BEI Ethical & Professional Conduct 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A non-English-speaking defendant asks the interpreter, privately, whether they should plead guilty. The interpreter should:
- Explain the legal implications of each plea option in neutral terms
- Decline to advise and direct the defendant to speak with their attorney (Correct answer)
- Refer the defendant to a court-appointed advocate
- Summarize what the judge said about the plea without adding commentary
Correct answer: Decline to advise and direct the defendant to speak with their attorney
Providing legal advice is outside the interpreter's role and constitutes unauthorized practice of law; the defendant must consult their attorney.
Question 2: An interpreter is offered a bonus by a defendant's family to 'make sure everything is understood correctly.' The interpreter should:
- Accept the bonus since it aligns with the goal of accurate interpretation
- Decline the payment and report the offer to the court (Correct answer)
- Accept but declare the payment to the court clerk
- Decline but take no further action
Correct answer: Decline the payment and report the offer to the court
Accepting payment from parties other than the court creates a conflict of interest and must be declined; the offer itself should be disclosed to the court.
Question 3: When interpreting victim impact statements that contain deeply emotional and graphic content, the interpreter should:
- Soften the language to protect the dignity of the process
- Interpret the content faithfully while maintaining professional composure (Correct answer)
- Request permission to summarize graphic portions
- Ask for a brief recess before delivering particularly difficult passages
Correct answer: Interpret the content faithfully while maintaining professional composure
Interpreters must render all content faithfully regardless of its emotional nature, maintaining professional composure throughout.
Question 4: A defense attorney instructs the interpreter not to interpret a side conversation between the attorney and a witness. The interpreter should:
- Follow the attorney's instruction since they control courtroom communications
- Seek clarification from the judge about what to interpret (Correct answer)
- Interpret all audible speech unless instructed otherwise by the judge
- Ignore the instruction and interpret all speech as usual
Correct answer: Seek clarification from the judge about what to interpret
Instructions about what to interpret in court proceedings should come from the judge, not counsel; the interpreter should seek judicial guidance when instructions conflict.
Question 5: An interpreter working a multi-week trial is contacted socially by the defendant's spouse outside court. The interpreter should:
- Engage briefly but avoid discussing the case
- Politely disengage and report the contact to the court (Correct answer)
- Accept the contact since it is social, not professional
- Ask the defendant's attorney to mediate the situation
Correct answer: Politely disengage and report the contact to the court
Social contact with parties related to an ongoing case compromises impartiality and must be reported to the court.
Question 6: Which scenario represents a violation of the accuracy standard under BEI professional conduct rules?
- Interpreting an unclear answer as unclear
- Paraphrasing a long monologue to capture the main idea (Correct answer)
- Asking for repetition when an utterance was inaudible
- Noting in the record that a term had no direct English equivalent
Correct answer: Paraphrasing a long monologue to capture the main idea
Paraphrasing violates the accuracy standard because it substitutes the interpreter's summary for the speaker's actual words, altering the record.
Question 7: A certified BEI interpreter is asked to interpret in a civil small claims court where no certification is formally required. The interpreter's professional conduct standards:
- Do not apply since BEI standards are only for criminal courts
- Apply in all legal settings regardless of whether certification is required (Correct answer)
- Apply only if the opposing party requests certified interpretation
- Are optional and may be relaxed for informal proceedings
Correct answer: Apply in all legal settings regardless of whether certification is required
BEI professional conduct standards apply to all legal interpreting contexts, not just criminal or formally certified settings.
BEI Ethical & Professional Conduct 5
A non-English-speaking defendant asks the interpreter, privately, whether they should plead guilty.
The interpreter should: