Courts step up efforts to improve interpreting

Increasing diversity in communities throughout New York state is creating a growing need for interpreters in the court system.

Recognizing that, the Unified Court System has re-established its Advisory Committee on Court Interpreting and just released an update of its 2006 action plan, which began an ambitious effort to improve the quality and manner in which court interpreting services were provided.

“New York continues as a leader among the state court systems in meeting the needs of persons with limited English language proficiency and those with hearing disabilities,” Chief Administrative Judge Ann Pfau said in an introduction to the new action plan. “Our interpreting program is larger in scope and more generous in its provision of services than in any other judiciary in the nation.”

New Yorkers, according to the report, speak more than 150 different languages and dialects. More than 30 percent — or nearly 5 million people — speak a language other than English at home.

Last year, the state used more than 1,000 interpreters, including 300 on staff, in its courts interpreting in 105 different languages, primarily in Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Russian and Haitian Creole.

The Seventh Judicial District, headquartered in Monroe County, has its own interpreting unit staffed by four full-time people who speak Spanish — which makes up the bulk of interpreting needs according to Michael J. DeVito, principal management analyst who supervises the district’s court reporters and interpreters.

The county has also budgeted $278,000, including travel costs, for the services of outside interpreters, accessed through a database maintained by the state that provides training and certification.

Remote access is also available, which is particularly helpful in rural areas and has cut down on time and travel expenses.

For instance, if a Spanish-speaking litigant in Steuben County needed an interpreter, one of the interpreters in Monroe County had to take the time to travel to one of the farthest reaches of the district.

Now, there are video conference rooms where an interpreter can sit in Rochester and remotely interpret for a litigant in Bath through the use of mobile video units. The quality and efficiency continues to improve with advancing technology. Originally remote interpreting was done telephonically and later adapted for video.

“The court, for well over the last decade, has built a very strong technology network,” said Ronald W. Pawelczak, the district’s executive director who noted every courtroom in the district has video capability

Outside interpreters, except for American Sign Language, are paid per diem rates for a $140 for half or $250 for a full day. Signers are paid an hourly rate.

DeVito said remote interpreting was used 58 times in 2010, representing about 20 percent of the statewide usage of more than 300 interpreters.

“We were really the pioneering district to use remote interpreting on a districtwide basis,” he said, noting the service started locally with 12 matters in 2005.

DeVito, who has been with the state court system for 35 years, served on an Interpreting Development Committee that looked at the challenges of providing equal court access to non-English speaking people and helped to create some of the protocol used before the state issued its 2006 action plan.

“We’ve always been bringing in interpreters,” Pawelczak said. “The court has an obligation. In order to ensure equal access to justice, we provide interpreting … so language doesn’t act as a barrier.”

The second highest need is for American Sign Language, followed by Vietnamese, Arabic and Russian.

DeVito said the Seventh Judicial District is also unique in that it is the only one outside of New York City to have its own interpreting unit that coordinates and schedules services for courts throughout the district as needed. The unit is run by Mary Shah, the senior court interpreter who is instrumental in scheduling.

Judges, operating computers from their benches, are able to communicate with the paid staffers and schedule appearances instantaneously.

“Mike and his staff do a wonderful job coordinating all the interpreters,” Pawelczak said. “I think it goes to show how globalization has affected our world in that we have so many nationalities in our community now.”

The increasing diversity also comes with new challenges. DeVito said the greatest is trying to meet the needs, particularly as new languages are presented for which they may not be able to easily find an interpreter, as with the increasing numbers of immigrants from different parts of Asia and Africa.

“The economic circumstances that face the state and the court system are very different now than five years ago when the action plan was first conceived,” Judge Pfau notes. “Despite these difficult fiscal challenges, we remain fully committed to the principles and goals that gave rise to the action plan.”

The state provides training for interpreters and has enhanced it testing qualifications. New judges and court employees also receive training, which has been strengthened in the last five years. In addition, new two-page benchcards will be issued to all judges who also have access to an online instructional video.

The court system has also translated numerous documents into various languages such as the Client’s Statement of Rights. DeVito said his court staff hand out “We Speak Your Language” pamphlets to help those in need of interpreter services.

The state’s new action plan focuses on four broad objectives:

• Ensuring quality in all interpreting-related services
• Expanding access to interpreting services beyond the courtroom
• Enhancing outreach to the communities served and
• Fostering a team approach to meeting the objectives

“I think it’s wonderful,” said Pawelczak. “I think it demonstrates the court system’s commitment to ensuring quality court interpreting. We’re enabling litigants to have equal justice under the law.”

Bryan Hetherington, president of the Monroe County Bar Association and chief counsel of the Empire Justice Center, said it is an important issue the center has worked on with district staff under Justice Thomas M. Van Strydonck when he was administrative judge of the district.

He said the center’s first Hanna S. Cohn Equal Justice fellow, Spencer D. Phillips, was surprised to find out how many deaf people there were in the area and the impact it had on them in terms of getting access to the justice system.

Hetherington said Phillips worked with Justice Van Strydonck and his staff to increase the capabilities in the court system and to create the MCBA Deaf Equal Access Fund which helps pay for interpreters so clients are able to communicate with their attorneys.

Brenda Palmigiano, a client who benefited from the DEAFund, spoke in sign language during Law Day ceremonies April 29 with the help of interpreter Patti Gates.

Hetherington said another Cohn fellow, Michael Mule, continued the work of Phillips and expanded equal access to other languages. He is continuing that work further, now working with the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

“It’s a very important issue obviously if individuals cannot be heard by the court in a language that they’re comfortable speaking and understand,” he said. “New York, interestingly enough, is really in the forefront of language access. Our uniform rules require the provision of translation. Not all states do that. Not only do we require it, but it has to be publicly funded.”