ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the role of ethics and norms in Interpreting Studies on a number of different interrelated levels with a focus on the contextual constraints encountered by interpreters in a specific legal context, that of civil proceedings mediation. It highlights the dominant role played by the mediator in establishing and maintaining interpreting norms and ethics in these encounters. The chapter argues that the interpreters occupy secondary and often subordinate role in the encounters, raising further ethical issues especially as regards normative stance. It examines a number of important research questions and introduces the case study based on simulated bilingual encounters in civil mediation using interpreter. Civil mediation as a social process is informed by structures, rules and norms that constrain the environment within which it operates. The chapter discusses the ethics with respect to interpreting assignments in confidential settings.
