Growing up, Maria wanted to learn a hundred languages. While she never got quite that far, her mastery of English, Spanish, French, and more have served her well in her career as a plain language, readability, and translation specialist. Having interacted with the courts on many levels, Maria has seen the hoops and hurdles that litigants and courts alike contend with when trying to manage the tangle of court forms and legal content across multiple languages. Maria has taken every opportunity to tackle this problem by simplifying content, implementing usability feedback, and applying continuous iterations. This decades-long advocacy to accessible court forms and instructions has been at the heart of her career.
Maria has also offered innovative training on a number of language-related topics in recent years, including plain language mentoring for the Oregon State Bar, plain language remote training for court attorneys and key staff for Colorado Courts, and the role of plain language and icons in Translation at the SRLN 2020 Conference.
Experts discuss how plain language can help courts expand access to the courts on the latest episode of LSC’s “Talk Justice” podcast, released today.
Subscribe to receive featured episodes and staff favorites once a month.
Newsletter Signup
