Interpreting in the legal setting is a long-recognized area of specialization in the field of ASL-English interpreting. Tradition from the field of spoken language interpreting and legal community contribute to the conventional way legal interpreting work is performed.  As well, practices have been conceived by ASL-English interpreter practitioners over time through a process of application of theory drawn from the profession’s scholarship.  As more scholarship and research emerge, practices evolve, improve and change.  The NCIEC Legal Interpreting work team seeks to further this process by building a series of expert, practitioner, educator and consumer partnerships that stimulate the open exchange of ideas, experiences and knowledge that deepen our understanding of the work of interpreters in legal and court settings.

To date, the efforts of this work team have resulted in the following:

• Nine focus groups totaling over 150 interpreters specializing in the legal and court setting who identified their training needs and priorities, and resources that would support their work.  Three focus groups were comprised of interpreters who are deaf.
• Meeting of an expert work team of 16 individuals who worked collaboratively to identify best practices, unique competencies and literature and resources useful to the teaching and practice of legal interpreting.
• A national survey of 178 interpreters specializing in legal and court interpreting related to the competencies and best practices of interpreters in this setting.
• Development of a Competencies of Interpreters Specializing in Legal and Court Interpreting document that details the skills, knowledge and attributes necessary for effective work in these settings.
• Development of a Best Practices of ASL-English Interpreters in Legal and Court Settings document detailing 24 best practices to employ when working in legal and court settings—including law enforcement.
• Fact Sheets for use in educating the judiciary about unique elements of working with sign language interpreters in legal and court settings—such as Deaf interpreters as part of a team, team interpreting, unique linguistic considerations of Deaf litigants, and general staffing considerations.
• Development of a 100+ page Deaf Interpreters in Court brief analyzing the use of Deaf individuals as interpreters by examining state law, case law and best practices. This is an excellent tool for educating the judiciary.
• An annotated bibliography of literature and resources useful to the teaching and practice of legal interpreting.
• Sponsorship of five national training events for interpreters specializing in legal and court interpreting—2006 and 2009 Iron Sharpens Iron Conferences (2), 2009 SC:L Preparation Training, 2009 RID Convention Presentation on Best Practices, and the 2010 NAJIT Conference.

Download Resources

Best Practices: ASL and English Interpretation within Legal Settings

Deaf Interpreters in Court: An accomodation that is more than reasonable

The Application of Demand Control Schema (DC-S) to the Observation of Interpreting in the Legal Setting (PowerPoint presentation in PDF)

The State of Our Art - RID 2009 (PowerPoint presentation in PDF)

The State of Our Art - RID 2009 Discussion questions

Conceptualizing a Framework for Specialization in ASL-English Interpreting: A report of project findings and recommendations

Legal Interpreting Bibliography

Fact Sheets

American Sign Language Interpreter Teams

Deaf Interpreters as Reasonable Accomodations

Linguistic Considerations of Deaf Litigants

Placement of Sign Language Interpreters in Court

Tips for Sign Language Interpreted Proceedings

Working with Sign Language Interpreters in Court

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