RETURN TO SLJ UPDATES

MEMORANDUM  

 TO:           Assigned Private Counsel

 FROM:      Nancy O’Leary, Staff Attorney-Criminal Trial Support Unit

 DATE:      September 7, 2007

Court Interpreters who work for the Office of Court Interpreter Services (OCIS) of the Administrative Office of the Trial Court are now available to private assigned counsel after regular work hours and on weekends.  CPCS has obtained from the State Ethics Commission an exemption to allow these full-time state employees to do work on off hours because of the shortage of available interpreters.

These interpreters are in addition to the list of Per Diem interpreters already available for out-of-court service.  The staff interpreters will only be available for work after court hours.  Per Diem interpreters are available whenever they are not already scheduled for court service.

In order to procure the services of interpreters for out-of-court interpreting, if you expect the costs to be over $500, you will need to obtain a Motion for Funds so that they can be paid out of the Indigent Court Cost Fund.  It you expect the costs to be under $500, pursuant to new CPCS policy, a Motion for Funds is not required. (See CPCS Assigned Counsel Manual, C.6, section A-3.)  The interpreters will be paid according to CPCS guidelines as stated in the CPCS Assigned Counsel manual.

To arrange for any out-of-court interpreter services you should contact the interpreters personally, and not through the Office of Court Interpreter Services.

The nine staff Court Interpreters who will now be available for out-of-court interpreting after regular court hours and on weekends are:

The contact information for these interpreters is included in the attached updated CPCS list of court certified interpreters which contains contact information for each interpreter.

Addendum:

Dear Attorneys,

I sent a memo on September 7, 2007 regarding the recent availability of staff interpreters for after court hours, and I mentioned in that memo that a Motion for Funds is not necessary for interpreter services under $500.00.   I want to add that, in order for an interpreter to be paid by CPCS for services under $500.00, you need to provide the interpreter with a copy of your NAC, or at least the number of the NAC of the assigned case, so the interpreter can note it on the payment voucher.  If the interpreters do not have the NAC number, their bills will be rejected.  Also, if you are privately retained on a case where the client is indigent and the costs will be under $500.00, the interpreter will have to put your name on their payment voucher, and you will have to provide the interpreter with poof of indigency from the court, usually in the form of an affidavit on indigency.

Thank you.

Nancy O’Leary

RETURN TO SLJ UPDATES