Spanish for Legal Professionals

The Rutgers Law School's Spanish for Legal Professionals program enables attorneys and other legal professionals, including investigators and support staff, to improve their professional Spanish proficiency, so that they can provide effective legal representation to Spanish-speaking clients. Throughout the program, participants acquired skills necessary to conduct attorney-client interviews in Spanish; counsel Spanish-speaking clients living in the United States (monolingual and Spanglish speakers); work effectively with interpreters; and overcome the obstacles that prevent effective communication with Spanish-speaking clients in a legal setting (e.g., cultural differences, regional language usage, and legal systems variations). The program relied on extensive simulations, exercises, and discussions through which participants strengthened their speaking and comprehension abilities. Each 16-hour implementation of the program provided fundamental skills alongside content tailored to the specific practice area or focus of the participants. By the end of the program, participants will have: acquired and practiced skills to conduct attorney-client interviews in Spanish; memorized Spanish vocabulary specific to their areas of practice; discussed strategies for working effectively with interpreters and overcoming obstacles to effective communication with Spanish-speaking clients in a legal setting; completed simulations and exercises to strengthen their speaking and comprehension abilities.