March 12, 2007 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE             

New Paralegal Course To Help Bridge Language Barrier With Spanish Speaking Clients

SPARTANBURG, SC – Spartanburg Methodist College will be offering a course this Spring designed to help legal professionals bridge the language barrier with Spanish speaking clients.

Starting in April with the 2007 Spring II term, the Spanish Communication Tools for Legal Professionals course will be offered as a new elective in the college’s Paralegal Certificate Program

Yvonne Harper, director of the SMC Paralegal Certificate Program, says the course evolved out of the need for such skills in the Spartanburg County legal community, because of the recent population growth within the local Hispanic community, as well as growing internationalization in the legal profession, in business and society at large.

“The need for bilingual legal professionals is only going to increase as the Spanish speaking population increases,” says Harper.

The course will also address different social and business customs within the Hispanic community.

Delores Mendez, Victim Advocate with the Spartanburg County Solicitor’s Office and Leslie McDonald, who recently completed SMC’s Paralegal Certificate Program, will be team-teaching this course. 

Harper says that attorneys and legal professionals who are not fluent in their clients’ native language are encountering increased communication and procedural problems.

She says that one approach is for the client to write things in Spanish and for that written communication to be taken someone else to translate. However, this presents three problems:  it is a violation of attorney-client confidentiality; it is a slow and cumbersome method; and it increases potential risk of ethical breaches and exposure to aiding and abetting in criminal cases. She cites that in  2005, an attorney in her 60s was convicted of aiding and abetting terrorists by carrying communication from her jailed clients to the outside world.

“Legal departments, law firms and government agencies are seeking paralegals with the ability to communicate  with Spanish clients via translation and/or interpreting. We are fortunate to have several bilingual paralegal students in our program, however the demand is greater than the supply. Our goal is to increase the number of students, and the general public at-large, who possess these necessary skills and provide them with an appreciation of the cultural differences as they work in a global environment,” says Harper.

Harper encourages area law firms and legal departments, as well as the general public, to take advantage of the new course being offered at SMC. She also encourages those fluent in Spanish to consider a career in the paralegal field.

“As an attorney, you make your living with words. You are going to represent or advise your client with words. Your client depends on you to understand their words and provide the best representation or advice,” says Harper.

Other courses being offered during the Spring II term include:  Legal Research, Computers for the Law Office, Introduction to Paralegal Studies, Legal Ethics for Paralegals, and Interviewing and Investigating.  Classes will be held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 5:30 to 9 p.m. and run for 10 weeks beginning April 3 and ending June 7.  Tuition is $275 per course, $125 per audit with payment plans available.  For more information or to apply and register, go to Adult Students www.smcsc.edu or contact Yvonne Harper at (864) 587-4278 or E-mail harpery@smcsc.edu.

Spartanburg Methodist College is in its 96th year of providing a quality education to students in a Christian environment. More than 90 percent of SMC graduates continue their education at other institutions of higher learning.

For more information, contact Yvonne Harper at (864) 587-4278.

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