Effective Collaboration with Interpreters: Best Practices for Representing Limited English Proficiency Clients (On-Demand)

Course Description

This course provides attorneys with essential best practices for handling cases involving clients or witnesses with limited English proficiency. Topics include understanding language rights, securing competent interpreters for out-of-court communications, and navigating interpreted testimony during legal proceedings. The course also covers the process of qualifying an interpreter as an expert under Daubert, strategies for challenging opposing party interpreters, and how to preserve potential language-based errors for appeals. Through practical guidance, this course ensures attorneys are well-equipped to manage linguistic challenges and safeguard their clients’ rights.

Syllabus

1. Know your client’s language rights (a moving target in today’s legal and regulatory environment)
2. Securing a competent interpreter in your client’s native language for out-of-court communications
3. Ground rules for interpreted testimony
4. Securing a competent team of court-appointed interpreters
5. Qualifying the interpreter as an expert under Daubert
6. How to effectively challenge opposing party’s interpreter (if necessary)
7. Preserving errors for possible language-based appeals