Trial Court Office of Language Access (OLA)

M.G.L. c. 221C was added on December 23, 1986, creating a court interpreter office for the Trial Court that guarantees and protects the rights of non-English speakers in legal proceedings by providing them with qualified court interpreters. OLA is responsible for recruiting, training and certifying its staff and per diem court interpreters, and for assigning these interpreters to the Massachusetts courts that request them.

Our most requested languages are Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Cabo Verdean Creole, Mandarin, Arabic, Vietnamese, Russian, ASL, Khmer, and Turkish. OLA fills daily requests for interpreters from approximately 140 court locations in Massachusetts, including District, Juvenile, Housing, Probate and Family, Land, and Superior Court.

OLA also fulfills requests to translate Trial Court forms, documents, and signage. The department does not translate individual case materials or documents to be presented as evidence in a trial or hearing. Attorneys and/or parties to a case can hire a professional translator and/or one of the court interpreters on the Public Release Roster to translate documents they need.

Deputy Director Ailene Concepcion leads the OLA team, which provides services through approximately 250+ staff and contract interpreters, and other administrative and support personnel.