DE LA MORA Training

Learn how to interpret for online and in-person negotiations, mediations, and settlement conferences using Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and Online Dispute Resolution (ODR).

 You will learn how to apply your interpreting skills to online and in-person negotiations, mediations, and settlement conferences. All interpreters should know about ADR/CR processes as they are used to resolve a wide range of disputes in areas such as legal, healthcare, community relations, education, business, and employment. This intensive course is highly interactive. Through role plays, videos, decision-making, skills-building, terminology exercises and more, you will apply what you learn immediately. The instructors are two ADR experts (a court-certified interpreter who is a bilingual certified mediator and a former attorney now working as a court ADR Administrator).

What you will learn:

 Understand the differences among Court/Litigation, Conflict Resolution and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).

 Describe what interpreters need to know about the three main ADR processes: negotiation, mediation, and settlement conferences.

 Understand the role of active listening techniques and deliberate use of language in building trust, rapport, and consensus for successful ADR/CR events in contrast to court settings.

 Demonstrate the ability to interpret during all three stages of mediation, selecting the most appropriate interpreting mode for each stage and determining how to best position yourself.

 Identify and sight translate the most common documents used in mediation and address the challenges they present for interpreters.

 Learn how to get buy-in for the interpreted process from mediation participants by drafting and practicing your pre-mediation briefing and interpreter’s introduction. What should you ask and tell the mediator and the parties to promote a successful interpreted encounter?

 Identify the need for functional equivalents of standard terms in ADR in your LOTE (Language other than English) and create your own glossary.

 Demonstrate the ability to problem-solve and intervene professionally using your Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice when addressing communication breakdowns in mediation, including emotionally charged events, and demonstrate the ability to justify decisions to intervene or not.

Who should attend: 

This course is for all interpreters, court-certified, legal, medical, educational and community, with 40 hours or more of interpreter training.

Skill Level: Advanced     Language: Language Neutral – Course is taught in English     Specialization: All

Classes begin April 10, 2021! 

Schedule: Saturdays from 12 PM ET- 4:20 PM ET ending on April 24, 2021.

Meet the Instructors:

Maria Ceballos-Wallis, MA, CCI FL/GA, CHI™, GA Registered Mediator

Maria Ceballos-Wallis is a Georgia/Florida Certified Spanish><English Court Interpreter and has been a staff interpreter with DeKalb County State Court, in Decatur, GA since 2011.  She is also a Georgia-registered civil and domestic/divorce mediator.  A firm believer in the importance of continuing education for interpreters, Maria has been an interpreter trainer with De La Mora Institute of Interpretation since 2014 and an instructor for the Georgia Commission on Interpreter's Orientation Program since 2019. In 2020, she co-developed the course Foundations for Interpreters in Conflict Resolution and ADR with Barrie J. Roberts, J.D. and Marjory Bancroft (Cross-Cultural Communications), the first online training of its kind for interpreters in all domains. An active advocate of the interpreting profession, Maria has served in key roles in AAIT, NAJIT, the Georgia Commission on Interpreters and Georgia Judicial COVID-19 Task Force.

Barrie J. Roberts, JD, MA (TESOL), LLM (Dispute Resolution), ADR Administrator, Los Angeles Superior Court

Barrie J. Roberts is currently the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Administrator for the Los Angeles Superior Court working with judges, court staff, attorneys, neutrals and community mediation organizations to provide high-quality alternatives to trial. She is the co-creator, along with Maria Ceballos-Wallis and Marjory Bancroft (Cross-Cultural Communications) of Foundations in Conflict Resolution and ADR for Interpreters, the first online training of its kind to provide ADR training for interpreters. Barrie also created “Mediation as a Second Language” (MSL) courses to combine ADR and ESL for international students at UC Berkeley. Her publications include Conflict Resolution Training for the Classroom: What Every ESL Teacher Needs to Know, University of Michigan Press, E-Book Single (2020). Before ADR, Barrie was a staff attorney with Legal Services of Northern California, Inc. 

Continuing Education Credits are approved for the following states: 

12 CEUs: MO, NM, OR, PA, TN (Foreign Language), UT,  (other states pending)

Students can individually apply for CEUs in the following states by submitting all necessary information: DE, IA, KY, MD, MI, MS, NE

Don't see your state? Contact us! 

(407) 677-4155
[email protected]