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wasn't until after she moved from Argentina to America that Suli Schehr learned the Spanish word for "dismissal."

Growing up under a repressive regime, she had little knowledge of trials, judges and lawyers. Partly this was because her school taught nothing about democracy. Partly it was because the punishment for lawbreaking at times was immediate death, and there was almost no crime where she lived.

"So even the simplest words, I had never heard of," she said.

But now she stands between attorneys and clients, judges and defendants, witnesses and questioners and helps them communicate.

As a court interpreter who lends her services to Southern Maryland, Schehr works a subtle and self-effacing job, but it's also an increasingly necessary one.