ENSURING LANGUAGE ACCESS IN NEW YORK COURTS

Judge
Raja Rajeswari made history as the first South Asian woman to be appointed to
Criminal Court in the history of New York by Mayor Bill de Blasio in April of
2015. She is a proud member of AABANY and we were pleased to support
her during her history making appointment process in 2015. Being an immigrant herself who is multi-lingual, she fully
understands the special challenges that individuals with limited English
proficiency face and her goal in becoming a judge was to provide access to
justice for every individual who encounters our court system regardless of the
language they speak. She was appointed to the Advisory Committee on Court
Interpreting in November of 2015 and is currently chairing the subcommittee for
courthouse environment.

On
Tuesday, March 28, 2017, Judge Raja Rajeswari will be joining a panel of speakers
at the New York City Bar Stimson Room at an event titled “We All Speak Justice
Here! Ensuring Language Access in New York Courts” at 6:30PM
at 42 West 44th
Street, New York NY 10036.  The
increasing linguistic diversity of our city and state poses challenges as the
court system provides access to justice for New Yorkers with limited spoken
English proficiency. The event is free and open to the public. If interested in
attending, please RSVP to [email protected]

Judge Rajeswari has requested that we publish the information
below from
the Office of Court Administration to all our members and wants to encourage everyone to pass this
information along to anyone who is bilingual or multi lingual and may be interested in becoming a language interpreter
in New York.

The Written English Proficiency Exam (LANGUAGES OTHER
THAN SPANISH)
will be held on June 17, 2017. The deadline to submit applications
is on April 7, 2017. To apply Download the Per-Diem
Application Form
. For more information about these exams please see the Written
and Oral Exam Guide
. All applicants must successfully pass both
the Written and Oral Exams in order to provide court interpreting services in
the New York State Unified Court System. Exam
schedules are posted on the court system’s website: http://nycourts.gov/careers/exams.shtml  Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, and scheduled exam
dates will be posted online. Applicants will be notified by mail of the
exam date and location.