Articles for legal and healthcare professionals.
Practical writing on certification, Title VI, Section 1557, deposition preparation, and choosing a language services partner, from the team that has been doing this work since 1999.
Reference material
Sourced references, kept current.
Three pages written to be cited. Every figure names the document it comes from and the year of that data, and each page records the date it was last checked against its sources.
- Industry
Language access statistics in the United States: a reference for 2026
Sourced statistics on languages spoken in the U.S., Limited English Proficiency populations, court and healthcare language access, and the federal framework in 2026.
Sources checked - Legal
The State of Court Interpreting in California: 2026
Court interpreting in California in 2026, rebuilt on the Judicial Council workforce study of December 2025: certified languages, shortages, workforce data.
Sources checked - Legal
State-by-state court interpreter certification: a U.S. reference guide
How U.S. court interpreter credentials work: the federal program, five state programs in detail, and how to verify a credential in any jurisdiction.
Sources checked
Latest articles
- Legal·10 min read·
How to verify an interpreter's credential before the proceeding
Certified, registered, CCHI, NBCMI, RID: every one of these claims is checkable against a public roster in minutes. The walkthrough, roster by roster.
Read article - Industry·7 min read·
Interpreting agency vs. freelance interpreter vs. marketplace
There are three ways to put an interpreter in the room: hire a freelancer directly, post to a marketplace, or engage an agency. Each fits a different kind of matter.
Read article - Industry·7 min read·
Twelve questions to ask an interpreting agency before you book
The difference between a professional interpreting agency and an order-taker shows up in how it answers twelve questions about credentials, operations, and billing.
Read article - Industry·8 min read·
How to choose an interpreting agency: a seven-step vetting checklist
Law firms, claims teams, and hospitals do not pick interpreters one by one; they pick an agency, and the agency picks everyone after that. Seven checks predict almost everything that matters.
Read article - Legal·9 min read·
Foreign-language audio evidence: transcript and translation
Recorded calls, surveillance audio, and recorded statements in another language are common in litigation and are routinely handled badly. The task is not transcription and it is not translation; it is a combined process with its own professional standard, and the output has to be defensible.
Read article - Legal·9 min read·
Sight translation of exhibits at a deposition
It is the most common avoidable disruption in an interpreted deposition: an exhibit appears that the deponent cannot read, and the room improvises. Sight translation is a real skill with real limits, and knowing where those limits sit prevents both a lost hour and an unreliable record.
Read article - Healthcare·9 min read·
IME, DME, QME, AME: which interpreter rules apply to each
These four acronyms get used interchangeably and they are governed by different authorities with different consequences. Confusing them produces evaluations that get excluded and appointments that get rescheduled. Here is the comparison, with the governing provision for each.
Read article - Compliance·10 min read·
California workers comp interpreters: credentials and fees
California workers compensation runs its own interpreter rules, with its own credential list and its own published fee schedule. It is widely described inaccurately, including the frequent claim that a certified court interpreter is simply required. The regulations are more specific than that, and the detail matters to both sides.
Read article - Legal·9 min read·
Challenging the interpreter at a deposition
An interpreter is not neutral furniture in the room. California treats them as subject to the rules that apply to witnesses, which is the doctrinal key to examining one. Here is how to raise a qualification or accuracy problem without derailing the deposition.
Read article - Industry·9 min read·
What agencies should require from an interpreter vendor
Court reporting agencies carry the client relationship, which means they carry the consequence when an interpreter assignment goes wrong. Almost nothing published in this industry is written for the person choosing that subcontractor. This is a neutral standard you can apply to any vendor, including your current one.
Read article - Industry·9 min read·
How to schedule a deposition interpreter in California
Written for the person who actually books interpreters: the deposition scheduler at a court reporting agency, and the litigation secretary or paralegal at a firm. Here is what determines whether an assignment gets covered properly, and the intake information that decides it.
Read article - Legal·9 min read·
Consecutive or simultaneous interpreting at a deposition
Attorneys often ask for simultaneous interpreting at a deposition to save time. It is the wrong request for testimony, and the reason is not stylistic. It is about what the court reporter can actually transcribe and what a reviewing court can later examine.
Read article