Tenn. R. Sup. Ct., 3

As amended through November 4, 2024

Section 3 - Determining Need for Interpretation

(a) Appointing an interpreter is a matter of judicial discretion. It is the responsibility of the court to determine whether a participant in a legal proceeding has a limited ability to understand and communicate in English. If the court determines that a participant has such limited ability, the court should appoint an interpreter pursuant to this rule.

(b) Recognition of the need for an interpreter may arise from a request by a party or counsel, the court's own voir dire of a party or witness, or disclosures made to the court by parties, counsel, court employees or other persons familiar with the ability of the person to understand and communicate in English.

(c) The court shall appoint an interpreter according to the preference listed below:

1. State certified court interpreter;

2. State registered court interpreter;

3. Non-credentialed court interpreter.

(d) The court may appoint an interpreter of lesser preference (i.e., registered instead of certified or non- credentialed instead of registered) only upon a finding that diligent, good faith efforts to obtain the certified or registered interpreter, as the case may be, have been made and none has been found to be reasonably available. A non-credentialed interpreter may be appointed only after the court has evaluated the totality of the circumstances including the gravity of the judicial proceeding and the potential penalty or consequence involved.

(e) Before appointing a non-credentialed interpreter, the court shall make the following findings:

(i) that the proposed interpreter appears to have adequate language skills, knowledge of interpreting techniques, familiarity with interpreting in a court setting; and

(ii) that the proposed interpreter has read, understands, and will abide by the Rules of Ethics for Spoken Foreign Language Interpreters in Tennessee Courts.

(f) A summary of the efforts made to obtain a certified or registered interpreter and to determine the capabilities of the proposed non-credentialed interpreter should be made in open court.

(g) The court shall use the services of multiple interpreters where necessary to aid interpretation of court proceedings.

Tenn. R. Sup. Ct., 3

Commentary.

The Administrative Office of the Courts distributes photo identification cards to all state certified and registered interpreters. A court can determine an interpreter' s credentialing status by viewing this card, which differentiates between registered and certified interpreters, and by consulting the credentialed interpreter roster, which can be found on the AOC' s website (www.tncourts.gov).

Section 3(g). The court may wish to consider using multiple interpreters in legal proceedings where one or more of the following situations exist:

(1) Legal proceedings lasting more than 2 hours--Generally, in legal proceedings lasting more than two hours a team of two interpreters should be designated to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the record by allowing interpreters to alternate work and rest in short shifts, thus avoiding fatigue. Although it may not be necessary to use multiple interpreters for short hearings, studies have shown that interpreters' accuracy rates greatly decrease after 20-30 minutes of continuous interpretation. Therefore, courts should be aware that interpreters may need breaks during relatively short hearings.

(2) Multiple defendants--One or more interpreters may be appointed (apart from the interpreter(s) who are interpreting the legal proceedings) in order to provide interpreting services for attorney-client communications during the proceeding. However, courts should be aware that ethical considerations do not preclude interpreters from facilitating in-court and out-of-court communication for both the court and one or more parties in the same proceeding. Moreover, the Administrative Office of the Courts has provided many courts with simultaneous interpreting equipment, which will allow one interpreter to interpret for multiple defendants during a single proceeding.

See the commentary to Canon 8 of Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 41 for additional information regarding circumstances in which it may be advisable to use multiple interpreters.