About the course

With the RID SC:L certification no longer available, court interpreters need a concrete way to prove their qualifications when judges and attorneys question their readiness. This workshop walks interpreters through the process of building a professional legal portfolio: a collection of certifications, state licensure documents, CEU records, courtroom experience logs, letters of recommendation, court rules, liability insurance documentation, and a sample introduction letter to the judge. Participants use an interactive self-assessment checklist to identify what they already have and what they still need, then write actionable next steps to fill the gaps. The second half of the workshop focuses on pre-trial conferences: how to approach them, what talking points to prepare, and how to strike the right tone with judges. Participants work through scenario-based activities, including drafting talking points for a pre-trial meeting with a Deaf witness and responding to a judge who challenges their qualifications mid-hearing. Participants leave with a clear action plan for assembling a portfolio they could hand to a judge at any moment.

Anna McDuffie CI, CT, SC:L & NIC

A native of Atlanta, Anna graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science in Interpreting for the Deaf. She began her career in Boston as a staff interpreter at The Learning Center for Deaf Children, a bilingual/bicultural school for the Deaf, and also worked part-time interpreting for graduate programs at Boston University. Anna returned to Atlanta in 1999 and has worked as a freelance interpreter for the past 25 years. She earned her Certificate of Interpretation and Certificate of Transliteration from RID in 1999, her Specialist Certificate: Legal in 2008, and her National Interpreter Certification in 2011. Anna began teaching medical interpreting workshops with her co-presenter, Heather Brown, in 2008, and together they co-authored Health Care Providers and the Americans with Disabilities Act, published in the Journal of the American Association of Physician Assistants in January 2011. She expanded into legal interpreting workshops in 2018. Anna is passionate about standardizing best practices for medical and legal interpreting — the driving force behind every workshop she designs. Anna lives in Marietta, Georgia, with her husband, Eric. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her step-daughter, Cece, her fur kids, Kiwi and Pippa, traveling, and playing tennis.