Member Activities

Send news of your recent professional activities to proteus@najit.org

Carmen Barros presented "Consecutive Interpreter Training" at the Kings County Supreme Court (Brooklyn), co-sponsored by the Legal Interpreters and Translators Association in New York.

Cristina Castro was invited to teach advanced consecutive and advanced simultaneous this summmer at the University of Charleston, MA Program in Bilingual Court Interpreting. Virginia Benmaman is director of the program.

In February, Nancy Festinger presented "Court Interpreting: History, Trends and Future of the Profession" at the Kings County Supreme Court (Brooklyn), co-sponsored by the Legal Interpreters and Translators Association in New York.

Lois Feuerle, recently relocated to Oregon, is Program Manager for Oregon’s Certified Court Interpreter program .

Aleé Alger-Robbins, Interpreter Supervisor for the Oregon Judicial Department, provided several telephonic training sessions for Berlitz Interpretation Services, including "The Role of the Interpreter in Court Hearings," and "Courtroom Interpreting: A Distance Learning Seminar."

On March 8, 2001 the federal courthouse in Honolulu presented "A Day in Court," an orientation to interpreting in federal court, in cooperation with The Hawaii Interpreters and Translators Association (HITA) and the Hawaii Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (HRID). Five HITA members belong to NAJIT, including HITA President Pat Harpstrite. A total of 57 interpreters attended, representing American Sign Language and 12 spoken languages of Europe, Asia, and the Pacific. Presenters included a U.S. Magistrate, HITA President, and speakers from the Clerk’s Office, U.S. Probation, Pretrial Services, the Federal Public Defenders, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and the U.S. Marshals. In addition to explaining the functions of their agencies, speakers addressed topics such as ethics, confidentiality, and how to deal with problems that may arise in interpreting. A tour of the courthouse was conducted by Chief Deputy Clerk and a deputy U.S. Marshal. Handouts and sample documents were provided to help participants better understand court proceedings and the roles of the various agencies.

Patricia Michelsen King has given "Introduction to Court Interpreting: Overview, History and Practice" in Florida, Georgia, and Virginia for interpreters of Spanish and for mixed groups of other-language interpreters. She has also presented "Interpreters in the Georgia Courts" for the Georgia State Bar and "The Legal Impact of Interpreters in the Courts" for the University of Richmond Law School.

Merie Spring presented "Evolution of Language Services- from Infant to Teenager" at the International Society for Justice Research in Israel, Sept. 2000. She will be presenting an updated version of the paper at Critical Link 3. She has organized a workshop series in Queensland, Australia for sign language interpreters, "Vicarious Traumatisation of Interpreters," due to recent court cases which have highlighted the urgent need for interpreter strategies in dealing with vicarious trauma.

Sandro Tomasi is chair of the Professional Development Committee for the Legal Interpreters and Translators Association (LITA) in New York City. Together with Ray Miranda he created a seminar series for professional development. In February, in collaboration with Bronx and Kings County Supreme Court Interpreter's Offices, Tomasi presented "Criminal Justice Terms in Spanish." He works full time with the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor (SNP) in New York.