Language of Justice
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until May 1st, 2023.
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About the Course
After taking the course, you’ll be able to work as a non-court Professional Legal Interpreter for law firms, government agencies, law enforcement, and other clients within the legal field. Engage with a live, experienced instructor. This classroom-based learning experience is taught by a dedicated, live instructor who has experience in legal and court interpretation. This course takes place in a virtual classroom setting conducted over Zoom.
The Need: If interpreters perform legal interpretation incorrectly, many dangerous consequences could take place with devastating outcomes. For example, the client could:
- Be deported.
- Lose urgently needed benefits for which the client is eligible; food stamps, SSI, TANF or Medical Assistance.
- Go to prison.
- Be suspended from school.
- Lose child support, driver’s license/state identification card, or a job.
- Go back to a situation of domestic abuse.
Both community and court interpreters need guidance on how to perform effective legal interpreting in community settings. Unlike the courtroom, most legal interpreting in the community is collaborative, not adversarial. Examples may include interpreting for:
- An attorney at a domestic violence center.
- A medical exam requested by an insurance company following a car accident.
- Immigration services provided by a lawyer or paralegal.
- A child abuse or neglect investigation by Child Protective Services.
- Special Education meetings in school settings.
What You'll Learn
There are 3 core components that the course will cover:
- Procedures and Ethics – Understand relevant codes of ethics, and apply a code of ethics and standards of practice to ethical dilemmas and simulated encounters.
- Linguistic Mediation – Learn when and how to provide linguistic mediation, model steps for linguistic mediation, and develop linguistic mediation techniques and strategies.
- Interpreting for Legal Services – Learn the U.S. Legal System, how to handle requests from clients and attorneys, and the terminology required for non-courtroom legal interpreting.
This course is three days of instruction (a total of 24 hours).
Course Instructor
Qualification Goals
Requirements
Syllabus
Acceptable Proficiency Exam Results
Frequently Asked Questions
No, upon completing this course, you may call yourself a qualified legal interpreter(QLI) in non-court settings. For details on becoming a Certified Court Interpreter, please go to the following link.
LOJ is a 24-hour certificate course, all of which must be completed in the classroom. This interactive course is taught over three full days (8 hours each day) and meets 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Homework will be assigned. You should plan to spend at least 1 to 2 hours outside of class, for homework and review, for each day of class.
LOJ is a 24-hour certificate course, all of which must be completed in the classroom. This interactive course is taught over three full days (8 hours each day) and meets 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Homework will be assigned. You should plan to spend at least 1 to 2 hours outside of class, for homework and review for each day of class.
Legal interpreting outside the courtroom can occur in many settings. Most are less formal than a courtroom, and distinct in other ways. Such settings may include law enforcement, nonprofit community services, government agencies, schools and health care. For example:
- Attorney-client meetings
- Immigration services
- Interrogations by police officers
- Mediation and arbitration
- School board hearings and some special education services or meetings
- Office of Human Rights investigations
- Social services settings (e.g., Child Protective Services investigations; vulnerable adult abuse, etc.)
- Legal services in domestic violence cases
- Sexual assault services that involve legal proceeding
- Divorce and custody consultations
- Sight translation of legal documents
What our students say
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