interpreter for this purpose or not. If one is appointed, this is your first opportunity to assess the quality of the interpretation and its impact on the reliability of the evidence obtained. See the section ‘general approach for questioning’, below, which applies mutatis mutandis for your own consultations with the client. ii. Initial steps It is possible to begin making informed judgments about the quality of interpretation provided before the questioning begins, by finding out about the person who is going to be delivering the service. The key thing is to:  Find out about the interpreter and his competence:  Ask the police / intepreter about the latter’s qualifications and experience: professional qualifications and memberships, length of experience etc.  Check whether the interpreter speaks the same language (and dialect, where relevant) as that required by your client, or something similar to it (eg Russian, Ukrainian, or Kazakh are related and more or less close, but not identical).  Check what the interpreter’s ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ languages are. Many interpreters use this system to identify the languages they are most proficient in (A being their strongest, C their least strong). Ask the interpreter the question; if they do not know what you are talking about, make a note of this.  Ask the police to explain the basis on which they chose this interpreter (eg fluency in the language, member of the local expat community, use in past cases etc.). The information you manage to uncover about the interpreter will be important not only because it will help you decide how to act next, but it could also become relevant later on before the trial court or on appeal. Accordingly, you should:     iii. Ensure a record is kept of the details concerning the interpreter Take your own note of the information you acquire. Ask the interpreter to sign it and provide copies of their credentials. Ask for the information to be recorded on the police protocol / detention record (if there is no such thing, ask for it to be noted at the beginning of the interview). If the interpreter is unqualified If you are not satisfied that the interpreter is suitably qualified, it may be necessary for you to demand the appointment of a qualified interpreter prior to the commencement of the interview. If your enquiries have, for instance, revealed that the interpreter is simply a member of the local expatriate community who speaks the language of the suspect, there is no basis for you to assume their competence to do the job. Accordingly, you should:  Demand the replacement of the unqualified interpreter by a professional  Bring to the attention of the police any national documentation (guidelines etc.) and explain why the interpreter does not meet them.  Ensure that this demand is recorded in the police records.  If it is refused, the reasons for refusal are placed on record. 25