Court Interpreter

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
Southern District of California
San Diego, California
Phone: (619) 557-6152 | Fax: (619) 702-9911
www.casd.uscourts.gov
POSITION: Court Interpreter
SALARY: JSP 13/14 ($120,381 - $184,929)
Starting salary should be expected in low to middle portion of the range,
based on qualifications and experience.
LOCATION: San Diego, California
VACANCY NO.: 25-18

Position Overview:
The United States District Court for the Southern District of California is accepting applications for the position of Court Interpreter. This position is located in the Interpreters Section of the Clerk’s Office, and reports to the Manager of Interpreter Services. A Court Interpreter provides interpreting and translation services for Spanish-speaking defendants, witnesses, sureties, and family members. The incumbent also provides interpreting services for the Probation Office and Pretrial Services. The incumbent also provides interpreting services for the general public conducting business with the court or the Clerk´s Office. The Southern District of California is one of the busiest federal courts in the country and provides interpreting services in a variety of indigenous and other languages, in addition to Spanish. Court is in session daily and experience providing Spanish interpreting in a high-volume court setting and assisting with relay interpreting and telephonic interpreting for other than Spanish court events is highly desirable.
 

Representative Duties:
•Provides simultaneous and consecutive interpretation, and sight translation services during in-court hearings related to all stages of the criminal process by transferring the message from English into Spanish, and from Spanish into English.
•Provides interpreting services in the relay mode with interpreters of indigenous languages from Mexico. Acts as facilitator of remote interpreting events in the courtroom for other-than-Spanish languages.
•Provides interpreting services to the Probation Office during pre-sentencing interviews and assists officers with verification calls when requested.
•Provides interpreting services nationwide as part of the Telephone Interpreting Program. This responsibility entails researching the assigned cases and preparing for the event following established protocols.
•Prepares for assignments by reading case files and conducting terminology research, as necessary.
•Prepares written translations of a variety of materials for the court, as well as for the Probation Office, ranging from general correspondence to the court from defendants and/or family members, to complex legal documents from other countries. Assignments may also include the translation of official forms.
•Reviews and edits the translation work of other staff interpreters and may be assigned to be chief editor of group translations.
•Participates in working groups that already exist or may be formed with the objective of completing special projects such as glossaries or translations.
•Contributes to or prepares presentations on translation/interpretation-related topics as part of staff meetings or other professional development efforts.
•Must have the ability to remain impartial.

The staff interpreter is responsible for assigned administrative duties and clerical work and keeps in communication with other staff members and the supervisor to accommodate the court’s interpreting needs.
•Other duties as assigned.

Qualification Requirements:
To be considered for this position, you must have a BS/BA degree and have successfully completed the Federal Court Interpreter Certification Examination (FCICE) and be federally certified by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts for Spanish/English. To qualify for a JSP 13, the candidate must have a minimum of two (2) years of court interpreter experience. To qualify for a JSP 14, the candidate must have a minimum of three (3) years of court interpreter experience. Membership in an interpreting/translation professional association is highly desirable. This is not a full-time telework position and work is to be performed onsite.

Specialized experience is defined as experience that has provided the interpreter with the knowledge, skills and abilities to accurately and idiomatically render a message from the source language into the target language without any additions, omissions or other misleading factors that in any way alter the intended meaning of the message from the source language speaker in a courtroom or legal environment.
The work in this position is performed in an office setting. This is not a telework eligible position.

Preferred Skills / Qualifications:
• Experience working with people from a wide variety of backgrounds, cultures, and socioeconomic levels is desirable.
• Extensive knowledge of legal, highly technical, and colloquial vocabulary in English and Spanish, and familiarity with the regional border language characteristics/slang of the southwest area of the United States is preferred but not required.
•Membership in an interpreting/translation professional association is highly desirable.
Personal Characteristics:
The successful candidate should be a mature, dedicated, responsible, and poised individual who possesses tact, good judgment, initiative, a strong work ethic, and the ability to work well with judges, chambers staff, and Clerk’s Office staff. The candidate should be trustworthy and possess the ability to maintain strict confidentiality of sensitive information.
 

Required Clearances:
Please note that this position does not require that applicants complete the “Optional Background Information” section on page 5 of the AO-78 Application Form. The Court may require the disclosure of any criminal history information at the time a conditional offer is made.
 

The selected candidate will also be required to submit to a background clearance which includes fingerprinting and a credit check.
 

Benefits:
Salary is just one component of the comprehensive compensation package offered by the Federal Court. Federal court employees are eligible for a full range of benefits that include 13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid holidays per year, a flexible work schedule, immediate matching Thrift Savings Plan, pre-tax programs (health, dependent care and transportation), and insurance plans (i.e., health, life, disability, and long-term care), car-pooling options and a transportation subsidy.
Employer benefit contributions equate to no less than 33% of an employee’s total compensation. Please see the chart below for an estimated total compensation based on a sample position and salary. Be advised that eligibility may vary by appointment type and length.

For more information about federal court benefits, please visit: www.uscourts.gov/careers/benefits.
 

How to Apply:
Qualified candidates must submit a cover letter, resume, a minimum of three references with contact information, and the AO-78 Application Form (available for download in the application portal). All application materials must be submitted at the CASD HR Application Portal. More information on career opportunities may also be found at www.casd.uscourts.gov.

Information for Applicants
The Court reserves the right to modify the conditions of this job announcement, or to withdraw the announcement, any of which may occur without prior written or other notice. In the event that a position becomes vacant in a similar classification, within a reasonable time of the original announcement, the Clerk of Court may elect to select a candidate from the applicants who responded to the original announcement without posting the position.
Only qualified applicants will be considered for this position. Employees of the U.S. District Court serve under “Excepted Appointments” and are considered “at will” employees. Federal Civil Service classifications or regulations do not apply; however, court employees are entitled to substantially the same benefits as other Federal Government employees.
All information provided by applicants is subject to verification and background investigation. Applicants are advised that false statements or omission of information on any application materials or the inability to meet the following conditions may be grounds for non-selection, withdrawal of an offer of employment or dismissal after being employed.
Participation in the interview process will be at the applicant’s own expense and relocation expenses will not be provided.
The position is subject to the mandatory electronic fund transfer (EFT) participation for payment of net pay (i.e., Direct Deposit).
Non-citizens may be interviewed and considered for employment, but employment offers will only be made to individuals who qualify under one of the exceptions in 8 U.S.C. § 1324b(a)(3)(B). In most cases, this means that an offer of employment cannot be made unless the candidate is a lawful permanent resident who is seeking U.S. citizenship as explained below.
Under 8 U.S.C. §1324b(a)(3)(B), a lawful permanent resident seeking citizenship may not apply for citizenship until he or she has been a permanent resident for at least five years (three years if seeking naturalization as a spouse of a citizen), at which point he or she must apply for citizenship within six months of becoming eligible, and must complete the process within two years of applying (unless there is a delay caused by the processors of the application). Non-citizens who have not been permanent residents for five years will be required to execute an affidavit that they intend to apply for citizenship when they become eligible to do so.
If selected for first time appointment to a position, you may be required to complete an initial performance probationary period. Failure to successfully complete the probationary period may result in termination of employment.
THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER