Doing Business | Linguistic World Blog

Powerful Words of Change

The Day The US Government Ordered the Overhaul of the Court.

The sense of a contentious divide in the United States today worries me. But I found comfort while volunteering to preserve historical documents at the Charles Bacarisse Historical Document Room at the Harris County courthouse, (Houston, Texas). I came across this soul stirring entry in the minutes of the court, made announcing the end of the Civil War. The Judge who wrote these words, had just received the order from the US Government, mandating the overthrow and replacement of the sitting Confederate Judges, Supreme Court Justices and Jurors with those who swore an oath to the Union Government. The order also required that cases already filed in the court, be litigated according to Union laws.

I could feel the anxiety of the court clerk as he wrote the words spoken by the Judge. I could imagine the agitation of the Confederate Judge who knew he was being unseated. Considering the tumultuous times, the sense of uncertainty of everyone in the courtroom who heard these words must have been overwhelming. Events show that in order to fulfill this order; the new Union Judge and the Confederate Judge spent weeks working together on the pending cases in order to preserve the primary principles of our country. See how our justice system flows in the best and the worst times of history.

Book K. Minutes of the 11^thDistrict Court of Harris County, Texas.

Thursday, June 1, 1865.

At our early day of the present term, it was announced that an order would be made to call for trial at the next term, all civil cases filed since January 1862. And but since the events in the history of the country have transpired which render it unnecessary to limit the call to any particular portion of the docket.

It is therefore ordered that at the next term of the court, the civil and criminal docket will be called for trial and disposition in full as in ordinary times. This order is entered now that all parties in interest have due notice.

Judge James A. Baker. Presiding Judge of the 11^thDistrict Court of Harris County Texas.

The importance of the dates noted in this order:

January 1862 Texas seceded from the United States on March 2, 1861 and became a Confederate State on March 23, 1861, which was during the first term of the court under the Confederacy and the new laws under the Confederate constitution. The Judge of the 11^th Court, Judge James Addison Baker was an elected Judge. His great-great grandson, James Baker III would be US Secretary of State.

June 1, 1865 The Civil War had already ended on April 1865. But Confederate General E. Kirby Smith, didn’t surrender in Galveston, Texas until May. A Proclamation of Peace between the US and Texas wasn’t declared until August 20, 1866 over two months after the court order. Judge James A. Baker was the last district court judge in Harris County to serve under the Confederacy. The court’s docket had remained inactive from 1861 to the spring term of 1865 because of the war, so only five criminal cases and no civil ones were tried in Harris County. In Texas, the transition from the Confederacy to Reconstruction was anything but “ordinary.” Slavery was overturned , federal troops occupied Texas, and for the very first time the constitutional rights of former slaves were protected by the amended federal constitution.

What followed :

In August 1865, Judge James A. Baker is removed and replaced with Judge Colbert Coldwell by the Military Governor of Texas, Andrew Jackson Hamilton. The minutes show that all sitting Jurors were replaced with Union loyalists. All of the Supreme Court justices were removed from office as “impediments to Reconstruction” and replaced by order of the occupying Union government.

Judge Coldwell spent six days a week, pouring over a docket of disputes filed over the previous four years of the Civil War. Together he and Judge Baker bridged the legislative crevasse between the old and new constitutions. All this took place in the aftershock of a nation that had been at war with itself.

You can see these documents online at http://www.hcdistrictclerk.com/Common/HistoricalDocument/HistoricalDocuments.aspx

Sources: Texas State Library and Archive Commission https://www.tsl.texas.gov/ref/abouttx/secession/index.html) and Texas Historical Commission http://www.thc.texas.gov/public/upload/publications/tx-in-civil-war.pdf

The Confederacy’s Collapse and Houston’s Reconstruction By David Furlow http://www.hbaappellatelawyer.org/2014/03/the-confederacys-collapse-juneteenth.html

You made a mistake. What Happens Now?

You know that uneasy feeling that you may have made a mistake in your interpreting or legal translation ? You aren’t sure if anyone caught your mistake since you haven’t received a complaint…yet. Maybe while you were interpreting in a deposition, an attorney objected and then asked to have a question and answer and your interpretation read back. Maybe it was an unfamiliar phrase repeated throughout a translation and every time you saw it, something bothered you about the term you were using. But you made the deadline and it is already in the hands of the client. In both cases, the more you think about it, the more you feel that you made a mistake. At this point, your conscious won’t leave you alone.

That sense is a good thing. It means you care about your work product.

When a mistake is discovered, here’s what’s probably going to happen on the client’s end.

If you were working for an agency, they will hear the complaint from their client. A professional agency should give you a chance to tell your side, so they will contact you and ask you about the job. Some will tell you exactly what the client complained about. If you work with the agency to help them rectify the problem, then you help them keep their client. If they keep that client, you have a better chance of staying on with the agency. If they have to resolve the problem without your help, you could easily lose them as a client. Often the agency will need to discount or not charge their fee to keep the client.

Fact: The agency can replace you with another freelancer much easier than they can replace a paying client.

Fact: Legal translation offered as evidence can be objected to in court if errors are found. The client they may send back the translation and ask for a correction. If you are at fault, don’t charge them.

Fact: Most interpreters don’t realize the repercussions to the client of misinterpreted testimony.

Fact: Many Court Interpreter Regulatory bodies have grievance protocols that can result in certification suspension or termination.

Interpreters may not hear complaints about mistakes they make at all. Lawyers are super busy and don’t like the task of questioning people about errors. But they do tell other lawyers about bad experiences with interpreters, which snowballs, and your reputation is shot. You will begin to notice that specific client doesn’t schedule you anymore. Then your overall work load drops off.

If your mistake affected their witness’s case, the firm has to act quickly and according to the rules of civil or criminal procedure. They may hire another interpreter to review the transcript and give an expert opinion on any errors. You won’t find out unless you are called to testify if a motion is made to throw out the transcript or statements in question.

Mistakes are made in your work or in your business performance too.

Being late and delaying a deposition costs both parties in time and money. Not making a deadline on a translation can set back the client’s production schedule. This is why clients react so strongly to mistakes we make.

Don’t spend time agonizing over a mistake. Instead take action to correct it and be honest and fair with the client.

When you work to resolve it, you will learn how to never make that mistake again.

Let’s go down Resolution Road together. Look for two more posts: what you can do to resolve a mistake and what to do when the client wrongly claims that you made a mistake.

Either Way, It’s The Same Horns. My Take Away from a Lawyer’s Rant.

Knowing what your client needs and expects from you is a baseline for providing a great product or service. But when you learn the inner workings of your client’s work experience, you will be able to turn that insight into empathy and resolve problems and save a worthwhile client relationship.

My market is the judicial field. Non-paying or slow paying clients is the most common complaint I hear from colleagues, both freelance court interpreters and Translation and Interpreting agencies alike. I’m not immune to this experience. I have perfected rates and terms that meet and surpass the high standards set by the judiciary and lawyers. I deliver them whenever someone enquires about my services or availability and I politely require acceptance in writing before I accept an assignment. But as much as I study my client’s industry and keep up with their regulations and legislation, I haven’t found the magic tactic to guarantee on time payment.

Then I read the post by a lawyer who was really angry at clients who don’t pay him. http://lawfirmsuites.com/2013/10/shop-talk-deadbeat-clients/

He had me at the title of the post Clients Who Don’t Pay Piss Me Off. Notwithstanding the irony of the source of the complaint, after reading that post, I can honestly say I felt his pain.

I have heard a lot about the business of law and I have paid attention. I listen to shop talk by clients who are personal friends and I ask questions. I grew up in a family of lawyers that includes two Supreme Court Justices. In my continuing education classes, I teach interpreters to pay attention to the business of law. But the raw resentment expressed in this man’s post is exactly how I feel when I have to enter into the ugly phase of collecting a fairly earned fee. The fact that collecting from law firms is a regular component of doing business for me and my colleagues makes this lawyer’s perspective all that more valuable.

Every situation that he describes in his post has happened to me. I have endured clients not paying, delaying payment and not responding to late notices or phone calls, and even clients asking you to cut the already agreed upon rate after the assignment is completed, His sense of betrayal and having been disrespected is all too familiar. It is disrespectful to not be paid your hard earned fees.

When I read his advice to lawyers: You shouldn’t do business with clients who do not respect the value of your services, I wondered if he had read my articles or attended one of my classes.

My take away from that post was that I can now apply a layer of empathy to my terms policy. I can approach clients from a more shared experience. We are both giving our best services to the client. We are held to an oath and regulations most professionals wouldn’t tolerate. And we both truly respect the judicial system that we serve.

But the most significant take away I got from that post is knowing I can say to my client, ”I understand”.

Three Career Lessons I’ve Learned from Judges

Listening Skills

Judges have taught me that you have to know the subject matter you are listening to and then you have to know what you are listening for.

Judges are charged with following who is speaking, what is said and how it is said while making sure the Rules of Civil or Criminal Procedure are followed. That means they are listening to everyone speaking and applying the basis of their role and their words throughout the litigation process.

When it is a bench trial they are going to rule on the evidence presented. So, they apply their knowledge of the law and precedents in such cases.

That is a lot of knowledge to keep up to date. It is also a lot of filters to keep in place.

Patience

Judges have taught me to evaluate a situation and the intent of a person who is disrupting a proceeding before reacting.

There will always be participants in a trial that have no clue about courtroom protocol or rules of the judiciary. Sometimes first time lawyers fall into that category. It is difficult to fulfill your responsibility when the smooth flow of order is upset. Just three words will exemplify the full range of possible tests of patience: Pro Se Witness.

Realizing a Passion to Serve

Judges have taught me to pull the curtain away from the somber rituals and courtroom décor and know the history of the purpose of service in the judicial system.

When you look at the history of the development of our judicial system, you learn the depth of the value for such service. If you take the time to consider each participant, from Bailiff to Court Reporter, from Interpreter to Lawyer, you will realize that we are all walking a road paved with hard work and dedication to justice. I truly enjoy that honor.

Connecting With Clients in a City Under Water. Speaking “Houstonese”.

Your first contact should be a welfare check on your clients’ wellbeing, not a search for a paycheck.

The truth is I am writing this in response to a LinkedIn Connection from Georgia who messaged me asking me to help her find paying work here, in Houston, in light of the storm. I still had five feet of water surrounding my house and was stranded. Power came and went. Rescues of my own neighbors and friends were being conducted by people who came in from all over the country. The death toll was slowly rising with the water. I was stunned at her insensitivity and ignorance. Then I realized I can only do something about the latter.

Start with What You Don’t Know. It’s about what people are facing.

You have never lost your house to a flood. You have never been rescued by a helicopter from your roof or been evacuated. You have never seen your house or office with feet of water in it and you have to clear it out now before more damage sets in. You have never had your company close either indefinitely or for over a week due to something your boss has no power over. The people you are calling are living this reality.

Businesses are all codependent. One may be up and ready to start work but stopped by raw materials or services they need not being accessible. Transportation will be hindered. Banks and other essential programs may be off line. Infrastructure may be damaged. There is a chorus of “No”, “You can’t” and “We don’t know when.” that we in Houston are hearing every day now.

When a business can open, they have to count on their employees. And they have to concern themselves with how these people fared from the flood. Can they get there? Did they lose their car in the flood? Are the streets on their route flooded? Can they get gas? Can they perform their tasks at work? Are they struggling emotionally in the turmoil? Are they preoccupied with losses at home? In Houston today, you cannot find anyone unscathed from Hurricane Harvey so Houstonians have little else on their minds.

That is what is on the minds of the people you contact. So read up on that kind of experience before you contact them.

Communicating in the new language “Houstonese”

We are all speaking a new language here and you should learn it before contacting your Houston clients. You start by asking whomever answers the phone with “How are you and your family?” And then you listen. Acknowledge tragedies with sympathy and losses with encouragement and support. Ask how their company is faring. Don’t even try to compete with your own close calls or extended comparison of an event unless you live in Houston or surrounding communities.

Don’t spend too much time on the phone. We all have five times the responsibilities today that we had two weeks ago.

Don’t ask what you can do. When tour clients answer the questions above, you will learn what they need and what you can do. Being familiar with their services means you are a step ahead and can see the gaps that you can fill.

Now for the sticky part. Offer help that is free. Volunteer your services. If these words sent a shockwave through you, you don’t speak “Houstonese”. I am practicing what I preach. I am interpreting for free all client contact being made by my client law firms who are reaching out to their Non English speaking clients.

Show Business Kindness. If you have a standing contract with a Houston company then offer to delay invoicing, or lower your fees for a period of time.

If you have contract labor in Houston, make advance or early payments on their services.

If you are a national agency please consider the Houston labor pool first. We are ready to work and as survivors we are going to give you peak performance.

Houston will come back stronger, more financially dominant and vibrant. We will be a prominent source of work and top paying jobs. You will be remembered for what you do and how you communicate now.

Best Negotiating Strategies from Women Who Shaped America.

A gift in honor of International Women’s Day. Wednesday March 8, 2017

http://womenwatch.unwomen.org/international-womens-day-history

You want to learn from people who have achieved success on a path similar to yours. You can be encouraged by people who have faced and overcome obstacles that you fear. I learned a lot and I was very inspired and encouraged reading the in depth accounts of women who ultimately shaped my country, The United States. The lessons I learned from the trailblazers of the past were reinforced by the interviews of women who are trailblazing today. The toughest part of success is negotiating successfully. My gift to all women in business are these best negotiating strategies by a few women for whom negotiating became pivotal in American history. I quote directly from this fabulous book:

American Heroines. The Spirited Women Who Shaped America by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson https://www.amazon.com/American-Heroines-Spirited-Shaped-Country/dp/0060566361

Ann Legendre Armstrong: First woman US Ambassador to the Court of St. James.

“Learn as much as you can about the person you are negotiating with and then look at things from his or her point of view.”

Dr. Antonia Novello: First woman and first Hispanic American to serve as Surgeon General.

“I use the element of surprise as my best negotiating strategy – knowing the pros and cons of an issue before I even enter the room”.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee: Track and Field Olympian and Sports Illustrated Woman Athlete of the 20^th Century.

“Always go in there with a game plan and know what outcome you want.”

Geraldine Ferraro: First woman to win the nomination for Vice President of a major political party.

“I think the most important thing is to listen to both sides. You’re trying to be the person in the center.”

Sandra Day O Connor: First woman Justice appointed to the Supreme Court.

“I think the most important thing there is to learn is how to listen to people with an open mind and then weigh things subjectively and see what you can put together.”

Condoleezza Rice: First African American woman to serve as National Security Advisor.

“Be absolutely certain where you want to come out. Know where your true red lines are and don’t keep moving them.”

Skip These Seven Hassles for a Serenely Successful 2017

Skip the stressful “offer “ of insulting rates and oppressive terms .

Introduce yourself with you rates and terms backed up with your certification and training. If being offered an assignment , ask for acknowledgement and acceptance in writing of your rates and terms Add a dose of manners by offering to answer any questions they may have.

Stress Buster : Develop a couple of templates of polite responses for when unacceptably low rates are offered. Save them in your drafts and you will avoid the irritation felt when writing a new one every time.

2 Skip the embarrassment of being taken advantage of.

Research the market and match your experience and qualifications for equal ranking of pay.

Skip the stress of hearing that the prospective client that wants you won’t pay what you’re worth.

Look up their website and see how they promote themselves to the market If they claim to have the lowest rates then how do you think they make a profit.

Inquire from colleagues on professional forums, on both Linked In and Face Book , what kind of an experience anyone has had with said a client. Share your experience in return.

Skip the stress of a job with terminology and procedures that stump you.

Don’t accept an assignment you have never done before until you have observed the interpreted proceeding in person or reviewed a few source and target translations of the same subject matter. Do this until you are comfortable that you can perform quality work.

Skip the stress of hassles caused by a client uneducated in your work.

Look for the red flags waving: when translator and interpreter is used interchangeably, when your availability is asked without identification of the proceeding, whenever a translation has no word count or deadline… And my favorite when you are asked to be at a location over 100 miles away in a half an hour. Decide the value of your time required in “babysitting” this kind of client.

Skip the embarrassment of being labeled as unqualified and unprofessional.

Research the market and match your experience and qualifications for equal ranking of pay.

Skip the stress of payment disputes.

Send your rates and terms ( learn what these are) in writing and ask for acknowledgement and acceptance in writing. Add a dose of manners by offering to answer any questions they may have.

Inquire from colleagues on professional forums, on both Linked In and Face Book , what kind of an experience anyone has had with said a client. Share your experience in return.

Assess the client agency by their reputation among their employees and contractors. Listen and weigh both the accolades and the complaints. Complaints reflect poor management and instability and that leads to non-payment of freelancer’s invoices .

I Tip My Hat To: helping freelance interpreters get paid.

I Tip My Hat To…

The Association of Independent Judicial Interpreters of California (AIJIC) http://aijic.org/

For their dedicated support helping a freelance interpreter collect the pay she earned and was duly owed.

This was posted originally on a private Facebook page for certified interpreters. I was so impressed with the news that I asked for and was granted permission to reprint it by the poster.

As an AIJIC board member, I thought this was a Small Claims story worth sharing. It all started with a $200 unpaid invoice owed to one of our members by an agency with a very bad reputation.

Early this year, AIJIC sent a demand letter to the owner of the agency on behalf of our colleague with a deadline to pay. The agency owner (whom I’ll call Ms. Deadbeat) ignored the demand letter, after which AIJIC assisted our member with suing in Small Claims.

In her claim, our member demanded the original amount owed plus an additional half day of lost work due to the appearance in court. Since Ms. Deadbeat didn’t appear in court for the trial date, a default judgment was entered in favor of our member. She was awarded $470, which included court and process server costs.

After waiting the mandatory 30 days to see if Ms. Deadbeat would appeal the ruling (she didn’t) the next step was to collect the judgment. California law allows creditors with a court judgment to place a levy on the debtor’s bank account through the Sheriff’s office, which is what we assisted our member with. After months of wait, she finally received a check for the amount she was owed, plus the sheriff’s fee for the bank levy for a total of $516.86.

Although there are no guaranteed results when a person goes to court, it often pays off if you’re willing to persist. Letting delinquent agencies repeatedly burn interpreters with no consequences only encourages them to keep doing it.

It’s important to send a message that we’re professionals and that we expect to be treated as such.

This advocacy of the freelance interpreter by an organization is truly needed today and is to be commended. They are tackling the decades old disrespect shown by unprofessional members of our market to freelance interpreters who work so hard to perform professionally. I really wish we had such an organization in Texas. Here are just a few services they provide:

AIJIC Mission Statement

The Association of Independent Judicial Interpreters of California (AIJIC) is a nonprofit trade association started by a group of certified court interpreters who saw the need to take action in order to protect the legal interpreting profession in the private sector, which has been steadily deteriorating in recent years.

Educate the legal community and agencies about the current laws governing court interpreters, which require certified court interpreters to be used for civil, criminal or juvenile proceedings, including depositions for civil cases.
Encourage other interpreters to report use of non-certified interpreters hired for court proceedings and explore a way to take action by lobbying for the enforcement of Sections 68560.5 and 68561 of the Government Code.
Educate new interpreters about matters related to the profession.
Share information among ourselves about agencies.
Representing the interests of independent court interpreters before the Judicial Council of California and in Sacramento in order to have a voice in matters that directly affect our profession
Eventually exploring the possibility of establishing a licensing procedure as an essential step towards self-regulation for court interpreters.
Helping our members with collection issues.

Join me in commending their work. Contact the AIJIC and tip your hat to them.

Hey, we cancelled you. Why are you invoicing us?

It is Tuesday, the day after the Labor Day. I just learned that the deposition interpreting assignment I am about to leave for was cancelled yesterday. Confirmed with the Court Reporting firm on Friday, I had to turn down two other jobs after booking this one. The scheduler‘s message closed with “Please call as soon as you get this message”. Well, at the moment they called, I was in thigh high waders slogging through protected wetlands, photographing an elusive Ibis. I was not working. My voicemail recording noted the holiday, that I would return calls on the next business day. All of this was in my Rates and Terms Sheet they had accepted when they assigned me. I returned the call, mentioning I would have to invoice due to less than 24 hour business day cancellation. The scheduler responded “But, I emailed you on Sunday”. No, you emailed Monday and either way, Saturday, Sunday and holidays are not business days. I was more disappointed in her reaction than in the cancellation.

We freelance professional court interpreters have standard terms that cover cancellations. I present them in writing and ask that they be acknowledged and accepted in writing before I accept an assignment.

Sometimes they are dismissed as unnecessary. When I invoice, I’m sometimes told it’s unfair.

Here’s why cancellation charges are reasonable and necessary:

I give you the chance to opt out from scheduling me when you are asked to review and accept my terms. Equally, if your terms are unacceptable to me, I can opt to not accept assignments from you.
You can tell the law firm client about my terms and they can opt to try to find someone with different terms. When I accept your assignment it is a priority on my schedule.
I turn down other clients to take your job.
I cannot replace that income in less than 24 business days.
If I allow everybody to cancel without consequence, I could go for weeks without an income.
Emergency legal setting cancellations happen and can be accommodated but so do non-emergency cancellations caused by scheduling errors and uninformed witnesses. Forgetting to notify us happens a lot.

Here’s the solution:

A professional interpreter will schedule in a professional manner. You can count on us, you can know what costs are involved, and you can relax knowing we will be on time, respectful to your client and interpret with complete accuracy in accordance with our oath. This is how we show our respect working in a respectful environment.

Make the time to ask for our terms or offer yours. Include your expectation of 24/7 accessibility. Whether or not you are able financially to negotiate, be honest with us. We share our experiences with agencies in professional networks. Don’t be left stuck with only interpreters who will let you down.

Top Ten Signs that tell me I’m going to Love Working with this Agency

From the first point of contact, the Translation/Interpretation agency shows me the voyage I will go on if I chose to work with them.

They reveal their professionalism in this field and their respect for a good contractor by how they speak to me, what they tell me about themselves and their operation and the contents of the all important contract and agreements. Some sound like sweat shops with supervisors who worked at the Gulag, others are working out of a dry cleaners with about as much knowledge of court interpreting. But when I match the criteria listed below, I have found some T&I agencies that are so well run that I get excited about the mutually productive and enjoyable relationship we will have. And for some, it has been many years of a great experience working together.

See if your next agency contact shows you these signs.
1. Their entire staff has done professional interpreting or translating work and they know the terminology, the expectations, the market and the work they are going to ask me to do.

2. They have read my resume and are familiar with my specialization and credentials.

3. They know the laws and regulations that I am bound to and that they are bound to.

4. They negotiate rates and terms instead of insisting I adhere to theirs.

5. They aren’t collecting resumes that they never read.

6. If they can’t afford my rates, they tell me instead of never calling me.

7. Their contract reflects correctly and specifically the interpreting proceedings or translating legal material work that they expect me to do.

8. Their contract is intelligently crafted to reflect a contractor –subcontractor relationship and does not include irrelevant responsibilities applicable to employees.

9. They are respectful and polite and never condescending. They show how they realize that with all the big money clients in the world, their company fails without good contractors who actually do the work.

10. They don’t ask me to find them another subcontractor for an assignment, also known as doing their job for which they are paid a salary .

In your experience, is there another sign?