Removing Language Barriers to Justice in the Nation’s Courts

American citizens who don’t speak fluent English or are illiterate face incredible disadvantages within civil, family law, and criminal courtrooms. Also, in many states juries are populated with exclusively English speaking citizens, which potentially misrepresents the peer group. Because of Gideon v. Wainwright, defendants in criminal cases have access to interpreters if necessary, but not necessarily in family law or civil cases. What are we as lawyers doing to rectify this problem?

Legal Talk Network producer Laurence Colletti interviews Judge James Jordan, Judge Christopher P. Yates, California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, and Justice Edward L. Chavez about language barriers in the United States courts at the 2015 American Bar Association (ABA) Annual Meeting. The judges discuss actions lawyers, ABA members, and law schools can take to change these access to justice issues for the better. Tune in to hear about the effects of self-representation and how changes to the current system could be easier than you think.

Judge James Jordan presides in the 160th Judicial District in Dallas, Texas. He presides over predominantly civil cases and assists with family law cases.

Judge Christopher P. Yates is a judge of the 17th Circuit Court in Kent County, Michigan. He has served in the family division, the criminal division, the civil division, and now runs a specialized business docket. He was the vice chair of Michigan’s Limited English Proficiency Steering Committee that drafted proposed court rules governing foreign language interpreters.

Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye is the 28th Chief Justice of the State of California in San Francisco. Among many other accomplishments, she commissioned a strategic language access plan for limited English proficient court users in California.

Justice Edward L. Chavez is a justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court in Santa Fe. He is a member of the New Mexico Language Access Advisory Committee.

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