15 Jul Saved by the Bell

Many times, I am saved by the bell. Last week I was in court, on time waiting for my early morning case to start. As we waited over 90 minutes, the ADA, judge, sheriff’s officers, clerks, and LEP defendant were understandably frustrated. The practice in that courthouse is to call in advance to find out if the case is ready to be heard. I usually do not call because it feels a bit pedantic to imply “I am too important to go to wait like everyone else”. And yes, I know my skills as an interpreter are unique, but I do not believe it creates good feelings among colleagues if you are the one person who must be called in when everyone is ready. All courthouses are different, but in this one in particular, I normally know someone, and because I go regularly, I choose to manage things in this way.

In this instance, I regretted not calling because 90 minutes is enough time to:

1. Review a lesson (the eternal study/practice we all must deal with, to keep our bilingual level)

2. Write a blog

3. Organize my study materials, or

4. Send pending invoices or

5. Pay bills

By the time counsel for the defendant arrived, cases were being continued and rescheduled to make room for the trial after our plea. Now that the defendant’s attorney had arrived, he had to review the plea agreement forms with his client with my assistance. We had not finished the first form when they came for us. Counsel said we needed three minutes. With his experience and mine, we knew that was not about to happen. The more he tried to rush me through it, the more I needed repetitions, and the more we delayed. I must emphasize that I was not purposely delaying the interpretation. It was just that I was not about to skip anything in those forms because that was my responsibility.

SIGN, SIGN, SIGN!

When we were called in for the last time and the judge denied us more time, the attorney just said, sign here, repeatedly, and we went inside the courtroom.

Right before we started reviewing the forms with the judge, it became clear that the agreement was floundering because the ADA wanted the defense to stipulate to imposing restitution, and the plea fell apart.

I thanked the forces that be for not being put in a situation where I was asked anything about the reading/interpreting of the forms. These are the scenarios that came to mind:

A) What if the judge had asked the plaintiff if the attorney had reviewed the forms with LEP with the help of the interpreter?

Since the judge is not asking me, I do not believe that I have an obligation to contradict the LEP or attorney since I am not speaking for myself, however, it is one of those tricky things that I would not feel comfortable doing since there is some ambiguity to the situation.

B) What If the judge had specifically asked if they had reviewed the form with the assistance of Ms. Shymanik? Then what?

If the judge is not addressing me, do I have a responsibility to clarify that I did not interpret all the forms to the defendant? I am not 100% sure.

C) What If the judge had specifically asked the interpreter after seeing the look of confusion or indecision on the LEP’s face?

I cannot answer that question without violating the code of ethics as that interlude is covered by attorney-client privilege, correct?

A CONFUSING MATTER OF ETHICS

I went to my coordinator, and she was not sure either. She suggested I go to the person in charge of the certification program, but I thought it would make for an interesting blog post.

I know that if a crime is not being committed in my presence, and I am not talking about perjury, as we witness some form of those on occasion, but a crime of a violent nature, there is nothing for me to do. As I understand it, unless my client is talking about a plan to kill or harm someone, I am not supposed to intervene. So, my position would be that I would not reveal under any circumstances that the forms had not been read/sight translated/interpreted for the client, because that would be breaking attorney-client privilege.

Please share with me what you think.

Hilda Zavala-Shymanik is a state certified/approved Spanish court interpreter and translator with more than seventeen years of experience in legal, medical, corporate, and non-profit settings in New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and Wisconsin and is certified/approved in those four states. Hilda is a former Vice Chair, Board Member, Treasurer, Conference Committee Chair, member of the Training and Education and Advocacy Committees, and current member of the blog team and Chair of the Elections Committee of the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators, as well as former president of the New York Circle of Translators.

She is an active and voting member of NAJIT, ATA, MATI and other professional groups. Hilda has two certificates in Legal Interpreting in Spanish and English, the latest one from NYU. Hilda is the current staff interpreter of the 23rd Illinois Judicial Circuit as well as a Cook County (Illinois) Spanish Interpreter employee. Hilda is a former Staff Interpreter at Essex County Superior Court in New Jersey, where she worked for six years. Born in Chicago, Hilda lived for twenty years in Mexico and loves traveling. She continuously looks for opportunities to promote and advance the interpreting profession. Contact: hshymanik@yahoo.com