, or perhaps give the litigant their business card and encourage the litigant to call them, you have a duty to report these violations. Appropriate authorities to whom to report ethical violations include the judge or bench officer assigned to the case, the court interpreter coordinator, the supervising attorney, or the presiding judge of the court. Failure to report ethical violations could result in disciplinary action under the California Court Interpreter Credential Review Procedures linked in the resource document, enacted in January 2020, and provided as a resource in this training. These procedures establish a process by which the Judicial Council of California's Court Interpreters Program may review allegations of misconduct or malfeasance against certified and registered interpreters. If warranted, sanctions may be imposed, which may include revocation of an interpreter's credential. A link to the California Court Interpreter Credential Review Procedures can be found in the document that accompanies this training. Be sure to read through these procedures, including the grounds for sanctions. You yourself should also never engage in any activity that would constitute an ethical breach. Doing so could result in personal legal liability. It could also initiate a review of your credentials under the California Court Interpreter Credential Review Procedures as just discussed. Now that we've reviewed professionalism and duty to the profession, it's time to practice what you've learned. Let's take a look at a few scenarios and see how you would handle them. You are team interpreting with another interpreter for a defendant in a lengthy trial. During their turn as the active interpreter, your interpreting partner makes an error in their interpretation. What, if anything, do you do? First, consider the gravity of the error. If it affects the substance of the statement in English or the other language, you may ask the judge for a moment to confer with your colleague. If your colleague agrees with your observations, allow them to correct the record. If they disagree, their interpretation stands. You are interpreting for a self-represented litigant with whom you were not able to conduct a pre-appearance interview. During the proceeding, the litigant uses unclear Spanish and you suspect they speak an indigenous language or regional dialect. What, if anything, do you do? Inform the court if you have any doubts about your linguistic expertise or ability to provide an accurate interpretation. This may include explaining to the judge that the litigant speaks another dialect or regional variation, and that an interpreter with this specific linguistic knowledge would be needed. We hope this module helped refresh your understanding of the importance of professionalism as a court interpreter. For more information, refer to the resource sheet that accompanies these videos.

professionalism

interpreting

ethical violations

continued education

teamwork