Be a volunteer interpreter for the    Senior Legal Hotline

Senior Legal Hotline provides free legal advice, limited additional service and referral assistance by phone to California legal residents 60 and over. Our attorneys and paralegals, staff and volunteers, are determined to make the service available to seniors who don’t speak English. To achieve this, we have recruited a corps of bilingual volunteers, from throughout the state, who are available to join in phone conversations with our advocates and clients and take on the role of interpreter.  Our volunteer interpreters are an invaluable resource, not only to the operation of the hotline, but especially to the seniors in need.

In May 2004 we held our second training for volunteer interpreters. Another may be scheduled in the future, but meanwhile, those who want to join the team can borrow a DVD of the 2004 training. It is nearly six hours long, with half the time as a basic overview of what the Senior Legal Hotline does, citing examples of issues and problems that clients most frequently call about, and the other half of the program teaches conversational interpretation skills.

Once we have accepted you as a volunteer, we will keep your contact information on file, and if a senior who speaks your language calls and needs an interpreter, we will call to set up an appointment with you for a three-way conversation, usually giving you two or three days notice. On a more rare occasion we may call with a client who needs interpretation services immediately.

If this sounds interesting to you please check out our application form.