Observatory Record Profile

Interpreter Compensation Study Report

This report examines court interpreter compensation, scheduling, contracting, recruitment, and retention in Washington State Courts. Prepared for the Washington Administrative Office of the Courts, the study uses LAIRP reimbursement data, court and interpreter surveys, focus groups, and a landscape review of interpreter compensation practices in other states and industries. It identifies variation in interpreter pay rates, differences between credentialed and non-credentialed interpreter compensation, challenges in recruiting and retaining qualified interpreters, and operational issues related to scheduling, travel, remote interpreting, contracting, invoicing, and interpreter professionalism. The report recommends statewide compensation guidelines, stronger travel and scheduling policies, standardized contract and invoice templates, expanded remote interpreting options, recruitment and mentorship strategies, and continued monitoring of interpreter pay and workforce trends.

Report/evaluation United States WA 2024

Record Overview

Profile Type Court System

Institution Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts

Country United States

State / Region WA

City —

Slug washington-state-court-interpreter-compensation-study-report

Capacity Domains

Workforce and Quality

Reporting Requirements

Not applicable as a reporting requirement. The record itself is a research and evaluation report. However, the study is based heavily on reported LAIRP reimbursement data from FY2022 and FY2023, court administrator survey data, interpreter survey data, focus groups, and comparative research. It also recommends ongoing monitoring of court interpreter compensation, national pay trends, interpreter demand, working conditions, recruitment challenges, and the effectiveness of compensation and scheduling policies over time.

Training Requirements

The report discusses training primarily in relation to interpreter qualification, workforce development, and recruitment. It notes that Washington AOC supports courts by credentialing spoken-language interpreters and providing training and resources, and that interpreter candidates must complete orientation and ethics requirements as part of certification or registration pathways. The report also recommends training, mentoring, webinars, professional development, school and community outreach, and paid instructor or coach roles to build the future court interpreter pipeline, especially for languages with shortages.

Complaint Mechanism

Not applicable

Service and Operational Features

The report provides a detailed analysis of how Washington courts secure and manage interpreter services across a non-unified court system. It reviews interpreter use in courts participating in the Language Access and Interpreter Reimbursement Program, including in-person and remote assignments, credentialing status, hourly rates, travel time, mileage, case types, court types, and language demand. Operational findings highlight the use of local court scheduling practices, AOC interpreter rosters, interpreter agencies, web-based scheduling portals, direct contact with interpreters, remote interpreting options, interpreter calendars, reimbursement through LAIRP, and the need for more consistent statewide tools such as compensation guidelines, contract templates, invoice templates, scheduling practices, and remote interpreter sharing.

Languages Covered

The report focuses on court interpreter services for people with limited English proficiency and Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Deafblind court users. It analyzes spoken language and sign language interpreting needs across Washington courts, including credentialed spoken-language interpreters, ASL interpreters, Certified Deaf Interpreters, and interpreters in high-demand and lesser-diffusion languages. The LAIRP dataset reviewed in the study included 118 languages for contract court interpreter assignments, with Spanish representing the largest share of assignments, followed by high-demand languages such as Russian, Chuukese, Vietnamese, Mandarin, ASL, Arabic, Punjabi, Korean, Marshallese, Mam, Somali, Samoan, Cantonese, Amharic, Farsi, Tagalog, and Swahili.