(Last Updated On: July 3, 2015)Finding a legal interpreter for a court case is not as easy as finding one for most other jobs. A court is not a place to be taken lightly and if at any time an attorney is in need of an interpreter, he should always choose a professional who is qualified in a particular language, has the necessary skills and experience in interpreting and hopefully have an idea about the legal profession. A friend’s friend or someone who has a good knowledge of the language will just not do for such an important task.

So let’s see what qualifications a professional legal interpreter should have before he or she can be hired for such a job.

Qualifications of a legal interpreter

• Should be a qualified linguist whose job is interpreting and has a good understanding of what the work entails. Such an interpreter can be hired from a local agency or from an online interpreting service that would in most instances have tested and proved interpreters to carry out such work.
• If using a professional interpreting service, make sure they have the necessary credentials required for the job and always check references and testimonials to satisfy yourself that they have the necessary skills and qualifications and more so the experience to undertake interpreting in a court room.
• Especially in the case of legal interpreting, it’s best to meet the legal interpreter before hand so that he can learn something about the case and the client you will be representing, leaving no room for misunderstandings later on in the day when the case is called. This might mean having to pay extra for his services, but you can be sure it will be worth it at the end of the day.
• Interpreting during legal proceedings can be tricky at times due to ethical considerations, especially if the client is known to the legal interpreter. Hiring an agency can mitigate this problem because they will have more than one interpreter and even if one person is known, the chances of the other interpreters also knowing the same client is remote.
• Interpreting can be exhausting work and you must take this into account because accuracy is of the utmost importance when it comes to interpreting and translating in legal cases. Make sure your legal interpreter is given sufficient breaks to relieve himself stress and if one person cannot do the job by himself, it’s always better to employ two people.
• Accept the fact that interpreting for court cases takes twice as long as it does for most any other job and keep this in mind when rates are quoted. Remember that the best doesn’t come cheap and if you want a job done well, hire the best even if you have to pay more.