Improving the use of interpreters and translators in court proceedings

While Carl Gene Fordham feels that the majority of lawyers and judicial officers “do a fantastic job” in working with interpreters and translators, there are underlying issues that must be addressed, he says, so that access to justice is not impeded for persons across the community.

In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with NAATI-certified interpreter and University of Queensland casual academic Carl Gene Fordham about the work of interpreters and translators in Australia’s court proceedings, the problems that such professionals are seeing in said proceedings and in their engagement with court processes, and why such problems exist.

Mr Fordham also details what he sees as being the flow-on consequences if lawyers or judicial officers do not meaningfully work with interpreters and translators, the practical steps that legal professionals can take to ensure better collaboration, the training and education to be across, and why making such efforts remains so critically important.

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