Transforming Access to Justice: Students Tackle Language Barriers at Fairfax Courthouse

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From left, Schar School Jurisprudence Learning Community students Mohammed Ibrahim Al Zubaidi and Sharanya Maddukuri, a government and international politics major and Honors College student, flank General District Court Judge Dipti Pidikiti-Smith in her courtroom. Photo provided

Going to a court of law as plaintiff, defendant, witness, juror, or a spectator in the gallery can be stressful and confusing if you don't know where to go. What floor is the right office on? Which clerk at which window do you need to visit? Which courtroom do you need to be in and when do you need to be there? And which way to the bathroom?

Mohammed Al Zubaidi presents the Court Signage Survey Project to an attorney who advocates at the Fairfax General District Court. Photo provided

The Fairfax General District Court conducts its business at the Fairfax County Courthouse, not far from George Mason University's Fairfax Campus near the City of Fairfax. It shares the facility with the Fairfax Circuit Court, the largest trial court in Virginia. Understandably, the hallways of the campus can be confounding even to those who frequent the complex, much less those who have business there only occasionally.

Now imagine you need to visit the General District Court but do not speak English as your native language. All the signage is in English. You can see there might be a problem.

Members of a team of 15 volunteer students from the Jurisprudence Learning Community(JPLC), one of five learning communities in the Schar School of Policy and Government, are spending time in the hallways and offices of the busy court complex conducting a survey project aimed at helping the court understand the accessibility needs of court users.

The students visit the courthouse in shifts each weekday for a month to administer surveys to those who use the court, including judges, attorneys, deputies, bailiffs, and visitors. When the survey period is over, the students will compile the results to gain an understanding of the steps the court should take to increase accessibility for individuals, particularly language and translation accessibility.

"The results of the Court Signage Survey Project will be sent to the District Court for review and ultimately compiled into a larger report that will go to the Virginia Supreme Court," said Assistant Professor Shea Holman, director of the JPLC.From left, Sathvika Kolluru, Sharanya Maddukuri, and Abigail Harmon wield survey clipboards in the courthouse hallway. Photo provided

General District Court Judge Dipti Pidikiti-Smith reached out to Holman for the project.

"She specifically wanted to connect with George Mason students," Holman said. "We are such a diverse campus and the JPLC is a place where students from many different backgrounds have the opportunity to experience the legal field firsthand. This is an amazing experience for students to interact directly with individuals attempting to navigate our legal system and to spend time in a courthouse setting."

For Schar School junior Mohammad Ibrahim Al Zubaidi, that's exactly what has happened.

"The most memorable experience has been engaging with court users directly," the government and international politicsmajor said. "Listening to their stories about the communication barriers they face in such a crucial setting has been eye-opening. It reinforced the importance of the work we're doing and the impact this project can have on improving access to justice for everyone."

Al Zubaidi's degree program includes a concentration in American Institutions and Processes and a minor in criminology, law, and society. His visits to the courthouse, he said, will help him gain hands-on experience in legal processes, particularly in improving access to justice for underrepresented communities.

"This project allows me to connect my academic knowledge of government and law with real-world applications," Al Zubaidi said. "Balancing classwork and off-campus duties has been a challenge, but it's also helped me develop strong time management and organizational skills. By staying organized and setting clear priorities, I've been able to manage both effectively."

Walking the hallways of the bustling courthouse is a new experience for some of the students.

"I haven't spent much time in [a courthouse] up until this point, so it has been interesting to see the innerworkings," said Abigail Harmon, an integrative studies major with a legal concentration. "I also feel that making the courtroom more accessible to all kinds of people is a really important cause, and I am proud to be helping out with that. I hope that the information collected in the surveys can help with this."

Among all the court users she's met, it's the interpreters who work there that have made a significant impression.

"They are passionate about helping people who don't speak English navigate and understand our legal system," the Twin Falls, Idaho, native said. "One of the interpreters stressed how important it is to have interpreters, because if you don't speak English and don't utilize one, you might be unable to get the justice you deserve.

"I feel that this was relevant in our survey, because non-English speaking individuals might find it difficult to get around the courtroom, and the courthouse should find ways to fix that. I've had the opportunity to see a couple of the interpreters in action, and without them their clients may have had a different outcome and experience in their case."

"This project allows me to submerse myself in the exact environment I am striving to be in postgraduation," said government and international politics senior April Cornelius from Aliso Viejo, California. "The best experience I have had thus far has been surveying people on the third floor, which is the domestic cases. I had a mom with her two daughters fill out a survey, and was nice to connect with her older teenage daughter.

"Nobody likes to be bothered with a survey," she added, "but it is nice to take someone's brain off the reason why they are there-most times not for a good reason."