“We exist to serve people who use our courts,” explains Nancy Festinger, chief interpreter for the Southern District of New York, in describing why certain court documents now are available in languages other than English. “These documents do not replace the English documents, but they allow us to better serve a significant group of court users.”

     Rebecca Calderon, acting supervising interpreter for the Southern District of California, sounds a similar theme. “We provide this service to minority group members so that they can read in their own language materials that can have a big impact in their lives,” she said.

     A growing number of federal courts make documents available in other languages. Doing so is in keeping with similar efforts in the Executive Branch, where an Executive Order issued by President Clinton in 2000 calls for translated documents to be offered when federal services are provided to people with limited English proficiency (LEP).

     Courts offering translated documents include the Districts of Maine, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, New York Eastern, New York Southern, Arkansas Western, Nebraska, Idaho, Arizona, Washington Western, California Southern, Colorado, Utah, Florida Southern, and Alabama Northern.

     At a recent meeting, a Judicial Conference of the United States committee considered the subject of access to federal court documents for LEP persons.

     “Recognizing that the population of those living in the United States with LEP continues to grow, the committee believes it is important to pursue efforts to make general information and frequently used court documents available in other languages, especially Spanish,” the Committee on Court Administration and Case Management noted in its informational report.

     Chief Judge John Lungstrum of the District of Kansas, who chairs the committee, said, “The committee has taken notice of the growing number of potential court users with limited English proficiency, and has voiced concern with the problems that can arise from that demographic fact. It is a matter that is worthy of further study and consideration.”

     In New York Southern, Festinger said hard-copy forms available in languages other than English include various pretrial services and probation forms. The languages include Spanish, Russian, and Chinese.

     “We saw a need for the translations, and we hope their use will grow,” she said. “Interpreters worked in their down time to create the translations, so there was no extra cost factor.”

     The same cost avoidance was practiced in the Southern District of California, where more than a dozen criminal case forms are available in Spanish. “We have the forms available in hard copy and, in-house, electronically, so court employees can retrieve and distribute them,” Calderon said.

     The CACM committee report warned about the possibility that interpreted materials could be incorrectly relied on. On any translated form, the report said, “it must be stated clearly that such translated forms are ‘samples’ and are not officially sanctioned by the Administrative Office or the Judicial Conference.”