Please register by 11:59 PM, 17 August 2026
This session examines the ethical relationship between legal interpreters and lawyers in court, tribunal and other litigation settings. It focuses on the JCCD Recommended National Standards for Working with Interpreters in Courts and Tribunals, their background and practical significance, and how those Standards interact with the AUSIT Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct and lawyers' professional conduct obligations.
The session will be presented from the perspective of a practitioner who is both a lawyer and a Mandarin interpreter. Drawing on extensive trial interpreting experience, freelance interpreting work for law firms, and legal practice experience, the session will explore what lawyers often expect from interpreters, what interpreters can properly do to assist, and how interpreters can professionally manage expectations while upholding both interpreter ethics and lawyers' ethical obligations.
The session will also provide interpreters with insight into lawyers' ethics, helping participants understand why lawyers may approach interpreted legal work in particular ways and how interpreters can respond professionally when expectations need to be clarified or managed.
The central theme is that interpreter independence does not obstruct legal practice. Properly understood, accuracy, impartiality, confidentiality and clear role boundaries assist lawyers to meet their own duties to clients, courts and the administration of justice.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the session, participants should be able to:
1. understand the purpose and practical importance of the JCCD Recommended National Standards for legal interpreting;
2. identify key points of interaction between the JCCD Standards, the AUSIT Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct, and lawyers' conduct rules;
3. recognise common situations where lawyers' expectations may place pressure on interpreter ethics;
4. distinguish between properly assisting communication and stepping outside the interpreter's role, including by giving legal advice or managing a client;
5. use practical strategies to manage lawyers' expectations while preserving accuracy, impartiality, confidentiality and role boundaries; and
6. reflect on how interpreters and lawyers can work together to support procedural fairness and the administration of justice.
Our Presenter - Bingshen Zhou
Bingshen Zhou is a Melbourne-based lawyer and professional NAATI translator and interpreter. He practises in civil litigation and is pursuing a pathway towards practice at the Victorian Bar. Bingshen has over 10 years’ experience in legal interpreting and translation, providing Chinese-English interpreting and translation services to courts, law firms, government agencies, Australian institutions and private clients. His experience includes court procedures, trial and witness interpreting, legal conferences, mediation interpreting and legal document translation.
Bingshen’s educational background combines law, translation and interpreting. He holds a Juris Doctor from Monash University and a Master of Arts in Chinese Translation and Interpretation from the University of Queensland, and previously studied simultaneous interpretation in English and Chinese at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. His professional work sits at the intersection of legal practice, language services and cross-cultural communication.
Joining the Webinar
The Zoom links for the webinar will be sent out 1 day prior to the event. Please ensure you have downloaded the latest version of Zoom in preparation.
PD Logbook
Intermediate PD.
Please consult the NAATI Recertification Catalogue to allocate the relevant PD Points. Some activities can be included under different categories, so please choose the most appropriate category for your recertification purposes.
Certificates and recordings
Certificates for PD purposes and copies of recordings may take approximately two (2) weeks to be released following the event.
This is a live webinar event and will be recorded. The recording will
be shared with registrants after the event.
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