Linguistic minorities are often severely disadvantaged in legal events, with consequences that could impact one’s very liberty. Training for interpreters to provide full access in legal settings is paramount. In this volume, Jeremy L. Brunson has gathered deaf and hearing scholars and practitioners from both signed and spoken language interpreting communities in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Their contributions include research-driven, experience-driven, and theoretical discussions on how to teach and assess legal interpreting. The topics covered include teaming in a courtroom, introducing students to legal interpreting, being an expert witness, discourses used by deaf lawyers, designing assessment tools for legal settings, and working with deaf jurors. In addition, this volume interrogates the various ways power, privilege, and oppression appear in legal interpreting.

Each chapter features discussion questions and prompts that interpreter educators can use in the classroom. While intended as a foundational text for use in courses, this body of work also provides insight into the current state of the legal interpreting field and will be a valuable resource for scholars, practitioners, and consumers.

Jeremy L. Brunson is the Executive Director of the Division of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at Gallaudet University. He worked previously as an applied sociologist and independent consultant. He is also an American Sign Language–English interpreter specializing in legal interpreting. Brunson’s research interests are in the broad area of the sociology of interpreting and live at the intersection of sociology work and the profession, sociology of disability, and critical theory. He has published and presented about video relay service, educational interpreting, the invisible labor deaf people perform, the professionalization of sign language interpreting, and ethics.