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Language Access Is a Professional Responsibility, Not an Additional Burden
Mark Fucile’s October 2026 article, “Lingua Franca,” discusses attorneys’ ethical obligations regarding language access. Yet its suggestion that passing interpretation costs to clients may be “prudent,” alongside declining representation, overlooks a fundamental question: What happens when clients who do not speak English as their primary language cannot afford meaningful legal services?
At Skagit Legal Aid, we serve indigent immigrants, including Indigenous farmworkers who speak Mixteco and other languages for which qualified interpreters are exceptionally difficult to find. In 2025, the Board for Judicial Administration recognized our language access work with its Innovating Justice Award. With assistance from Washington’s Administrative Office of the Courts, we have launched an initiative to train the next generation of Indigenous language interpreters.
These challenges extend beyond rural communities. In Southwest Washington, near Mr. Fucile’s office, Indigenous and Pacific Islander immigrant communities, including Chuukese-speaking families from Micronesia, face significant language barriers.
Passing interpretation expenses to clients who already cannot afford an attorney is unconscionable. Language access is not optional. It is essential to competent representation. Our profession should unequivocally reject the suggestion that shifting these costs onto vulnerable clients is a prudent approach to legal practice.
RPC 1.1 requires competence, RPC 1.4 requires communication, and RPC 1.2 protects client decision-making. While declining representation may sometimes be ethically necessary, it cannot be our profession’s answer to systemic language barriers.
This framing also runs counter to the WSBA’s 2025 Equity and Justice Action Plan. Goal No. 2 expressly prioritizes affordable legal services for undocumented communities, people with limited English proficiency, and people experiencing poverty.
The author’s reflection on his Italian immigrant ancestors resonates with my own father’s family history. But honoring our immigrant heritage requires confronting barriers facing today’s immigrants.
Our profession must move beyond what ethical rules technically permit and confront what meaningful access to justice demands. Language access requires investment and collective responsibility—not additional financial barriers for those least able to bear them.
Andy Dugan
Mount Vernon
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