Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court and ALI Council Member, presented the keynote address at Legal Aid of Napa Valley’s Fifth Annual Pro Bono Recognition Event on September 10, 2015.
In his speech Justice Cuéllar discussed the growing need for language assistance services in California civil proceedings. According to Justice Cuéllar, there are over 200 languages spoken in California alone. Failure to provide language assistance to these non-English speakers creates a barricade between such individuals and the civil court system.
Plans to provide language interpreters for civil proceedings are already under way. Justice Cuéllar hopes to expand language assistance services to include more technology-based assistance, such as remote access to interpreters.
Justice Cuéllar currently serves as an Adviser for the Principles of the Law: Police Investigations, which was initiated in early 2015. Members may visit the Projects page to sign in and join the Members Consultative Group.