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  • 2025 End of Year Plenary

2025 End of Year Plenary

  • 15 Nov 2025
  • 8:30 AM - 4:00 PM
  • 7421 N Scottsdale Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85253

Registration


Register

The Arizona Court Interpreters Association cordially invites you to the 2025 End of Year Plenary.


Saturday, November 15th, 2025


The McCormick Scottsdale

7421 N Scottsdale Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85253


This event will consist of a dyad program. Attendees not only can they choose the option to attend in person or virtually, but they will also have to choose between a language neutral, and a language specific program. 

Sch

Time

Session / Activity

Speaker(s)

Language

Notes:

8:30 – 9:00 AM

Check-in & Registration

Raffle ticket purchase.

Coffee and light refreshments

9:00 – 9:15 AM

Opening  Remarks

ACIA Board / President

English

Opening message, housekeeping, schedule overview

9:15 – 10:30 AM

Arizona Judicial System and Court Interpreter Ethics

Marcela Prieto Avalo

English

Courtroom best practices and professional conduct

10:30 – 10:45 AM

Break

15-minute transition

10:45 – 12:00 PM

Court Awareness for Courtroom Safety.

Lazaro Fernandez

English

Practical safety and situational awareness for interpreters

12:00 – 1:30 PM

Lunch Break

N/A

N/A

Networking opportunity

AFTERNOON LANGUAGE NEUTRAL PROGRAM – ENGLISH 

1:30 – 2:30 PM

(TBD)

Dr. Jeff Gabbitas

English

2:30 – 2:45

Break

__

__

2:45 – 3:45

PM

Jury Management

Elaina Cano – Court Administrator Surprise City Court

How does the Jury selection process work?

3:45 – 4:00 PM

Closing remarks

and raffle.

12:00 – 1:30 PM

Lunch

N/A

N/A

Networking opportunity

AFTERNOON LANGUAGE SPECIFIC PROGRAM – SPANISH

1:30 – 2:45 PM

Bilingual Presentation on how to navigate the federal oral examination

Juan Carlos Cordova

Spanish

Spanish Terminology for Court Interpreters

2:45 – 3:00 PM

Break

15-minute transition

3:00 – 4:00 PM

Language & Legal Systems in the U.S. & Mexico: Criminal Procedure

María Fernanda Arámbula (Profesora de traducción de la UNAM)

 

En directo desde la Ciudad de México

Spanish

Cultural & linguistic insights for interpreters



BIOS

Lazaro Fernandez is a medically Certified Spanish interpreter by the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI), and attended the Cuban Politécnico Jose Ramon Rodriguez. Mr. Fernandez is a Tier 3 Arizona Credentialled Spanish Court Interpreter and currently a Court Interpreter and Translation Services staff member at the Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County. He is a  Peer Support Program member, and a Crisis Prevention & Intervention Instructor with Specialized training in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Trauma-Informed care.

Juan Carlos Cordova has been working in the interpreting field for over 30 years. He has been a staff interpreter with the Federal Public Defender's office since March of last year and worked for the United States District Court in Tucson, Arizona.  He has interpreted in thousands of court events from initial appearances to jury trials.  Previously, for over 17 years, he was the lead interpreter and supervisor for the interpreter’s office at the Mesa City Court.  He has also served as faculty for the University of Arizona National Center for Court Interpretation, where he tested and rated interpreters’ performance and provided training on modes of interpretation, ethics, protocol, Spanish regionalisms, and court language. He also has extensive experience interpreting in commercial, medical, and conference settings.  He was also a faculty member for the Arizona Supreme Court, Committee on Judicial Education and Training (COJET), providing training to interpreters and other court staff. As such, the Court Trainer Excellence Award was awarded twice.  Was also an accredited representative before immigration courts.  He is a certified Court Manager by the National Center for State Courts.  He is also certified as a court interpreter by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, the State of Minnesota, and the State of Arizona. 

María Fernanda Arámbula is an ISIT graduate. In 2000, she started working as a legal translator at Basham, Ringe y Correa, S.C., a well-known Mexican law firm, under the leadership of Javier F. Becerra. In 2003, she began her law studies at FES Acatlán. By 2005, she had become a freelancer , and since then she has worked as an English and French court expert translator, both at state and federal levels. She taught legal translation in the MA in Translation and Interpreting at Universidad Anáhuac del Norte, in theTranslation and Interpreting Diploma Course at Universidad Intercontinental, and currently in the BA in Translation at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. By 2008, she had completed the Oral Criminal Procedure Diploma Course at FES Acatlán (UNAM) and, in 2016, she concluded the MA in American Law at the Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas (UNAM). She is currently involved in the syllabus design of the online MA in Legal Translationand Court Interpretation at ENALLT, and she recently concluded the MA in Institutional Translation in French at Universitat d’Alacant. She has been a conference lecturer at Transius, the Latin American Conference of Sworn Translators of the City of Buenos Aires and CITEI 2024 in Peru. She is a founding partner of Proyecto Cenzontle and Linguatique, Consultoría Lingüística. 



Prices

 

ATTENDANCE AND PRICING

 

Attendees may choose to attend in person or virtually and select either the afternoon English (language-neutral) program or the Spanish (language-specific) program.   

$60

ACIA Member In-person – Language Neutral – English Program

$60

ACIA Member In-person – Language Specific – Programa en Español

$60

ACIA Member Virtual – Language Neutral – English Program

$60

ACIA Member Virtual – Language Specific – Programa en Español

$95

Non-ACIA Member In-person – Language Neutral – English Program

$95

Non-ACIA Member In-person – Language Specific – Programa en Español

$95

Non-ACIA Member Virtual – Language Neutral – English Program

$95

Non-ACIA Member Virtual – Language Specific – Programa en Español


We hope to see you there!



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